Does anyone have any tips on how to improve soil drainage? With the recent rain some bits of the garden have turned into a swamp, whereas the rest are fine.
TIA
Ian
Garden drainage
May 08, 2004
6 Replies
Hi Ian:
You could use perforated drainage pipes if you have both a slope and a drain to which the excess can run. We use a great deal of this slotted pipe [these are very like the bendy part of a drinking straw with slots every
50mm around 90deg of the pipe - approx 80mm internal diameter] for our Fosse Septique and Landscaping work. The classic UK alternative is unglazed clay field drains - again you need a place to drain the excess too.Drop me a line if you cannot find it locally and dependant on where you are we could assist.
Mike
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Your search phrase is 'field drains'
Regards, NT
Or 'French drains'. These use chipping rather than the placcy pipes.
Erm, unless you want to pay plenty then field drains is NOT the search phrase. The best place to start is a quite fantastic DIY resource
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which includes drainage, just take a look at the site. My garden is solid Essex clay of the most dispicable sort which caused all sort of problems for my lawn (my fetish), so we spent a long time digging soakaways along its length and breadth. There has not been any noticeable drainage problems since. Cost hard work and one delivery of hardcore.
I have never seen my garden as soggy as it was today. Its exceptinal weather.
If the soil underneath the surface is well drained then a temporary fix might be to make some holes with a garden fork.
If the soil on the surface has poor drainage then a longer term fix could be to dig some sand and/or leaf mulch into the soil.
Probably not worth worrying too much about unless there are plants that might rot if they stand in water too long.
cheers, Pete.
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