Swampy Garden

kylith

Posting on behalf of a family member, so I don't have all the information on hand.

Basically, he bought a house in a boom-time estate and there is zero drainage in the garden. Any shower of rain turns the entire place into a mire and pretty much nothing will grow because of the damp. The land is level so he doesn't think there's any point in putting in drainage because there's nowhere for the water to go and that if it could drain out he'd then have all his neighbour's gardens draining into his.

Would it any use to put a few inches of gravel on top of what's there now and to put topsoil on top of that, effectively raising the level of his garden and putting a step up to it?

chopper6

kylith wrote: »

Posting on behalf of a family member, so I don't have all the information on hand.

Basically, he bought a house in a boom-time estate and there is zero drainage in the garden. Any shower of rain turns the entire place into a mire and pretty much nothing will grow because of the damp. The land is level so he doesn't think there's any point in putting in drainage because there's nowhere for the water to go and that if it could drain out he'd then have all his neighbour's gardens draining into his.

Would it any use to put a few inches of gravel on top of what's there now and to put topsoil on top of that, effectively raising the level of his garden and putting a step up to it?

He will probably need to install some kind of drain...its pointless dumping gravel on top of waterlogged soil.

Try this for a few hints:

http://www.greensax.ie/blog/?p=418

Of note because he is in a new build:

A similar problem is common in the gardens of newly built houses. When clearing a site, builders often remove the topsoil and spread excavated material over the garden area. They then inadvertently compact it with the movement of heavy machinery, and later cover everything up with a thin layer of topsoil or poor quality subsoil. The result is an impermeable layer just below the surface, preventing adequate garden drainage. Again, the solution to improve soil is to double-dig and to incorporate organic matter.

GY A1

drainage is the problem, need to sort drains and somewhere for the water to go,

kylith

Thanks for replying. Are you saying that he'd have to somehow drain the garden into the drain from the house? He's worried that if he tries to drain it it won't make any difference because all of his neighbours' gardens and the field behind the house (which has the same problem) will then drain into his garden.

GY A1

no i dont think you'll end up taking all the neighbours water too
but it will improve ur problem,
at the moment ur garden is like a sponge holding the water, and u need a way to let it go

prospect

At a guess I would imagine that your brothers issues are related to either or both of the following:

1. Buried builders waste - It happens, a lot. If he starts digging down, don't be surprised to find pallets, sheet plastic, blocks, concrete, fizzy drink bottles etc. Large items, like sheets of plastic, will create an impenetrable (or at least very slow penetration), layer for rain water

2. Poor soil and highly compacted - Once again, as a result of building. Remember, during construction of the houses, before the garden walls/fences went in, the back gardens would have had many large machines driving back and forth over them constantly. This would compact the soil meaning rain water would find it hard to penetrate.


I would guess the problem would be resolved if he digs out the top layer of the garden and then rotovate and break the compacted layer and remove any rubbish buried in the garden. Then dig/rotovate the ground again*, (maybe introduce some stone), and level it and put in new (good) topsoil on top. Don't worry about the neighbours garden, just allowing the rain water free passage through the soil to the water table will most likely resolve the issue.


*- You could leave the lawn like this for a while and see if the rain water drains away quickly, if so then you wont need drains