Installing drainage

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,
Have been poorly for a bit so going down the allotment and seeing it so over grown has been quite a shock.
So have decided that my first half plot needs to be totally re planned. It has a 4 grass paths, very wide ones to and a large fruit bush section. Planning to move fruit bushes to my second half plot. Also taking 3 of the paths out.
So I was wondering about drainage. It gets very, very boggy. Last lot of rain it had standing water on it even on the grassed area.
Would it be best to dig the areas over or use a tiller?
Also what type of drainage would you use? Has some drainage in some where but that was put in years ago.
Would it be best to go around the edge or go down the middle?
Thanks

[Alison]

Do you know why it holds water? If the ground is compacted then digging it over will help no end, if however it's a high water table then that won't really help. In that case you need to think where you want the water to go. There are a few plots on our site which flood down the bottom end where they finish next to the canal. The water can't flow anywhere as the side of the canal is there and obviously that forms an impermeable barrier. The plot holders there have dug a channel along the full length of the site and taken it to a gravel soakaway away from the plots. Basically what I'm saying is that we need more information

[noviceveggrower]

The plot is on the bottom of a slope. So it has all the rain water from other plots coming into it. From my plot it flows out across a path down a small banking and then into a stream.There is a small gully that we have found a drainage pipe from my plot going into it.
We have been told there is some drainage in the plot but apart from seeing the plastic pipe in the gully the only other piece I have found is a type of ceramic pipe but that has been broken and looks as if it has been broken for quite some time.
Have been told there is an underground spring somewhere possibly in the middle.
So if we strip and either dig or rotavator it so then we can put what ever drainage in.
Was so bad over winter we had standing water everywhere. Even the grass was water logged.

[Alison]

If all the other plots are draining onto your plot you also want to look at if it would be possible to divert that flow around your plot rather than through.

[noviceveggrower]

Would you recommend digging it all over? or digging then using a rotavator? Or just going in with the roatavator?
It is only a half plot and the ground is ok to dig just down the bottom it gets heavy going in the boggy area. It is diggable but boy do you know when you've dug it.

[roitelet]

I would go with digging, I know it is hard work, but rotavating can creat a pan and therefore not improve the drainage. Double dig if you can, you will only need to do it once.

[Bill HH]

The old land drains made of terracotta were usually installed as a main pipe running from the highest point to the lowest with multiple side branches joining it in a herring bone pattern. Often 2 or 3 feet deep. In the 19th century gangs of Irish navies toured the countryside installing them, we still benefit from them to this day. They do get blocked and if you can find the outlet or outlets it can be cleared and perhaps the use of drain rods would help. Nowadays plastic drains have replaced these and can be installed using a mole drill.
Either way its a big project and one you wouldn't want to take on unless you owned the property.
Best thing would (as Alison said) be to dig a ditch across the plot and down one side to head off the water before it gets to your plot. But it needs to be a decent depth at least 12 inches and to be regularly cleared of weeds. Quite a task.

[noviceveggrower]

Thanks for the advice. This year has been a total disaster down there. Have been flooded several times and the crops have been a disaster. Hardly had any strawberries and my fruit bushes have had nothing on them. Winter was just standing water everywhere.
So think major shuffle about is in order. I might suggest to my fellow plot holder who is sandwiched between my two half plots and has bad drainage to that in the autumn I put drainage in down her side piece along both her bottom strip and down to my gully. It will be a pain in the butt to do but with kids at school full time in September it could be the perfect time to do it.

[Nicos]

As Bill mentions- it could be the land drains needing unblocking.

My first port of call would be to contact the council...if it's a council owned allotment to get them to check the drains.
If yours are blocked then others too in the locality may be blocked....including those away from the allotments....all adding to the flooding problem nationally.

They need to be checking them out at some stage in your locality surely , what with all last winters problems not helped by lack of dredging.

If it's a simple blocked drain it could save you hours of work...and money!