[cwblush]

Hi!

Hoping l can get some help and ideas.  I recently moved house and the back garden is a complete disaster area!!!  Being in N. Ireland it rarely stops raining and the back garden sloped slightly towards the house.  It has become completely waterlogged and is slowly turning to a mud bath!  Is there anything l could plant to maybe help drain the water?  Have to admit l havent a clue about gardening but am hoping to build up some skills so that l can start growing veg and make it a more functionable garden come spring/summer.
Hope someone can help!!
thanks
Carly
x

[Sally A]

Hi cwblush, first step I'd have thought would be get land drains in, it's like a wide drainpipe with holes in, dig a trench, put gravel in the bottom, place pipe in (, and make sure pipe leads off towards drains away from the garden, fill in with gravel.

This should stop the squelchy mud bath.

Good luck.

We all got trenchfoot last year before doing this.

[cwblush]

hi

thanks for your advice, where would l get drains from?
Like l said l have nooooooooooo idea about anything where gardning is concerned!  
As for the trench foot l made the mistake of putting my chaps crocs on last week and going out in the garden and came back like something from the black lagoon!!!
scary!

[Sally A]

We got ours via the local farmers suppliers, but all main builders merchants should do the pipe, I suggest you go to a real builders merchant and talk through the problem, rather than a B&Q type place.

What youre looking for is something like the tube that comes off the tumble dryer to the wall, its a flexible thing so it can go round corners without crimping, approx 6 inches diameter.

Pop your location in your profile, as others from N Ireland may know the right outlets to approach in your area.

[richyrich7]

Hi Carly welcome to the forums    Sally's spot on with the land drain, seems the best way round your problem.
 
Sometimes you can get a layer of soil that becomes more or less impermeable to water it's called a pan, you quite often see this at the entrance to a farmers field it always seems to be wet or muddy even if the rest of the ground is just damp.
This can be resolved by double digging, which is digging down 2 spades depth. You may want to try this on a patch see whet results it gives you.

You could also consider building raised beds for your veggies. You can find more info in the Information section, scroll down to the bottom of that page and there's 2 articles on raised beds.

[cwblush]

thanks

looking up building marchants just now and rueing the day l moved house hehe!  Been putting the garden off for a while so it needs to get started!  Its a sad case of small garden needed for a million things!  Will be worth it when l get it sorted!  Where about the legth for the garden would be the best place to put the land drains in?  Near the top or closer to the house?  The ground doesnt seem as bad further up away from the house but terrible at the house.

[Gwiz]

hello!
it depends on the length of the garden.
one way to put drains in is in a herring bone fashion.
The main drain goes down the slope to a soak away. coming off it would be lots of drains on eithe side, each going up the slope at about 45 degrees. It's a bit of a task putting it in, but it certainly deals with the water.
raisde beds may very well be the easier way to go. i use them on the somme battlefield-like allotment I garden.
and as a well know member of this site would say,
werks for me.

[Sally A]

I'd put the land drain in at the squelchyist bit.

[cwblush]

the scariest bit is nearest the house but cant dig down that deep there, i tried once before.  Would you just put in a sigle line of the drain?  Was talking to my chap about it and he was saying to do it l would need a whole system of it in the garden?!?
Then again he knws about as much as me!
hehe

[Sally A]

By the house would be the most important part.  We have about 3 springs that run through the garden and they all meet by the back door area, so we just did one along the back door area.

The springs are quite deep where we are, so as a rule go unnotced in the main garden area, apart from a few tale tale plants that grow in it's path.

[DeadlyNightshade]

Hey CW,

I wouldn't worry too much about the waterlogging, believe me, the soil (and the vegetables) here seem to be fit to take it the very best. I've even rushes and moss growing inbetween the veg!

My garden is always wet, I'm just after digging my wet garden, it never really dries out so I can't wait until it ever gets better

The vegetables don't seem to mind, only onions this year didn't do well, everything else just grows.

Good luck, enjoy and don't worry about the weather over here

Bell