On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 19:13:46 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

Klara wrote:
In message , MM
writes
My brand-new house has a patch at the back which is nominally
designated 'the garden'. It is nice and level, but is extremely
soggy. At the moment it is bare earth with a few tufts of
samphire-like weeds here and there (this is reclaimed land in the
Fens).

It's been soggy ever since I moved here (6 weeks ago) and there
are
continual puddles of water everywhere. I cannot walk on it without
wellies. Are certain shrubs good for drawing up the water? What
about
a lawn - best to sow lawn seed or get some turf? Any other ideas
to
soak up the water? I did think of digging a deep pit and filling
it
with gravel.

Aren't the builders responsible for putting land drains in in a
situation like this? The conditions may well affect your house as
well
as the garden....

I'd get a surveyor in -- the Local Authority might do it for you --
and sue somebody's backside off.

That's premature. Flat, reclaimed, recently built on land in the
fens, in the middle of one of the wettest winters, could be expected to
be unworkably wet atm. I have sandy, fast draining soil on a hillside,
and due to the exceptional rainfall it too has been exceptionally soggy
and unworkable all winter until this week when, oh joy, we had four
consecutive days without rain. Probably for the first time this winter.

OP, you can't judge in midwinter. Particularly this midwinter. Wait
and see what happens later in the year; don't sow a lawn until you know.

If by May/June it turns out you have a permanently soggy garden, or
part of a garden, plants won't dry it. Instead, plant ones which love
soggy/boggy conditions...there are many very beautifulo and dramatic
ones.

The soakaway idea you mention, will only work as a drain if its
bottom is above the permanent water table. IOW, if you did a hole into a
high water table, you will have a hole full of water. Fill it with
stones, and you will have a hole full of stones and water, which does
nothing to drain the surrounding area.

Interesting points, Janet. Thanks!

MM