Thread: Very wet soil
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Old 28-10-2011, 08:58 PM
lannerman lannerman is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2009
Location: Lanner. Cornwall.
Posts: 359
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Originally Posted by Tefra View Post
Hello all, I'm new here and I wondered if anyone could help me.

I've just moved to a new house with a moderate sized garden that the previous householder had covered with gravel. I've shifted a small amount and pulled up the lining and the soil underneath is extremely wet, almost slimy. As I now live on the edge of the Brecon Beacons I can expect a good amount of rain, there's also a small stream about 50 yards away so it's a damp area generally.

Is there anything I can put down that's particularly good for very wet soil to give it some nutrients and body? At the moment I've just bunged down some straw on the small patch so I can at least walk on it to feed my chickens who don't seem to be enjoying the damp conditions much either.

I'd really appreciate any advice as I'm a new and fairly clueless gardener.

Thanks in advance.
Hi Tefra, Its possible that the soil is not as bad as you might think ? let me explain. Its possible that having the fabric with pebbles on top has caused the soil to become as you describe, often, when you first remove the fabric, it does appear as you said ? but before doing anything else, i'd roughly dig it over (even a small area as a test patch) and let some air into it, you might find that it looks very different ? Its because, the effect of the fabric and no air, does create a stale slimy effect as it is always wet underneath.
Try this first, you might be suprised !!
regards Lannerman.