Drainage - serious solution needed

[JimmerG]

A pond is a nice idea - but I'll be bone dry in the summer! And there's also my 1,3 and 5 year olds to think about - it hard enough keeping them out of the watering troughs!

I reckon I might do a good deep rotorvate - add a load of gravel and manure AND build some raised beds.

Hmmmmm that'll be nice and easy!

[Snadger]

A pond is a nice idea - but I'll be bone dry in the summer! And there's also my 1,3 and 5 year olds to think about - it hard enough keeping them out of the watering troughs!

I reckon I might do a good deep rotorvate - add a load of gravel and manure AND build some raised beds.

Hmmmmm that'll be nice and easy!

Sounds like you've got your work cut out JimmerG ..........good luck with it though!!

[weekendwellies]

Does anyone else get adverts for Plumbing and Drainage Cover, Underground Drainage and CamScan Drainage Cameras on this thread?
Are the ads specially picked for the topic of the thread?
Is big brother watching us?

[Bigmallly]

Posted by Sarzwiz when I asked the same question:

That's down to 'Google AdSense' which provides targeted advertising, tailored by keywords within the thread. You can set up similar if you have a blog on 'blogspot' and other sites. You (or in this case the Vine) get paid every time somebody clicks on an advert.

[JerseyJimbo]

jimmerg, i have a little experience of drainage etc. How does your lottie lie in relation to the surrounding geography? Would it be considered on a 'flood plain' or lower than rest of the land around it, we could be talking miles? These things need to be taken in to consideration before you put spade to soil and start digging a soak away or similar, as you pointed out you have a heavy clay layer below your relatively thin layer of top soil. Naturally this thick clay layer will be considerably less permeable than the top soil so you may find that the land in the area is saturated because of the amount of rain that has fallen in the recent months, and simply has nowhere left to go. Therefore digging a gravel filled drainage channel and sump may prove to be a fruitless task. Take a good look in the rest of the area and you may find that the story is the same...

[chriscross1966]

How thick is the clay layer.... trenching at he bottom that actually goes through the clay (and then backfill with gravel or whatever would allow much more rapid drainage.... if the clay layer is thin enough to punch through sensibly.....

chrisc

[JimmerG]

Hmmmmm, I like the idea of punching through a clay layer.... however the blimmin' ground is frozen now so it'll be a while before I can do some exploratory excavating - but I'll certainly give it a go....

my poor onions first they get waterlogged - now they're frozen.... I don't hold much hope for them..!

J

[kennyboy]

will this run away or just sit there and stagnate. I have the same trouble this year we have put raised beds across so far it has worked ,but we paddled in the path ways. good luck =kennyboy