BIGTOM wrote:
Thanks again for all the detailed information. I think he has only 3
inches of top soil.
Another Gardening friend suggested using a 1½" auger and making 18"
deep holes
about 1 metre apart and filling with coarse grit but postings todate
seem to advocate a sand-soil mixture.
I will pass all of this on to my son in law. He is half my age so it's
up to him !!!!!
tom

Boring inch-and-half holes will be a _complete_ waste of time. 18" deep,
even if not filled with grit, would only hold a few hearty gulps. And if
the holes were eighteen _feet_ deep, they'd still fill up fast enough to
leave him back where he started.

The only complete solution is drains, and, as has already been said,
they will work only if they lead somewhere. That could be a pond, or
wherever the rainwater goes from the gutters on the house. A pond like
that would, of course, need an overflow in a rainy area, so it's back to
wherever the rainwater downpipes go. Even ripping up the whole lawn and
relaying it on top of a quick-draining layer, like a football pitch,
still implies some sort of drain at the lower end.

If most of the water is seeping in off neighbouring land, though, rather
than just rainfall on the lawn itself, then a simple deep stone drain at
the upper end, leading down the side, should help. A raised lawn with
crushed stone paths all round a few inches lower might work. Hard to say
without seeing the site.

--
Mike.