Advice for a boggy back garden?

Barack Obama

Hi

We moved into our house about 4 years. The house and garden were completely neglected and there was more moss and weeds then grass out the back. Drainage is a big issue - heavy rain results in the garden becoming boggy.

I've been working hard every year with weed, feed & mosskiller and hours of manual scarifying and re-seeding patches. I've also taken to aerating with a fork and tossing down some sand. The problem drainage problem doesn't seem to be getting any better though. Any advice?

Also, just cut the grass with our Flymo Compact 300 hover mower yesterday. I'm not sure but this may not be helping the situation - it doesn't do much 'hover' as 'drag'. Would a better mower with suction help matters?

Thanks

wildlandscape

You need to grow plants that thrive on wet soil and this will help somewhat. Also use raised beds if you want to grow veg and fruit. Create paths to clothes line and growing areas. Avoid walking over your wet lawn as this is making the problem worse, it compacts the soil.

Good plants to use on wet soil include dogwood (cornus), ornamental elder (Sambucus), escallonia, helleborus flower - check out RHS website for more advice.

Andrew33

Had the same problem when we moved into our house 14 years ago, you couldn't walk on the back lawn even in summer! Trees soak up a huge amount of water so I planted a couple of firs at the very back of the garden and even after just a couple of years there was an improvement and now the garden is fine.
I know this doesn't solve your problem immediately but its a very cost effective and long term solution.

Barack Obama

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated

I should have mentioned that we recently got a dog, so keeping off the boggy area will be next to impossible! I'll look into the plants option - hopefully this will help. Have to make sure they are non-chewable though

Hells Belle

We had a similar problem with our front garden, its on a slight slope so any water would run towards the house and make huge puddles that lasted for days. In the end we put in 2 french drains along the edges of the lawn and the problem has stopped. They are a hard work to get in initially but well worth it. We put them in ourselves, just bought the bits and bobs from a builders merchants and got instructions off the internet. We did have to check with the ESB though so we didn't fry ourselves!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain

Barack Obama

Hells Belle wrote: »

We had a similar problem with our front garden, its on a slight slope so any water would run towards the house and make huge puddles that lasted for days. In the end we put in 2 french drains along the edges of the lawn and the problem has stopped. They are a hard work to get in initially but well worth it. We put them in ourselves, just bought the bits and bobs from a builders merchants and got instructions off the internet. We did have to check with the ESB though so we didn't fry ourselves!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain

That looks excellent HB and it may be my only option. Did you manually dig the trench or get a digger in? I'd have a problem with a digger - we onlt have a narrow side door

rhonin

Here is an excellent thread by Delly http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054939061&highlight=drainage

It was a great help when I put drainage in my garden.

Barack Obama

rhonin wrote: »

Here is an excellent thread by Delly http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054939061&highlight=drainage

It was a great help when I put drainage in my garden.

Wow! Excellent post :eek:

Hells Belle

Hi Barack, no we didn't get a digger in, we got a few friends and a couple of shovels, pickaxes, string and a spirit level!! We didn't have a huge area to do though, it was 2 drains , about 8 meters by 4 if I remember correctly to form an L shape to get to the drain. It took less than 2 days to dig out, fit and refill with 4 people.

There was no concrete removal because we were lucky to have the drain near the side of the house. We did have a plumber on our team though and he hooked the pipes into the drain, I didn't watch him do it so I can't say but there was definately no jackhammer involved.

Our next door neighbours had flooding problems too and didn't have access to a downpipe drain as its on our side, they just dug the trenches and filled it with stones and gravel - I don't recall them having problems since either.
Hope that helps, I tried to draw you a diagram but it came out all squiggly :pac:

Oliverdog

Hells Belle wrote: »

dig out, fit and refill with 4 people.

May they rest in peace.

We live in a total bog and have drowned many water-tolerant trees and shrubs, including dogwoods. Weeping willows have done well, and last season we planted 4 swamp cypress. They are showing no signs of life yet but maybe it's still a bit early.

We put in about 15 M2 of raised beds last spring and they did us proud for vegetables, especially beetroots and brussels. This year, we've tried to improve the quite sandy and stony topsoil we had brought in, with a mixture of our native peat and multi purpose compost, and have increased the size of the beds to 22 M2. This at least will give us an interest, because when the rain hits us for a week or so it's like a paddy field. The raised beds are made of 6" x 2" treated boards, three high, so beds are 18" high, filled to within 3" of the top.

We've also invested (:eek:) in a couple of patio barrels for potatoes. You might see these around for about €40 each, but they seem to promise a lot. We shall see. . . .

oflynno

there is a lovely tiny micro digger you can hire that fits in a standard door of a house if you want to save your back

i did a garden for someone in a similar situation,they had no where to drain the water to,so the drains were ran to the bottom of the garden and a hole dug 1 foot deep by roughly 6 foot diameter

lashed a few bags of moss peat into it and planted bog plants and some gorgeous bullrushes,saw these in b&q in cork last week too

i have a gunnera magnicarta plant which is like giant prehistoric rhubarb on steroids and i know that loves moisture too as do ferns of a species,irises(in lidl now,cheap,bulb form)

if you have a bog garden you might encourage frogs into the garden,kids love them

Boglady

Hi All,
I am losing my reason with my back garden. We live in Ballyjamesduff and we have the most boggy soil I have ever experienced. We dug out a trench on the fence line down the end of the garden and this seems to have improved all my neighbours soil, but our garden has gotten worse. We now have a pool situation happening down there. I too have dogs and since they both came along the problem has become even more acute. Can anyone tell me what to do???????????? I'm at my wits end as my dogs are constantly doing their business indoors because its too wet to let them out , **** tzus, what can I say. If their coats get wet and mucky its a nightmare to clean them.

dozy doctor

Boglady wrote: »

Hi All,
I am losing my reason with my back garden. We live in Ballyjamesduff and we have the most boggy soil I have ever experienced. We dug out a trench on the fence line down the end of the garden and this seems to have improved all my neighbours soil, but our garden has gotten worse. We now have a pool situation happening down there. I too have dogs and since they both came along the problem has become even more acute. Can anyone tell me what to do???????????? I'm at my wits end as my dogs are constantly doing their business indoors because its too wet to let them out , **** tzus, what can I say. If their coats get wet and mucky its a nightmare to clean them.

We had the exact same issue as well and the soil is like mala or plasticine ( i think they call it MARL ) and likewise no drainage issues at all in both front and back, so we stoned the lot of it, with just stoning the front last week.... It works a treat and we have cats and a dog and soon to get some chucks.... Cleaned up all the moss that was on the decking and the fencing as well last week and it looks great now.....

ponddigger

hi bog lady, any photos of your wet garden,what way are the slopes in the garden. jack