Garden Issue
 

Hi all, I bought a new house 4 years ago and have had an issue with the garden since day one. On first inspection I found an accumulation of static water creating a bog that remained regardless of weather conditions. In addition to this, the garden as a whole remained waterlogged apparently due to clay soil. The builders prepped and turfed the ground in the hope that it would soak up the moisture but to no avail. Since then they have implemented around 14 "French Drains" leaving my garden in an unsightly mess but still the drainage issue persists.


My house was built on a hill with quite extensive ground at a higher elevation along with natural running water nearby (streams), could this be the reason the soil remains water logged. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Garden Issue
 

On Tue, 21 Aug 2012 20:12:15 +0000, !0thPlanet
wrote:


Hi all, I bought a new house 4 years ago and have had an issue with the
garden since day one. On first inspection I found an accumulation of
static water creating a bog that remained regardless of weather
conditions. In addition to this, the garden as a whole remained
waterlogged apparently due to clay soil. The builders prepped and turfed
the ground in the hope that it would soak up the moisture but to no
avail. Since then they have implemented around 14 "French Drains"
leaving my garden in an unsightly mess but still the drainage issue
persists.


My house was built on a hill with quite extensive ground at a higher
elevation along with natural running water nearby (streams), could this
be the reason the soil remains water logged. Any help/suggestions would
be greatly appreciated.

[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6170.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6169.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6168.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6167.jpg]

What's on the other side of that fence? And what about your next door
neighbor's yards, they seem to have the same slope.

The problem is the lack of soil pore space in the topsoil. A healthy soil should contain approximately 50% minerals and organic matter; and roughly 25% air and 25% water. Problems start to occur when the soil clay mineral percentage increases. Soil minerals are made up of sand, silt, and clay. Therefore the higher the percent of clay, the smaller the pore size.

The solution to prevent waterlogged soil is to promote the formation of water stable aggregates. The addition of organic matter certainly is a tried and true method, especially for flower beds. Needless to say, on a large scale this can be expensive and time consuming. Before you consider the various drainage solutions around the house that are available to you, you need to find out where you can redirect the water. The primary reason why an area becomes wet or mushy is because it is lower than the surrounding areas. There are many solutions for water drainage that you can consider to make this area dry.

When your property is constructed in a low lying area like at the foot of a hill, then you need good rainwater drainage solutions. During the monsoons, rainwater will flow downwards through the slope of the hill and there might be water logging in your property. To prevent this, you need to channel this rainwater into another place. The best thing to do in such a situation is to install a dry well. A dry well in essence is just a deep pit that is dug at the lowest point in your property. It is then filled up with gravel and river stones so that the water permeates into the ground. While doing dry well construction in your property, make sure that it is located away from the structure of the house.

Garden Issue
 

Hi,

My house was built on a hill with quite extensive ground at a higher
elevation along with natural running water nearby (streams), could
this
be the reason the soil remains water logged. Any help/suggestions
would
be greatly appreciated.

try to find out where the groundwater table is in your vicinity. If
its near the surface, you can't do much to lower it. Otherwise you
might have a inpermeable layer of clay beneath your plot and it might
be worth the effort to bore a few holes through this.

You could try to drain your plot to the the natural streams nearby, if
possible.

You could try planting trees that use a lot of water, like birch
trees. This helps only in the growing seasons.

Excavate, design a garden pool, plant Iris and water plants and enjoy
:-)


--
Klaus
www.wassergarten.tk

Garden Issue
 

My house was built on a hill with quite extensive ground at a higher
elevation along with natural running water nearby (streams), could
this
be the reason the soil remains water logged. Any help/suggestions
would
be greatly appreciated.

The only pertinent question is WTF would anyone buy a house on such an
awful property, were you blind or just dumb?

Garden Issue
 

In article ,
!0thPlanet wrote:

Hi all, I bought a new house 4 years ago and have had an issue with the
garden since day one. On first inspection I found an accumulation of
static water creating a bog that remained regardless of weather
conditions. In addition to this, the garden as a whole remained
waterlogged apparently due to clay soil. The builders prepped and turfed
the ground in the hope that it would soak up the moisture but to no
avail. Since then they have implemented around 14 "French Drains"
leaving my garden in an unsightly mess but still the drainage issue
persists.


My house was built on a hill with quite extensive ground at a higher
elevation along with natural running water nearby (streams), could this
be the reason the soil remains water logged. Any help/suggestions would
be greatly appreciated.

[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6170.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6169.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6168.jpg]
[image:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../IMG_6167.jpg]

Ever consider a pond?

--
Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg
or
E Pluribus Unum
Green Party Nominee Jill Stein & Running Mate, Cheri Honkala
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/13/green_party_nominee_jill_stein_running