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Old 05-04-2006, 09:45 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Mike Lyle
 
Posts: n/a
Default Sand on a lawn - how much and when?

JB wrote:
[...]

Actually not so adventurous and has been considered. Because of the
slope I have considered putting a french drain across the bottom of
the lawn which would still be above a patio where I could put water
tanks. Something like;

Lawn Lawn
Clay Clay Lawn Lawn Lawn
Clay French drain
Clay Clay Upper patio

Water tanks
Lower patio


Whoa there! Don't drain the _bottom_, drain the _top_! The idea of a
drain is to stop the water coming in: if you drain at the bottom, it's
already too late, so you've wasted your time. Put your drain across the
top to stop the water going _into_ the lawn, and down the side so that
it leads into the tank or pond. A pond makes a virtue of necessity, but
of course it will generally need somewhere to overflow to. A big lawn,
especially on a considerable slope, will want at least one more
cross-drain in the middle, also leading to the side drain. Consider
field drainage on a farm: the classic herringbone drains lead into the
ditch down the side, and thence to the river. This is a big job: good
fun, but big.

--
Mike.