[Parsnip]

Double digging and a sump drain it is...thanks so much for the great advice as ever.

[peapod]

Snip?
Let me know ok? Id be interested if yours works even if mine doesnt!!

[Salmo]

A proper drain is a good investment. On a plot it need not be deep as you will not have big tractors and ploughs.

Dig a trench out running down the slope. This should be at least 2 ft deep and a spade width. Slope the sides and it will not fall in. You may well have water running in the bottom so start digging at the lowest point and have some idea of where the water will go to after it leaves your plot.

The cheap, oldest, and very effective, way is to put brushwood bundles in the bottom. Put something over like hessian that lets the water down and keeps the soil out. Replace the soil.

More expensive is to purchase a length of 3 inch agricultural plastic drain from a builders merchant. This has slots in it which let the water into the pipe. Put it into the bottom of the trench, cover it with a layer of gravel and put the soil back. The alternative is to use tile drainpipes but they are a fiddle to set in a line in the trench and I am not sure if you can still get them.

[peapod]

What did you go for snip? (If you've done it yet!) OH has put a land drain in today on the 12ftX12ft spud bed (his choice its his bed the pipe cost £8 from builders merchants for a 12ft length)  and a sump drain will be going in between the other two 5ft x 12 ft wettest beds. So i can let you know which one 'werks for me'.

[woodburner]

Now you've got pics up I am wondering if you have the same problem I had on my first allotment. Basically the paths were compacted and acting as a dam.
I dug a ditch 18"-2ft deep across the path at the lowest point, put lengths of brushwood in the bottom then a layer of finer twigs, then refilled the ditch and put the turf back. ( Had a bit of topsoil left over too )

It has been an incredibly wet winter, my lottie is on a slope but, even at the top, the ground is wet and sticky. My lazy beds at home are lovely though, I think there's more to the difference than haveing been made into lazy beds or not though. The soil is completely different in the two locations.

[Parsnip]

What did you go for snip? (If you've done it yet!) OH has put a land drain in today on the 12ftX12ft spud bed (his choice its his bed the pipe cost £8 from builders merchants for a 12ft length)  and a sump drain will be going in between the other two 5ft x 12 ft wettest beds. So i can let you know which one 'werks for me'.

How spooky is this, I actually went up today  ( to see if it had dried out, there was lot's of activity on the site, they've cleared loads since I last ventured up ) and I thought of you Pea!!! thinking sump drains...

It's looks as though it's dry enough to at least have a go at the double digging nearer the top..

I wonder people, should we tackle the bit that floods first? It's not a dry as the top bit...

The good thing is we have a totally free weekend to get working on it...woohoo..at last

[peapod]

We've tackled the wet bits first, but we've already double dug,so went straight to doing the drains. I thought of you too thats why I resurrected the thread 

[Parsnip]

We've tackled the wet bits first, but we've already double dug,so went straight to doing the drains. I thought of you too thats why I resurrected the thread 

 

How wet was it though?  wet/ sloppy?...hubby wants to start on the drier bit - to be fair we've got quite a bit to remove ( weed and bramble roots etc) to get ready for planting me spuds, cos I've got them chitting...

[peapod]

Update on mine Snip, the land drains work a treat. We havent needed to put in sump drains on the next beds down YET!