not the garden I expected... waterlogged soil

[tonio6uk]

Hi there all.

I was hoping to get a little advice on how to deal with my garden cost-effectively. I recently bought a new house and one of the features I didn't want to budge on was it had to have a garden.

As a new build, we figured it would be the best way to get everything we need without spending lots on doing things up.

Unfortunately, the garden we have is EXTREMELY prone to waterlogging. From what I can tell, the ground isn't soil but more like clay. I'm not sure if its clear from the pictures but the entire garden slopes down towards the house.

Every part of the ground when stepped on oozes water like a sponge (there has been a fiar bit of rainfall to be fair, but from past experiences it shouldnt be this bad.)

I'm no stranger to gardening and landscaping but I'm used to workin with proper soil and not this sticky clay type stuff.
.to make matters worse, it is literally impossible to get any sort of motorised digging equipment out there, since it is completely sealed in on all sides. Foot access only. My initial plan was to rotavate the lot, level near the house and have a two-tier system, using what I'd lifted near the house to raise and level the back area. Ideally I wanted to have grass, but it just grows very patchy out there. (The big patch in the middle was from a gazebo, oops!)

I'm no expert but I'm not in a rush and not shy of hard labour so would rather do the work myself to save money. Could anyone give me suggestions how to tackle this?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[rainbowgardener]

I think you are on the right track. You REALLY want to re-grade, so water isn't draining toward your house, especially since conditions seem to be very wet. I would build some raised beds towards the back. Dig out soil from near the house to change the slope. Mix what you dug out with some better soil, compost, maybe even peat moss, sand, to lighten it up, make it drain better, then pile it in to the raised beds. Path in front of raised beds can be paved and sloped to be a drainage channel.

By their nature, raised beds provide a lot better drainage than just the ground.

[imafan26]

The first thing a new homeowner does is put up walls and "levels the yard". When the developer graded the lot he put in a swale to allow water to drain out of the yard but away from the house and neighbors. It is like a bi "U" around the house. Unless you have a fluid easement you cannot drain your yard into your neighbors deliberately but if you have a retaining wall it should have drains. The problem is not so much the "clay" as the grade.

You can do this yourself but it requires taking measurements and equipment. It is probably something better to have a landscape contractor do. I prefer surface drains but a lot of people put in French drains and they do work. Over time they do clog up, but it may take 20 or 30 years before they have to be redone.

Putting gutters on the roof also help because what comes off the roof can be directed by the downspouts away from the foundation and the yard, and can be connected to the drainage system or to a rain garden if you have one. Mine goes into rain barrels, but the overflow goes by pipe out into the garden. The surface area of a roof is huge and a lot of water ends up coming off the roof so directing that away from the foundation is good for your house and will ease but not fix the flooding problem because you still have to fix it so water drains out of the yard.

Actually if your yard was graded and the plants and grass established, they would absorb some of the water, but you would still need better drainage to handle a large amount of rainfall.

[tonio6uk]

Thanks for the advice guys. The house does have guttering all around. The house walls are bordered right around with plain gravel I don't know how deep, but the entire garden slopes toward the house.
The water has begun pooling on a small "patio" area outside, literally just a couple of flagstones thick. I don't think there is any serious risk to the property itself, but its just a real pain in the neck that I can't allow the dog outside because she would literally need a bath every time she went out to go toilet. There are no drain points either, they're all out front unfortunately. I think the idea of mixing other materials as was mentioned previously is my best bet.
I couldn't afford a contracted landscaper, but even if I could I love being able to take pride in doing these things myself, which is why I came to get as much info as I could on how to tackle it.

Thanks ks for the tips!

[imafan26]

If you want to fix the grade yourself you have to take measurements and slope the grade away from the house if the grade is higher like a large slope on the property, you need to build the swale more or less in the middle of the yard and grade the house toward the swale on one side and the slope toward it on the other. The swale also has to not only collect but also slope toward the street so water won't just sit, but be directed out of the yard. A lot of gutters are put on the house but empty right at the foundation. you would need to put an extension on the end or you can connect it to a buried drain so it exits away form the foundation. At a minimum a splash block would help.
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/2014/02/u ... pe-part-2/

[applestar]

That looks like an interesting article. I'm reading it when I get the chance

[liacostauk]

If your soil has poor drainage but not a high water table, and if inspection of your soil pit reveals soil that seems amenable to cultivation, then dig in plenty of organic matter.

[imafan26]

The soil was probably compacted from the construction and new construction usually scrapes off the top soil to do the leveling and what you are left with is sub soil which contains almost no organic matter and is nutritionally poor. Adding compost will definitely improve the tilth. I am a proponent of soil tests at least a baseline one would be good. At leat you will get recommendations on what your soil needs. Most clay soils are highly weathered soils that are nutrient poor but have good cec which gets better with the addition of organic matter. It is not the easiest type of soil to work with since it is sticky and heavy when wet and cannot be worked until it dries out or it just becomes a mass of clods for a while. If you are planning to put in a vegetable garden, it would be easier to put in a raised bed in full sun with access all around, not up against a wall. 4ft wide x 10 ft is a good sized bed. Fill it with good soil mix or do a lasagna bed if you are not going to use it right away. I can get a planter mix from the local composting facility for about $48 a cubic yard. It is ready to plant immediately, but it does have cinder so not the best choice for roots like carrots but great for everything else.