"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...

"Dan Welch" wrote in message
...
Hello,
We've recently moved to a brand new house - which means, of course, that
there's nothing in the garden. It's level, but that's about it. The house
is
built on old school playing fields and so the soil appears to be OK.
All is well except for one corner, in the part of the garden I have ear
marked for vegetables. It is extremely poorly drained and normally has
some
standing water if it's rained in the last few days. I've put some
raspberry
canes in that general area but have avoided the waterlogged area. What
plants really like very wet soil? I think that I could plant a willow
tree,
but that's not ideal. Watercress would probably grow there but I have a
limited capacity for that! I'd love to accept the site as it is and dig a
pond there, but we have a toddler so that's something best avoided. Any
thoughts?

Nobody seems to have suggested digging down into the wet patch to find out
what kind of subsoil you have (e.g. builders plastic) which may explain
why
this particular spot is wet.

If you want to grow vegetables then one option is to dig a 'soak away' to
improve the drainange.

If you are on an old school playing field then there could be almost
anything under there e.g. established land drains which have become
displaced/blocked at one spot, so other areas are draining into it and
forming a wet spot.

If only one spot in the garden is poorly drained, unless it is the low
spot
in the garden, there could be something unusual going on in that spot.

Just reminded me of where I used to live.
Across the road the back gardens had a diagonal ridge at the far end
running
across several gardens. This was apparently the bank of an old stream,
which
had been filled in when they built the houses along the street. [I assume
the near bank had been removed and levelled into the lawn area].
After heavy rain, the area of the original stream bed used to flood.

Probably useful to have some idea of the cause of flooding before deciding
your strategy.

Cheers
Dave R


Interesting - if slightly disturbing - thoughts there Dave. Thanks! I think
before doing anything drastic I might take your advice and have a bit of a
dig, see what I find... there was nothing on the drainage survey pre
purchase, but they can be a bit 'approximate' in my experience.
cheers
dan