is there anything you can do with a water logged garden???

Question

even without the recent heavy rain our back garden becomes water logged very easily,under the top soil is clay which holds the water in the winter but keeps the grass green all summer.is there anything we can add to the soil to improve the drainage,we've heard sand might help.any thoughts from fellow yahoo'ers would be most welcome.

Answer 1

Bulky organic matter (garden compost, spent animal bedding, old mushroom compost for example) will help improve the structure of the soil and increase its drainage. This will not only reduce waterlogging in winter but help plants to extract nutrients from the clay soil year-round.
Initially, it would be best to dig in the soil improvers. Once you've started the process, you won't need to do more than add more layers by mulching (laying a layer on top of the soil). Good luck!

Answer 2

Have you considered raised beds? If you must have the whole area, it's going to take some work.The easiest way is to bring in more fill, basically making one big raised bed. The only other way is if you could dig a series of connecting ditches that drain off the property.Fill the ditches with drain field rock.Cover the rock with landscape fabric, then replace the top soil. now the water has some place to go. The ditch method wont work if you're at the bottom of the hill, or on flat ground

Answer 3

Ok I don't know how well plants will grow (or how safe it would be to eat them)in this but you can research it. SOIL AID is a soil additive that is used to soak up water and is used in baseball diamond infields.
I would simply add drainage pipe under your garden. Dig a graded ditch 1" every 10'. TWO feet deep. Install 4" perferated pipe and cover with pea gravel 1' deep. Cover top 1' with soil. done.

Answer 4

The willows are deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus Salix, part of the willow family Salicaceae.

There are about 350 species in this genus worldwide, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the Northern Hemisphere.

The above excerpt requires less 'work'...the excerpt below addresses the problem with suggestions to solve soil condition:

Dispersion occurs when a soil is sodic. When a sodic soil is wetted the clay particles are forced apart. This is generally a major cause of erosion.


[edit] Prevention of dispersion
Preventing dispersion can be done by:

re-vegetating the area
preventing the soil from becoming sodic though management of salinity
careful management of soils on slopes, such as avoiding clearing slopes.

[edit] See also
Sodication
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersion_%28geology%29"


Both excerpts are from the sources below in order of appearance:

Answer 5

Do not add sand. This will only make concrete. The best thing to add is organic matter. This will loosen the clay and help with the drainage. Also, try to avoid using a tiller to incorporate the organic matter. Roto-tillers tend to 'clod' the soil. You do not want this. Avoid using any type of gypsum as well. Where do you live???

Answer 6

Grow a willow thicket. Make for a nice songbird sanctuary. Can thin the canes and use for crafts and fuel for home heating. Lucky.

Sand tilled into soil typically won't help, unless we are talking very large volumes. Sand mixed with well finished compost in raised beds makes far more sense to me than mixing same into soil.

Answer 7

If youre not used to watering your lawn messing with it might give you dry and burnt grass during the summer. You might want to leave the soil as it is and get some water plants, shrubs or bushes and add them in a garden. They can consume the extra water when needed.

Answer 8

use a folk to open up holes to the full depth of the folk head. put them all over the lawn. Then rake in sone SHARP sand, not other types - get it from a builders merchants.

If its more than an acre, get a mechanised machine or a bunch of boy scouts and some beer to do the job for you

At the end of the day though, you'll be limited with waht you can do with clay underneath.

ME: live in clayville, UK

Answer 9

There is a product called EnviroMax, which helps in the draining of soils, expecially heavy clay soils. It is wonderful.

Answer 10

Fork the ground to a depth of about 8 inches and then cover with about 3 inches of compost.