Landscape over land drainage pipes

LuisaV

Hello, I would like to find out if I can plant perennials, shrubs and possibly dwarf fruit trees directly above a land drainage pipe without causing probles to the pipe?
We bought a new build house, which turned out to be built at the lowest point of the road so the back garden is affected by a great amount of run off during rain spells. To help draining the water, the developper installed a land drain pipe (french drain pipe), which runs across the perimeter of the garden all around the boundary lines where I wanted to have my sleeper edging.
It is the usual perforated plastic pipe surrounded by shingles and wrapped into geotextile filter membrane and it is about 40cm deep into the ground. Ot top of the ground level, there is a layer of topsoil between 30 to 40 cm covered by turf. My concern is that the root system of the plants could block the pipe. I thought of building raised beds to add an extra 40 to 60 cm and give room to the roots but it is very expensive and I would happily save that money if I can go ahead and plant directly after removing the turf. I am not even sure whether raised bed is actually a viable solution. I could not find an answer anywhere and I hope someone will have an answer to my question? 
thank you!

MikeJXE

It seems to have been done properly but I would check for the membrane then you will be fine 

twopenny

40cm isn't that deep for larger plants and the type of pipe.

I found that the place I bought was surrounded by drains near the house and that dramatically changed all my wonderful ideas.
Disappointing though that was I have been steadily working around the problem with new ideas. It is constantly challenging but possible.

Also raised beds can be made without spending a fortune if that is going to be your preferred way to go.

A regular to this board may have some good ideas about drainage.

35har1old

LuisaV said:

Hello, I would like to find out if I can plant perennials, shrubs and possibly dwarf fruit trees directly above a land drainage pipe without causing probles to the pipe?
We bought a new build house, which turned out to be built at the lowest point of the road so the back garden is affected by a great amount of run off during rain spells. To help draining the water, the developper installed a land drain pipe (french drain pipe), which runs across the perimeter of the garden all around the boundary lines where I wanted to have my sleeper edging.
It is the usual perforated plastic pipe surrounded by shingles and wrapped into geotextile filter membrane and it is about 40cm deep into the ground. Ot top of the ground level, there is a layer of topsoil between 30 to 40 cm covered by turf. My concern is that the root system of the plants could block the pipe. I thought of building raised beds to add an extra 40 to 60 cm and give room to the roots but it is very expensive and I would happily save that money if I can go ahead and plant directly after removing the turf. I am not even sure whether raised bed is actually a viable solution. I could not find an answer anywhere and I hope someone will have an answer to my question? 
thank you!

Do these drains run to a outlet or they just soak a ways which are dependent on the water table which might not drain away at a certain time of year.
You might need to plant things that are capable of copying with wet conditions.

LuisaV

35har1old said:

LuisaV said:

Hello, I would like to find out if I can plant perennials, shrubs and possibly dwarf fruit trees directly above a land drainage pipe without causing probles to the pipe?
We bought a new build house, which turned out to be built at the lowest point of the road so the back garden is affected by a great amount of run off during rain spells. To help draining the water, the developper installed a land drain pipe (french drain pipe), which runs across the perimeter of the garden all around the boundary lines where I wanted to have my sleeper edging.
It is the usual perforated plastic pipe surrounded by shingles and wrapped into geotextile filter membrane and it is about 40cm deep into the ground. Ot top of the ground level, there is a layer of topsoil between 30 to 40 cm covered by turf. My concern is that the root system of the plants could block the pipe. I thought of building raised beds to add an extra 40 to 60 cm and give room to the roots but it is very expensive and I would happily save that money if I can go ahead and plant directly after removing the turf. I am not even sure whether raised bed is actually a viable solution. I could not find an answer anywhere and I hope someone will have an answer to my question? 
thank you!

Do these drains run to a outlet or they just soak a ways which are dependent on the water table which might not drain away at a certain time of year.
You might need to plant things that are capable of copying with wet conditions.

as far as I know the pipe is connected to the main drainage system on the house side driveway. They initially only installed the pipe in one point and lter decided to extend it so they replace the original pipe with a much longer one.
Do you mean that you don't think thenplants root will interfere with the pipe?

