On 10/28/2011 5:14 AM, Tefra wrote:
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.


A good starting point might be to remove the covering and have a
professional soil analysis performed using whatever sampling method the lab
recommends. Many garden centers perform or can arrange soil tests and they
are not terribly expensive (at least on this side). It might well be that
your soil is not as bad or as wet as it seems now -- some very nasty things
can happen to soil under an impervious covering and some of them might
self-correct once some proper evaporation and aeration can take place.

As an aside, mention of your location had me doing some research and I
think that reading about the Beacons Way has decided my destination for
next Summer's walk. It was a toss-up between Ireland and Wales and the walk
from Holy Mountain to Bethlehem seems like a truly worthy hike (but looking
at the ascents I might have to spend all winter exercising rather than
hibernating to survive for the eight days).