Totally Waterlogged

[Samurailord]

The top half of my plot is severely waterlogged, with lots of standing water.

My plot is at the bottom of the allotment, and it looks like there is a gentle slope which may be draining everything into mine.

There is an old land drain which goes diagonally across my plot - everything above this is great - well drained soil with only a little clay.

I have dug a drainage gulley from my plot to the edge of the allotment which has funnelled quite a bit of water away from me, but there is still absolutely loads left.

You can see the problem in this video -

On the allotment at the end of August 2012 - YouTube

Look betwen 7.40 and 10.40 and you will see what I mean.

I have now officially run out of ideas - has anyone else had similar problems and how did you solve them?

Please don't just say 'use raised beds' - I am going to use raised beds but I also want to be able to walk between them without losing a boot to the mud!

Thanks

Andy

[zazen999]

I think you are going to have to dig a much deeper trench, and put proper perforated pipe with sand down, so that it can drain away and you can still walk on the soil.

That is very very wet!

However, if that's what it's like, in the wettest year in 100, in Oldham - then at least you CAN actually walk on it.

One of these might help you when digging all those drains...Silverline GT52 Digging Hoe: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

[alldigging]

The bit between mine and lens plot is also swimming and that's higher up. It's just not stopped raining long enough for it to dry up!

And it looks like we're due more rain.

A big pipe network like the veins in a leaf is needed if you go the pipe route.Or you could just get some more raised beds going on the dry half for now and see what it's like in a dry year.

[SarzWix]

Dig trenches, fill with hardcore, leading to a very large hole also filled with hardcore. If you're putting in raised beds anyway, make the paths the trenches, and then the soil you dig out can go to fill the beds.

My dad has a bit of land on top of the hill above Colne which is always very wet and the only bits he's managed to dry out have a network of these sort of drains leading to a big pond.

[Samurailord]

I went to the plot again yesterday, and it was surprisingly dry, considering the rain we had last week.

Now don't get me wrong, the surface is still full of sticky mud but with very little surface water, and the drain I dug was also mostly dry so it looks as though what I have done so far is starting to work.

The new plan is to dig a trench along the edge of the plot filled with hardcore which will be fed by hardcore filled trenches from the plot, with an overflow to allow the excess to run along the drain I have already dug to the edge of the allotment.

We also have a small supply of perforated pipe which will be laid in these trenches to encourage water to flow.

This is going to be a long term project as it will take quite a while to gather the amount of hardcore I need, but I have been given the location of a huge pile that has been dumped on Council land nearby which we have permission to remove as and when we want.

Andy