Dustyevsky

LuisaV said:

35har1old said:

LuisaV said:

Hello, I would like to find out if I can plant perennials, shrubs and possibly dwarf fruit trees directly above a land drainage pipe without causing probles to the pipe?
We bought a new build house, which turned out to be built at the lowest point of the road so the back garden is affected by a great amount of run off during rain spells. To help draining the water, the developper installed a land drain pipe (french drain pipe), which runs across the perimeter of the garden all around the boundary lines where I wanted to have my sleeper edging.
It is the usual perforated plastic pipe surrounded by shingles and wrapped into geotextile filter membrane and it is about 40cm deep into the ground. Ot top of the ground level, there is a layer of topsoil between 30 to 40 cm covered by turf. My concern is that the root system of the plants could block the pipe. I thought of building raised beds to add an extra 40 to 60 cm and give room to the roots but it is very expensive and I would happily save that money if I can go ahead and plant directly after removing the turf. I am not even sure whether raised bed is actually a viable solution. I could not find an answer anywhere and I hope someone will have an answer to my question? 
thank you!

Do these drains run to a outlet or they just soak a ways which are dependent on the water table which might not drain away at a certain time of year.
You might need to plant things that are capable of copying with wet conditions.

as far as I know the pipe is connected to the main drainage system on the house side driveway.

Hopefully not, though it happened in the good old days. Now, it's against building regulations to connect surface water drainage to the main drains. It's possible an estate of houses might have separate land drainage connected to a communal soak-away or swale, though.

As regards planting, it would be best not to plant very large shrubs or trees close to the soak away pipe, but in the real world ideal conditions can't easily be met. I have two soak away pipes installed close to hedges; one of them elm with roots that cheerfully travel 8 or 10 m from the hedge itself. If they eventually find their way into the pipe, these roots are unlikely to block it completely, so I don't worry. It's not like foul water drainage, where there should be no interface between the contents of a pipe and the environment. I also factor-in that I'm of mature years, so whatever the pipe is doing in 20 years doesn't unduly bother me! Whether your house is a 'forever' home, or a stepping stone property might therefore have an influence on what you do.

 

Farway

Not an answer that may be practical in your circumstances, but the road I live on had the local village pond at one end [long since filled in]

The developer planted two well known water hungry trees there, willow & swamp cypress

I'm not suggesting these would be suitable for you, but maybe some other water hungry shrubs or fruiting type would help with removing any excess water

Any room for giant rhubarb [gunnera] ? Probably not, but what a visual impact it would have.

ArbitraryRandom

There's some beautiful plants (even with shallow roots) that love wet conditions, depending on quite how wet or clay the soil is and the general style/feel you want for your garden: 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/19190/zantedeschia-aethiopica-arum-lily-altar-lily/details
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/97402/cornus-stolonifera-flaviramea/details
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/192383/iris-ensata-loyalty/details
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/2320/blechnum-spicant/details
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/180300/dicentra-formosa-bacchanal/details

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Not an answer that may be practical in your circumstances, but the road I live on had the local village pond at one end [long since filled in]

The developer planted two well known water hungry trees there, willow & swamp cypress

I'm not suggesting these would be suitable for you, but maybe some other water hungry shrubs or fruiting type would help with removing any excess water

Any room for giant rhubarb [gunnera] ? Probably not, but what a visual impact it would have.

The thing is, waterlogging takes place mainly at the time when water-hungry plants are not very thirsty. I know this because a close friend has a new build, but without the proper drainage like the OP has installed. Consequently, her garden goes partially underwater at one end during an average winter. Apart from remembering not to buy from Barratt again, there isn't much she can do, except grow tolerant plants, like those Arb has posted.

Slinky

I would investigate one of those policies the water companies seem to promote, regarding insuring the pipework which is your responsibility on your land. Not sure if it would cover surface water drainage pipes, but my friend was able to claim for root damage to their drains. Could be worth considering. Would have cost her a couple of thousand.

ETA Gunnera has just been put on the list of invasive plants

LuisaV

Slinky said:

I would investigate one of those policies the water companies seem to promote, regarding insuring the pipework which is your responsibility on your land. Not sure if it would cover surface water drainage pipes, but my friend was able to claim for root damage to their drains. Could be worth considering. Would have cost her a couple of thousand.

ETA Gunnera has just been put on the list of invasive plants

This is really helpful, thank you!