Hi,

Just want a spot of advice.
My soil is very heavy clay and waterlogs readily in certain areas of the garden.
My plan is to grow some climbers (clematis/jasmine) up a trellis on my shed (south/west facing). Unfortunately the area is an aforementioned soggy one (the subsoil was like muddy clay). I have dug down about a foot and replaced with compost and topsoil but this hasne helped.
So I figure the best way, is to go upwards.
I intend to create a small raised border/bed for my climbers and some annuals/trailing plants etc. Ill raise it about 9, anything higher will put too much soil against the shed.

Do I need to do anything else to my muddy subsoil, or will this be sufficient for plants such as clematis (armandi and a late flowering one)
I know they like free drainage.

Also is it worth lining the shed side of the bed.

Cheers

Ed

Also is it worth lining the shed side of the bed.


My only contribution here is with regards to the 'soil against the shed'.

Don't!!

The shed will rot faster than you could believe.

I have made a raised border against the neighbours fence and laid three rows
of concrete blocks, laid flat, just clear of the fence and fronted the
border with a couple of rows of 'book sized' broken paving slabs. The plants
at the front tumble over onto the patio and the plants at the back 'almost'
cover the concrete blocks, but strategically placed containers are also on
the concrete blocks as they form a very stable shelf.

All of this was made on very old rough concrete, but I made holes for
drainage before filling with soil and compost.

This is the first full year, I did this in the Spring of last year, and it
looks fine :-))

Mike

Mike wrote:
Also is it worth lining the shed side of the bed.



My only contribution here is with regards to the 'soil against the shed'.

Don't!!

The shed will rot faster than you could believe.

I have made a raised border against the neighbours fence and laid three rows
of concrete blocks, laid flat, just clear of the fence and fronted the
border with a couple of rows of 'book sized' broken paving slabs. The plants
at the front tumble over onto the patio and the plants at the back 'almost'
cover the concrete blocks, but strategically placed containers are also on
the concrete blocks as they form a very stable shelf.

All of this was made on very old rough concrete, but I made holes for
drainage before filling with soil and compost.

This is the first full year, I did this in the Spring of last year, and it
looks fine :-))

Mike


Correguated roofing sheet can be placed against the side of the shed in
front of the earth. Make sure that the sheet goes right down below the
level of the woodwork and that the air can circulate from underneath the
shed.

I would suggest the heavy duty resin types. Light plastic is not stroong
enougth, and cement fibre will still hold the dampness.

Give a good pasting of wood preserver to the bit of the shed to be
covered before placing the panel.

"gasdoctor" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Just want a spot of advice.
My soil is very heavy clay and waterlogs readily in certain areas of
the garden.

I am also on soggy clay, and as well as organic matter, I have just added a
ton on 10 mil gravel from a builders yard. I was in Harlow Carr (RHS
Harrogate) which is similar clay and saw them also adding grit to the soil.
I was told that sharp sand or grit or gravel or anything like that helps.
They also said add any organic matter even if it is not fully composted.. It
all adds bits to the soil to allow water to drain through.

Peter

"peterlsutton" wrote in message
...

"gasdoctor" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Just want a spot of advice.
My soil is very heavy clay and waterlogs readily in certain areas of
the garden.

I am also on soggy clay, and as well as organic matter, I have just added
a
ton on 10 mil gravel from a builders yard. I was in Harlow Carr (RHS
Harrogate) which is similar clay and saw them also adding grit to the
soil.
I was told that sharp sand or grit or gravel or anything like that helps.
They also said add any organic matter even if it is not fully composted..
It
all adds bits to the soil to allow water to drain through.

Peter



I have tempremental clay ... some bits soggy, other bits okay and some other
bits dry ... but I've got about 15 clematis growing quite happily!
Garden is east facing too!

Roger wrote:
Mike wrote:
Also is it worth lining the shed side of the bed.



My only contribution here is with regards to the 'soil against the
shed'.

Don't!!

The shed will rot faster than you could believe.

I have made a raised border against the neighbours fence and laid
three rows of concrete blocks, laid flat, just clear of the fence
and fronted the border with a couple of rows of 'book sized'
broken
paving slabs. The plants at the front tumble over onto the patio
and
the plants at the back 'almost' cover the concrete blocks, but
strategically placed containers are also on the concrete blocks as
they form a very stable shelf.

All of this was made on very old rough concrete, but I made holes
for
drainage before filling with soil and compost.

This is the first full year, I did this in the Spring of last
year,
and it looks fine :-))

Mike


Correguated roofing sheet can be placed against the side of the
shed
in front of the earth. Make sure that the sheet goes right down
below
the level of the woodwork and that the air can circulate from
underneath the shed.

I would suggest the heavy duty resin types. Light plastic is not
stroong enougth, and cement fibre will still hold the dampness.

