Steve Anderson wrote:
[_2_ Wrote:
;940203']On Oct 24, 5:22*pm, Steve Anderson

wrote:-
Hi all,
I'm new to the forum and by no means a gardener, but I could use some
advice please.
A few years back we re modelled the garden by putting in some
decking, added around a ton of topsoil to level it off and a nice
new fence. What I didn't do at the time was put in some kind of
drainage for the soil and because of that our lawns have always died
at the lower side of
the garden. I thought I had cured it. Maybe you could let me know if
this is adequate but I dug a trench to below the fence, filled it
with large round stones. Then put a membrane over that and put bark
on top with a wooden border between it and the lawn. Unfortunately
our lawn is
dying and is pretty water logged at one side. Apologies for the long
story but is this still happening due to the soil. If it is, *could
you
also let me know how much of it to remove ie. do I have to take it
all away at the bad areas or do I just need a certain depth with new
soil. Thanks all

--
Steve Anderson-

In almost all cases the solution to water problems are

A - To divert it away from where it's causing the problem
in some fashion, before it ever gets there. An example of
that is regrading to direct it away.

B - To take it away from the problem area. An example
of that is a drain system that takes the water to a lower
area via gravity or some kind of sump pump system
where gravity is not an option.

Just digging a trench and filling it with rock doesn't sound
adequate. Of course it depends on the size of the trench,
but all it's going to do is take some of the water. If the
ground area is already wet and unable to absorb water,
once the trench is full that's about all the good it's going to
do.

Hi and thanks for the reply,
Perhaps trench is not the best word for describing what I did. It's
now a sloping run-off on the low side of the lawn that now goes under
the fence and away. The large round stones were so the water had an
easy route out through all the gaps.
Now I'm thinking that the soil has absorbed so much water over the
last 5 yrs or so, that it's just "gone bad" and just can't sustain a
lawn anymore

Highly unlikely. The soil could have been poor to begin with, but if it's wet,
wetness is likely the problem.