Garden drainage help

bettz

Hi we moved into our house Nov 2015 and the first winter all the grass died we had Moss all down the left side near the fence and the lawn was very boggy.




I aerated the lawn, put sharp sand down in places and added compost and top soil then reseeded the lawn.

This winter the grass has survived bit it's patchy in places and we still have trouble with water pooling when it rains in places.



What could I do to improve the drainage? I've looked at perhaps putting in French drains but I've nowhere for the water to go.

The only drain we have in the garden is where the sink, washing machine water goes to

Farway

Are your neighbours gardens in the same condition, pools of water etc?

If so looks like typical new build, compacted earth underneath where a zillion lorries came & went during building, then builders bung inch of top soil on and lay turf, collect the money and run

If neighbours are the same then that is the problem, or perhaps your garden is the lowest point

I can't think of easy solution TBH, if you dug it all up and put really good drainage under you run risk of becoming the local sump

Waht was there before house was built? Was it pond / wet area, flood plain sort off?

bettz

Alot of the neighbours have stoned there gardens which I don't suppose helps us. Next doors always seems fine but they don't really take much care of it and seem to get alot more of the sun.

The problem is during the winter down the left side of the fence it doesn't get any sun also the dog hasn't helped things digging.

As far as I know the area was farmers fields judging by Google Street view

DaftyDuck

Agree with Farway. I'd only add that, with high fences and housing all around, the added shade isn't going to help. Short of putting in extensive drainagd, there's not a lot you can do. It might help if you leave the grass longer in autumn, certainly aeration will help, as would never setting foot on it!

I really, really can't believe I am suggesting this, as I hate the stuff.... Artificial turf?

I will go and wash my mouth out with Growmore!

andrewf75

All I can think is maybe somehow ramming some spikes in to get through whatever impermeable layer is under the lawn. May need something fairly industrial though!

Artificial turf would still be flooded anyway, so wouldn't solve the problem even if it wasn't the stuff of the devil

bettz

Well next door never seem to cut there grass and that looks fine so I might try that.

I've gone over the garden with a garden fork gone right down as far as I could go, maybe I should of rotavated the whole garden last year

I just want to get it sorted in the summer it's fine.

I've thought about digging a foot away from the fence and slating along the fence and maybe putting pots along

andrewf75

bettz wrote: »

I've gone over the garden with a garden fork gone right down as far as I could go, maybe I should of rotavated the whole garden last year

I meant something a bit more serious than a garden fork! If you've already re-laid the lawn I'm sure the first 20 or 30 cm is fine, its what's below that. If you could hammer in a metal spike much deeper than that it might help - but chances are it would get through whatever is down there.

WestonDave

We've got something which I think is called an aligning bar but whereas most of those are only 600mm long this one is about double that in length and weighs a fair bit. Its got a spike end on one end and a chisel end on the other. Lifted and dropped into the ground will by itself make a fairly decent sized hole - you can hammer it in further if you want. You can then widen the hole a bit. If you make a load of those and then fill them with coarse sand and grit mixed, over time the worms should spread that through the lawn and help the sub soil drainage. Its not a quick or easy process.


The other option is to hire in something called a hollow tine aerator which you can run over the lawn and it will pull out a lot of plugs of soil - you can then sweep in coarse sand.

bettz

I've thought about having green thumb round with there hollow time aerator but judging from the neighbours garden a few doors away it doesn't go that deep, maybe after a few visits with me plugging the holes with coarse sand it would improve.

Looked on amazon and there's a few aligning bars that could go a bit further down with a hammer

DaftyDuck

Fence post and sledge, or pole whalloper! Will make a two foot deep bysix inch wide hole in no time. But, I still don't think it will really cure your problem, as the shade will remain.

Justagardener

Look up liquid aeration it clumps particles of soil together opening up channels allowing better drainage. Worked a treat on a lawn I had with standing water. I used a professional range but I think you can by a domestic version from amazon.