Drainage issue - Any ideas?

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bayleaf

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Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« on: December 07, 2017, 15:14 »
Hi. My plot suffers from poor drainage. When it rains heavily the far end of it has about a foot of standing water as does my neighbour's plot. I thought I would have a go at tackling this and thinking it could be a hard pan started digging out a French drain yesterday. Got down about a spit and a half to find a solid impermeable layer of clay. Great I thought, soon have this sorted just got to break it up. Started breaking that up with a mattock. Had a brew and when I came back to the trench imagine my horror when I saw the trench filling up with water from underneath the impermeable layer. So it must have a high water table. I have put in raised beds already. Any ideas on how to solve this without it costing a fortune?? Any help greatly appreciated Bayleaf
« Last Edit: December 07, 2017, 15:38 by bayleaf »

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jaydig

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2017, 15:36 »
Are there any crops that love these conditions that you could grow. Watercress, cranberries and perhaps celery on the margins of the worst of the wet.  I'm sure our more knowledgeable members will be able to come up with lots of ideas, but it all depends on what size of space we are looking at dealing with.

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bayleaf

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2017, 15:44 »
The area affected worst is about 15ft by 20ft but when it's bad my raised beds are like islands in a sea of water. I was hoping to at least improve the drainage so I could not have that happen. I hadn't thought of growing rice but a paddy field is what it looks like when it has rained hard for a decent length of time.

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rowlandwells

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2017, 17:47 »
obviously I don't know the lay out of your allotment bayleaf  or if it has a ditch or dyke near it that you could tap into if it was only a short distance you could dig a trench get some old rainwater plastic pipe cut or drill some holes in it to take the water and cover with a layer  of pea gravel the trench must have a fall and deeper than you dig

I have basically  the same problem when it rains heavy bUT only on one part of the allotment but being on an incline it does drain away this happened when they extended the cemetery

now if this was accessible for a tractor and if you had a friendly farmer you could ask him to pull the mole drainer through the ground a simple and cost effective way of draining the ground if only "A"

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bayleaf

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2017, 18:06 »
It backs on to a recreation ground. There is no access for any heavy equipment as there are plots on my other side towards the main road. There are just the paths between people's plots.

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snowdrops

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2017, 09:46 »
Have a word with whomever you rent your plot from & or have you considered a wildlife pond to be shared by you & your plot neighbor? Might resolve quite a bit of the issue & improve the drainage throughout your plot.
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ilan

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2017, 17:30 »
I expect you will have to live with it I have a similar problem . I find that its very wet for just short periods after heavy rain but runs off after a few hours or at worst a day but in the summer the water table drops by a ft or so and provided the soil is well cultivated its not a problem Its possibly the reason the ground is allotments and not built on
This is the first age that has ever paid much attention to the future which is ironic since we may not have one !(Arthur c Clarke)

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JimB

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2017, 21:14 »
Dig a deep and wide ditch at the lowest end, water will find the lowest point!

On some of the plots at the side of our allotments a few year ago, nobody could do anything with the one at the lowest point, an older chap took over, and dug such a ditch, now he has no problem with very wet soil!

Ps, and dig a deeper sump at one end of the ditch, you will have water in that!
STOP, and smell the roses!

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Goosegirl

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2017, 13:30 »
Apart from solving your drainage problem it will encourage lots of wild life.
I work very hard so don't expect me to think as well.

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bayleaf

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2017, 16:49 »
Yes I think you are right JimB. My French drain is pretty big and it seems to be holding its own. I think if I extend it at a 90 degree angle and put the sump at the point where they meet it could work. Thanks for all the advice people, and if anybody else has an idea please post it here. Thanks

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Plot 1 Problems

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2017, 19:49 »
The plot at the lowest end of our site had this issue. A few of us got together for the day dug a trench at the bottom leading to big soakaway we dug out (around 4ft deep) and then filled with some hardcore and gravel and then covered over with some of the soil originally removed. Significantly reduced the flooding the plotholder suffers!

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bayleaf

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2017, 18:38 »
I thought my French drain was holding its own.  :(
Here are some pictures attached to show what the problem is. I took these today. The first picture attached is the view looking north towards the recreation ground with my plot on the right and the path in between my plot and my neighbour's on the left.
The second attached image is the view looking west. The french drain which is flooded runs alongside the path.
The final picture shows the raised beds I have made recently - islands in my paddy field :(
picture 3 allotment.jpg
picture 2 allotment.jpg
picture 1 allotment.jpg
« Last Edit: December 15, 2017, 18:40 by bayleaf »

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arh

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2017, 08:03 »
A french drain only leads water in the direction you want it to go, at the end of it you need something to remove the water forever, river, sewer, large soakaway etc. Looking at your photo's I think you need a river or the main drain of a sewer. To cope with that amount of water the soakaway will have to be huge.

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Aidy

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2017, 16:09 »
Aye up chuck. This is a very common problem across the Fylde coast, I visted Lawson Road in Blackpool when they were flooded and half the site was under several feet of water, tennants had to take chickens off site. I am on Acregate in Blackpool which is low lying and the slightest bit of rain and it flooded and we have now spent several thousands of pounds trying to improve the drainage system on both site and plots but it doesn't work with heavy or sustained rainy spells. I haven't been able to work on mine for a few weeks now as the ground is so wet.
Raised beds is the way to go but your paths will be as the photos show under water, it has helped some on our site.
Punk isn't dead...it's underground where it belongs. If it comes to the surface it's no longer punk...it's Green Day!

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bayleaf

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Re: Drainage issue - Any ideas?
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2017, 18:10 »
Hi Aidy, glad to know it's not just me. I drove down Yeadon Way the other day and saw some allotments from the road. Is this where your plot is? There was one with a huge Jolly Roger on a flagpole!
« Last Edit: December 19, 2017, 18:16 by bayleaf »



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