Give a good pasting of wood preserver to the bit of the shed to be
covered before placing the panel.

Interesting, Roger. How long does it keep on working? With my luck
the weight of soil would squeeze even heavtyweight resin. Would you
recommend fitting 2x1 treated timber spacers edge-on along the bottom
of the shed to make sure the resin sheeting stays away?

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
Roger wrote:

Mike wrote:

Also is it worth lining the shed side of the bed.



My only contribution here is with regards to the 'soil against the
shed'.

Don't!!

The shed will rot faster than you could believe.

I have made a raised border against the neighbours fence and laid
three rows of concrete blocks, laid flat, just clear of the fence
and fronted the border with a couple of rows of 'book sized'

broken

paving slabs. The plants at the front tumble over onto the patio

and

the plants at the back 'almost' cover the concrete blocks, but
strategically placed containers are also on the concrete blocks as
they form a very stable shelf.

All of this was made on very old rough concrete, but I made holes

for

drainage before filling with soil and compost.

This is the first full year, I did this in the Spring of last

year,

and it looks fine :-))

Mike



Correguated roofing sheet can be placed against the side of the

shed

in front of the earth. Make sure that the sheet goes right down

below

the level of the woodwork and that the air can circulate from
underneath the shed.

I would suggest the heavy duty resin types. Light plastic is not
stroong enougth, and cement fibre will still hold the dampness.

Give a good pasting of wood preserver to the bit of the shed to be
covered before placing the panel.


Interesting, Roger. How long does it keep on working? With my luck
the weight of soil would squeeze even heavtyweight resin. Would you
recommend fitting 2x1 treated timber spacers edge-on along the bottom
of the shed to make sure the resin sheeting stays away?


I first saw this technique in a courtyard where it had been placed
between the plant beds and the white plaster walls. The proud owner
pointed it out to me as his own invention, but having been made aware of
it I have noticed it in many places. The person who showed it to me said
that orginally he had used bitumen like impermeable sheets but the
problem with these is that if moisture does creep in, it is trapped,
wheras a simple corregated panel allows air flow.

The heavy duty resin sheets I was reffering to are the sort that are
used as an alternative to cement fibre panels (i.e. like you get on
corregated factory roofs). Because of UV degregration they are normally
used where mediteranean style tiles are to be placed on top, but that is
not really a problem when you holding up a bank of earth! Maybe the
cement fibre is just as good?

As for the bottom, I would just tap the sheet a couple of inches into
the ground, or gouge a little trougth if it won't tap in.

If the sheet is impermeable, it does not need to be 'kept away' from the
surface it touches.

Thanks for that, so it seems the plants will be okay but the shed wont.
So I need to put something robust against it with perhaps some spacers.
What size gap?

Since this a low point in the garden, Im going to dig a "soak" nearby and fill it with/sand gravel, probably only a meter deep and square (not alot of room). Then dig a sloping trench from the raised bed and fill with similar, overlayed with soil. Will this help or do you think it will just attract ground water from elsewhere? (The area is under my "playarea").

Ed

Since this a low point in the garden, Im going to dig a "soak" nearby
and fill it with/sand gravel, probably only a meter deep and square
(not alot of room). Then dig a sloping trench from the raised bed and
fill with similar, overlayed with soil. Will this help or do you think
it will just attract ground water from elsewhere? (The area is under my
"playarea").


Don't forget the soakaway has to be deep enough to go down through any clay
or clag so that it can 'soak away', otherwise you will have a deeper soggy
patch than you have now.

we have a new Garden Centre near us, and before it was built, they dug a
deep hole and filled it with water to see how long it took to drain. The
idea being that the rainwater off the roof was going to be discharged this
way.

A week later the water was still there :-((

Mike

Roger wrote:
[...]
If the sheet is impermeable, it does not need to be 'kept away'
from
the surface it touches.

My worry there would be not the moisture from the soil side getting
in, but the inevitable moisture from other directions not being able
to evaporate freely from the shed side. But you've seen it working,
so it's OK.

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
Roger wrote:
[...]

If the sheet is impermeable, it does not need to be 'kept away'

from

the surface it touches.


My worry there would be not the moisture from the soil side getting
in, but the inevitable moisture from other directions not being able
to evaporate freely from the shed side. But you've seen it working,
so it's OK.

Being corregated the amount that is touching is less than the battens.

Roger wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
Roger wrote:
[...]

If the sheet is impermeable, it does not need to be 'kept away'

from

the surface it touches.


My worry there would be not the moisture from the soil side
getting
in, but the inevitable moisture from other directions not being
able
to evaporate freely from the shed side. But you've seen it
working,
so it's OK.

Being corregated the amount that is touching is less than the
battens.

As I said, I'm sure you're right; but I was thinking of increasing
the width of the gap.

--
Mike.