One of my clients has great potential in their rear garden, its almost a blank canvas.
But - the grass is constantly soggy all year.
I've suggested they check with their utilities provider in case its a simple leak... No joy
The neighbours say their garden is always wet along the adjoining side so they have the shed and greenhouse on raised bases on that side. Water frequently runs "like a waterfall" down the neighbour's outside concrete steps.
I suspect this problem is partly the cause of the paved patio coming apart, whatever is done about the grass will involve relaying the patio in some manner.
What can anyone suggest? What to do about the soggy grass? At the moment the whole garden is a swamp...
TIA
Rach
Rachel's Garden
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Replies
Figure out if there is a way to drain it with a suitable network of properly installed perforated pipes
and or raise the level by a good few inches
or plant a bog garden..
I have a similar problem with one of my clients although its not wet the entire year. Its too big to suggest pipework or raising the level so I'm on the lookout for a swamp cypress to plant in the wettest part. hopefully it will suck up some of the water
You need to be careful Drainage is a complicated thing to work out. If in doubt bring in a professional drainage company.
1. how long has the lawn been down. It may be a compaction issue.
2. what is the history of the site - it could be full of rubble that is stopping water draining away. It may be compacted. I have a client at the moment that has bog for a lawn and it turns out the developer used to use their garden area as a material store so everything is compacted. I had another client that had 600mm of rubble under 200mm of soil that the developer kindly left for them. The garden was permanently wet.
3. is it a clay soil? If you install land drains where is the water going to drain to? I am not a fan of soakaways in clay soil but sometimes it is the only option. Secondly, the grass will still be wet even if a full land drain solution is installed as it is still clay for at least 150mm but it shouldn't be full of puddles. If you neeed to connect to the main drains you will need permission from the utility company and you need to install silt traps etc,.
4. what is happening around the site. If it is the lowest point, water from outside the garden can drain into it.
From my experience if the area is always wet the patio will struggle. I have tried raising beds in the past to get out of the wet which does help to a degree but it can turn into a big job.
Plant the garden to the conditions.
An excellent opportunity to create a garden with damp-loving plants and not so good for alpine or bowling green gardens