Can you deal with a wet part of garden by correct planting?

NIMAN

I have a part of my rear garden which has always been damper than the rest.

This lower part is in a natural hollow, with all the surrounding gardens and fields higher than it. This photo shows how the heavy rain of the last couple of days has left a puddle in the spot.

https://flic.kr/p/2j4QAvn


I appreciate that installing drainage is probably the best way to fix, but that will be a last resort in the future if i decide to spend to fix it.

In the meantime, I was considering planting in the area, possibly trees and/or hedging. Would it be possible to help the situation naturally by planting certain things?

standardg60

Absolutely.
Alder will grow in a lake, while Birch, Elder, Hawthorn, Hazel and Willow would also suit.
Rarer possibilities are Liquidambar and Taxodium.

Shrub wise deciduous Viburnum, Hydrangea, Cornus, Physocarpus, Sorbaria and Symphoricarpos.

GinSoaked

Add in Metasequoia glyptostroboides but imo best planted a little above any really wet areas, but its roots will soon find them.

magicbastarder

note, planting trees in it will not really remedy the situation, just that the trees will cope with it and might make it a little bit drier in summer.

one great thing about alder is that it's unusual in that it fixes nitrogen, which basically means it adds nitrogen to the soil, in essence fertilising it somewhat.

NIMAN

And to be clear, such planting will help dry the area ?

In case the answers are to the question "what will grow in wet ground".

magicbastarder

trees will suck water out of the ground and transpire it through the leaves, but when they're dormant in winter, when it's usually wettest, they won't be doing this, so you won't get much benefit from them in that sense.

looksee

Turn it into a bog garden? I am proposing to do all kinds of organising to get a wet spot like that!

NIMAN

looksee wrote: »

Turn it into a bog garden? I am proposing to do all kinds of organising to get a wet spot like that!

What exactly is that?

standardg60

NIMAN wrote: »

What exactly is that?

Planting plants that like wet conditions :-).

While Magicbastarder is correct in relation to dormancy, tree roots will also help to improve drainage as they travel through the soil.

beggars_bush

Drainage doesn't have to be expensive

Bed of stones, piping, back fill of stones, cover with soil

NIMAN

beggars_bush wrote: »

Drainage doesn't have to be expensive

Bed of stones, piping, back fill of stones, cover with soil

True....It was recently rotovated and seeded.

Don't fancy doing it all again.

Senature

I had a soggy spot in my garden, would have been smaller and drier than yours. Planted a dwarf weeping willow tree there, the area is no longer soggy. Ever. Including in winter. Some trees will remove more moisture than others, just research it a bit and/or talk to someone in the know.

GinSoaked

If you establish large trees they will make a massive difference to how wet the area is when they are in leaf. Obviously in winter they won't make difference.

Lumen

On the other hand, how many years of soggy do you have to wait?

Ms2011

I have a wet spot in my garden, I decided to just work with it.
I dug out a bed and planted Ligularia, Monkey Flower, Hosta and Astilbe, all are thriving in the wet conditions.

GinSoaked

Lumen wrote: »

On the other hand, how many years of soggy do you have to wait?

Not that long the roots will start holding everything together quite quickly.

However for an average house garden even quite a large garden it probably isn't a great solution. In a really large garden its just a way of making use of all the different areas but previously very wet areas soon dry out with good planting. I had a very wet area that was planted up as a woodland garden (about half an acre) 5 years later you wouldn't have known it was so wet previously.

Lumen

Yeah, I just think it's worth considering fixing the drainage.

Sometimes it doesn't take very long. I fixed a big drainage problem a year or two ago with a few muddy hours digging in one day.

standardg60

Ms2011 wrote: »

I have a wet spot in my garden, I decided to just work with it.
I dug out a bed and planted Ligularia, Monkey Flower, Hosta and Astilbe, all are thriving in the wet conditions.

Perfect.
Ligularia is a fantastic plant when it has the required moisture.

standardg60

GinSoaked wrote: »

Not that long the roots will start holding everything together quite quickly.

However for an average house garden even quite a large garden it probably isn't a great solution. In a really large garden its just a way of making use of all the different areas but previously very wet areas soon dry out with good planting. I had a very wet area that was planted up as a woodland garden (about half an acre) 5 years later you wouldn't have known it was so wet previously.

+1
No amount of stones or drainage will work if an area is lower than it's surrounds.
In fact it exacerbates the problem as you're basically removing a sponge from a bucket and filling it with stones instead.

Ms2011

standardg60 wrote: »

Perfect.
Ligularia is a fantastic plant when it has the required moisture.

Monkey Flower is a little gem too and great for ground cover.

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