Help with my waterlogged garden !!

Ettenna

I have just moved into a rented place and the back garden is awful! The front garden isn't too bad just weedy. The front garden gets the sun in the morning and the back in the afternoon/evening.

The street was flooded (majorly and a freak thing) in 2007. I presume that the ground has not recovered but there are quite a few of the gardens that are beautiful now.

After this rain the ground is soaking and has got standing water on it. There is little grass, many weeds (dandelions, something that looks and smells like garlic, nettles and dock). There are some largish lleylandi in the garden that backs onto mine, ivy growing up all of the trees and some suckery root things coming up from somewhere (but definitely not roses).

I really want to do something with the garden because I have an 18 month old living here who is desperate to get out to play but he can't because it's too soggy.

I had a lawn man over who said they could restore it for £200 and had another who said it would be a waste of money to do anything with the grass side of it until drainage is sorted. They both said that there was little top soil and some compaction. The second man suggested getting a landscaper in to take off the top layer off, removing all the weeds and putting a couple of tons of topsoil down then preparing it for seeding/turfing.

I haven't got much money spare but really would like to get something done. I had even thought of turning the whole lot over to concrete!!

Thank you.

GlynD

The second man is correct. There's nothing sensible can be done to it until the drainage is sorted out. It would really be up to you to discuss this with your landlord and see what, if any, assistance her would give you with it. In circumstances like this I'd say it's likely you've got a layer of clay just under the topsoil which is preventing drainage - unless there's an un-natural reason - and if you removed that and put in a layer of stones covered with topsoil then you'd be left with a dry garden.

That's my 5 bob's worth anyway.

Leif

This rain is unusual, the wettest April on record, so next year should be better. Unless you are unlucky, the damp is not typical of your lawn. It might be worth trying to aerate the lawn (once the sogginess has gone) and then perhaps putting down some sand, and some feed and weedkiller. I bought some spiked sandals and then walked over the lawn to fill it with 2" deep holes. It seems to have helped. I then put down some feed and weed/moss killer. I am surprised how much the lawn has improved. It is still not good, but it is much better. By the way the spiked sandals were bought from ebay, not a huge amount of money. You can also use a garden fork to spike the lawn, it is harder work, but if you already have a fork, then it is cheaper.And you can make deeper holes, which will help it drain.

TheMoneySpider

If you have a thick layer of clay you will have problems, I dug down 5 foot and filled it in with sand and gravel and it still floods to a degree...dig a deep soakaway and as long as it goes through the clay layer it will almost act as a plughole for your lawn.

Failing that you might well have to construct a network of drainage pipes under the lawn and have it flow out into the drains. That's a complex job though.

Leif

It just occurred to me that you might be getting rain water from the roof discharged into the lawn. The drainpipes from my roof discharge into pipes that project a few meters into the lawn, about 12" deep, or more like 6". I am on a slope, so one end of the garden gets wet, and I think it is rain water discharged at one end, running down the slope to the other, but beneath the surface. One possible help is to get water butts, so you collect the water, then use it as and when you need it, rather than having it all drain into the garden during a flash storm, of the kind we are having.