Help - what to do about drainage in clay soil?
We're getting lots of conflicting advice on what to do to improve the drainage in our clay soil. It's a 30 ft X 13ft (9m x 4m) garden in inner city London, surrounded by other terraced houses. We'd like to have a lawn in Spring, but water collects at the bottom near our retaining wall and doesn't drain away. It's not coming from a spring or anything like that.
Do we
- Try and install a French pipe drain, and if so, will just one do, or do we need to lay them in a T shape?
- Dig a trench and lay gravel and geotextile, i.e the same as above but without a pipe?
- Simply drill holes in the base of our retaining wall, in the hope that the water will run out into the drains?
- Mix organic matter into the soil, e.g. manure, and hope this improves the condition?
- Mix pea gravel into the soil and hope this improves the condition?
Take a look at the photos below. Our next door neighbour has a lawn that's full of sticky clumps and can't be walked on after Summer rain. I would really appreciate your help in formulating a plan.
Thank you!
Comments (7)
9 years agoI'm in the same boat was thinking about drainage in our garden but I've nowhere for the water to run off.
I tried adding compost and sharp sand last year and it made a little difference
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
And me! This wet corner is the last part of the garden to be drained. It's hard going!!! This has been emptied 7 times now since Saturday, water just sits....it goes no where!!! I'm so scunnered, I'm past adding more drains, and have decided on a bog corner.
If I were you I would skip the adding of manure etc, I've been doing that for the best part of 7 years...but we have clay soil for a good few metres down. Anyway all of that as you can see makes no difference, the water still sits and saturates the manure meaning you sink down....but yours may not be as bad as mines!!
id go for the drains but as you said you need somewhere for it to drain too. A sump in clay soil is hopeless so if you direct it to a house drain, otherwise it'll only flood elsewhere.
its disheartening, and you'll need more than one drain. Wish I'd done the whole lot, but stupidly done it in bits.....sigh!! I feel your pain!!!
Related Discussions
drainage problem on slight slope in clay soil
Comments (3)Thanks to both mel and joey. I neglected to mention that the plan is to till in about 5 yards of compost/sphagnum peat in the whole area. I don't think I could grow much of anything in this soil without amending. There is a semicurcular lawn surrounded by river rock -- or rather it was -- and I have already planted some columnar buckthorn against the back fence. There are also some other bushes and an ash tree, etc. Just not much in the way of flowers....See MoreClay soil and poor drainage
Comments (3)You should really investigate those drains, even if it takes some digging. I, too, have clay soil and poor drainage. The only place I have for gardening is in a lowlying area. I usually have some standing water after a rain event, but there are ways to cope. Amending the soil really helps, but I think it's more important to look at the drainage pattern, the direction in which the water runs off, higher to lower. Dig trenches around the perimeter of the garden to direct it there, hopefully in the direction of the french drains. Rather than raised beds, I do most of my planting in raised rows, so that the working paths between them also serve as trenches. When I plant crops like squash, I plant them in actual raised hills. Doing this, I've successfully managed to grow crops like onions, that hate wet feet [always on the garden's high side]....See MoreFix clay soil drainage OVER grass???
Comments (8)Thank you both for your answers. I should have stated originally that the grading is fine now, fixed before the turf went in, no more flooding the neighbors. However, water collects all over the yard and stays (seemingly) forever. We have 4 pet ducks who enjoy it and for the most part that's fine. The areas of spotty grass, or where there's none at all, is constant mud though. What I'm thinking is this: renting a cone aerator, do the whole yard, apply pumice, and aerate again. From what you kind folks on the forum have said I know it needs organic matter to improve drainage. ***But just what kind, and how to apply, without killing, smothering, or having to dig up the grass?*** I harvest straw with duck poop each morning from their sleeping quarters. My friend takes it for his garden. ***Should I put it on the lawn; does it need to be chopped up first?*** To top it all off, we just put in a small pond with a good filter, but the volume of teeny tiny particulates of duck poop make it impossible to keep the water fresh. I'm afraid we'll have to drain it a few times weekly. In other words, the mud/ soil drainage problem will escalate quickly. YIKES!!! Again, thanks!!! ***Oh yes, does anyone know where to get a hefty amount of ground pumice?***...See MorePoor Clay Soil Drainage. HELP!!
Comments (5)A lot of people put in a cistern, or above-ground tanks. The water from rainy times of year can be stored and used for irrigation during dry periods. You'll be able to water your landscape while other's can't. It isn't very expensive, and the tanks, (if you can't afford to bury them) are easily hidden behind lattice. The simplest method? First, put the tank it a spot where at least some of gutter runoff can be channeled directly into the tank (with screens to filter out debris.) Second, use your sump idea to pump the water into the tank(s). You could probably do the entire job yourself for less than $1000 and it will be a low maintenance investment. You could even channel grey water to the tank if you wished, and... if you started to collect too much, you could use the water for flushing toilets and other grey water tasks. There is lots of information available, and this is more common than many people realize....See More- 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
Well i dug down today on the part 9f the garden which gets waterlogged and i hit solid clay about a shovel and half depth
I also dug down where the drainpipe is hoping it goes deep enough to tap into
- 9 years ago
Sophannah