Water Water Every where

[Tazmanfishing]

Help, I am in need of some advice,

I will be changing part of my garden to a veggie plot this year for next year planting, The problem is I have about 12 inches of soil and then SOLID clay, With all the rain we are getting the soil cannot take any more and is now puddling.

I plan to dig some trenches and fit some drainage / soak away.

Can anyone tell me which is the best type of drainage.

Thank you all in advance.

Brian.

[Two_Sheds]

Hi Brian. Can you put your location into your profile, so we can give more accurate advice xx

12 inches of good soil is fine. You shouldn't disturb the subsoil underneath it.

Digging trenches is hard work - I'd only do that if your garden regularly floods.

Otherwise, improve your soil, and natural drainage, by incorporating lots of garden compost, well rotted manure ... the usual stuff.

[Kristen]

Raised beds. That's all you need, I reckon. My soil is poor, the topsoil nothing special (but it will be in a few years after its had lots of muck-dressings ) and my sub-soil is only good for making bricks! - just like yours I expect.

If you really need drainage then I would:

Make a trench (preferably using a mini digger with a narrow trenching bucket, or a chain-trenching machine). Run the trench bottom at a slight angle - so the water can run downhill

Lay some perforated draining pipe in the bottom (it comes on a roll - 80mm is probably big enough)

Cover with large-ish (i.e. not the small pea-shingle) gravel

Refill the trench

If there is no ditch, pond or other outlet at the lowest point you will have to make a soak-away - a big, deep, hole filled with large stone - the idea is to leave plenty of space between the stones for the water to sit in, and then gradually percolate away.

(That's only a rough guide, don't take it as gospel and start work without some more research please!)

But I reckon raised beds will have the same effect, and IMHO its the <b>only</b> way to grow vegetables.

[Tazmanfishing]

I have updated my profile, that must have been a whoops, on my part,

I live in a hollow on top of a hill and the garden does flood. When you get past the top soil, which looks really good, there is clay.
(I was going to get a potters wheel and have a hobby for the winter.)

So once the garden has had its fill of water it then puddles and when you walk on the grass you can here it squelching..

I have already got some raised beds which do ok, But i would like to try growing in the garden first, as I will have quite a large plot.

I think I will recruit a few friends and arm them with shovels if it ever stops raining.

I plan on rotorvating late autumn / winter with lots of the good stuff thrown in.

Blister here we come.

[Snadger]

Drainage is not an easy issue and you would be hard pressed to get a contractor to give you a guarantee.

As Kristen says, raised beds may help.

Depending on what your garden has had i.e. a lawn?....... you could have compaction issues WITHIN the topsoil. When this compaction is relieved (Ideally by double digging!) sand and organic matter added (as TS mentions) your problems may be solved.

If you are resigned to digging trenches and putting in drainage the drainage will only be as good as the backfilling material and this would need to come up to just below finished soil level and not be capped by soil.

If you garden on a slope common sense will dictate that you put the soakaway at the lowest point with either a grid system or herringbone system of drains feeding into it. The drains need be no deeper than the deepest vegetable roots to allow them to dissipate surface water quickly.

If your garden is reasonably level you could dig a trench around it backfilled with large gravel or left open (known as a 'French drain') and the water should percolate side ways into it.

If you do go for raised beds the drainage channels could be put below the paths allowing them to be gravelled right to the surface.

All I would say is don't asume that by digging trenches and putting drains in the problem will be cured. You do what you THINK will work, and if it doesn't you resort to plan 'B' or failing that C-D-E-F and G! Lol

[Tazmanfishing]

Thanks for all the ideas.

I have been here for nearly 5 years, and it does seem to be getting worse, So the compacting of the soil might be the problem.

plan "C" and onwards is looking good.... I could just build a pond.

I have got some thinking to do,

Decisions, decisions.......

There is still a month or 2 to decide,

going to have a beer and a think.

[SarzWix]

The drainage on my allotment was terrible when we first took it on - clay soil, uncultivated for at least a couple of years. Everything squelched after heavy rain! But after marking out beds and digging them over, plus adding plenty of muck to the soil, the drainage of the beds has improved 100%. The paths, however... We haven't done anything to them and they still collect surface water which doesn't drain away for ages & then go slippery & squelchy!
So don't despair, dealing with the compaction will hopefully work wonders, especially combined with a decent drainage ditch to take some of the water out of your basin

[Tazmanfishing]

I will be giving it a good turning over, with the help of a rotovator, in a few weeks and a good feed.

Hopefully with air in the soil I should see a change to the flooding.

I will keep you all posted.

cheers for all the advice

Brian.