The Lawn I'm working on slopes down towards a large pond (not part of the property). The grass is largely fine apart from one small dip which always get a large puddle.
Its only a problem between Febuary and March time when it rains (I'm in the South East of England). The ground is quite clay-y.
I was thinking of hammering a good few holes with a metal spike down about 4-5ft (1.5m), but was unsure if this would have much of an effect. My other plan was to fill in the dip with some good sandy top soil and then spike just to be safe. Is this a better idea?
Theres probabaly another 10 metres of the garden sloping down at a gentle grade before it reaches the pond, so its pretty close to the water table.
Many thanks
Rob
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Rob Millar
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- Location: England
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applestar
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This sounds like an ideal location for a "rain garden" or a "swale". Both of which some of us are TRYING to create -- I.e. intentionally design and *DIG* 
Are you sure the area has to stay lawn? 
FYI - In a rain garden, you plant in the low area with moisture-loving plants. A swale is a reservoir of water and provides moisture for plants lower down the slope (which, since there's a pond, may not apply in this case).
Are you sure the area has to stay lawn? FYI - In a rain garden, you plant in the low area with moisture-loving plants. A swale is a reservoir of water and provides moisture for plants lower down the slope (which, since there's a pond, may not apply in this case).
I agree that it would be best to work with the wet area as it is, rather than trying to dry it out. I'm not a landscaper, by any means, but I don't think holes in the ground would do any good. If you really want to drain it, I think you would have to dig down and place perforated drainage pipe in such a way that it would allow the water to drain out farther down the slope.
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hendi_alex
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I once had a neighbor whose front yard would fill up and flow like a river when we had a wet spell. The ground was not overly low, compared to the surrounding soil and didn't look like any kind of catch basin. As it turned out, the water table was relatively close to the surface, and don't know if accurate or not, but the water there was described as an underground stream that was surfacing. Anyway their solution worked perfectly. They dug a trench about two feet wide and two or three feet deep, leading away from the property. The bottom of the trench was filled will river rock and then the trench was covered over. The idea was to have the water fill that underground area and flow along the rock path, away from the front yard. I never saw water standing there again in the 15-20 years that we lived near that home. This was in sandy soil. In your case you may need to allow the rocks to go nearer the surface of the basin and may even want to have small gravel or sand for an entry point and exit point as you direct the water down the slow toward the pond.
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Rob Millar
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Cheers guys. I don't think I will use the rain garden idea, but its one that will bear in mind for the future for sure.
Unfortuntly where the puddle forms just wouldnt weird if a bed was there, and theres no way I can be arsed to dig a trench through all that horrible clay soil. I'm a profesional Gardener, but working in my own garden is a real busmans Hoilday (no fun). Ill just put up with a puddle
Once again, thanks for all the help everyone.
Rob
Unfortuntly where the puddle forms just wouldnt weird if a bed was there, and theres no way I can be arsed to dig a trench through all that horrible clay soil. I'm a profesional Gardener, but working in my own garden is a real busmans Hoilday (no fun). Ill just put up with a puddle
Once again, thanks for all the help everyone.
Rob