Damp garden with standing water after heavy Rain

[Stevenb87]

Hello guys,

i have a small project to undertake in my back garden.

I have previously installed some drainage in my lawn, but after long periods of rain there can still be some standing water in a few areas, especially around the edges.

I was looking for some advice on hedges which thrive in damp/wet areas. Which sometimes has standing water. I would also appreciate some advice on a few trees which would help.

Any plants or trees which would help take water out of the lawn would be of great help.

I have attached a picture of the garden for reference. I have since placed a fence with gate along the front edge and the hedges would sit behind the existing and new fence.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks In advance.

Steven

 

[Logan]

Hello @Stevenb87 and welcome to the forums
Your garden doesn't look big enough for trees or a hedge.
What sort of drainage have you put in? Think that you need to aerate the lawn by using a garden fork and putting sand down.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.

The problem is that at this time of the year, you're not going to get much take up of standing water by any perimeter hedging as most will be dormant at this time of the year.

Yours looks like a relatively new build. Quite often builders lay turf on top of any old rubbish, it's happened for over 100 years.
You really needed to find out what's under the turf, if it's clay then you'll always have a problem. You could spike it with a fork but yoyu need to go down to the top of the tines and it'll take hours to make any sort of impression.

If it were my garden and I didn't want to dig it all up, I'd make provision for some of the surface water to run off into what appears to be a shallow gully around the perimeter of the lawn.

I've something similar although our lawn is edged with bricks, but there's a drop of about six inches beyond the line of bricks.

How deep do those chippings go?

You could try removing them and digging down deeper, then install some vertical drain pipes.

Does the rain run onto the lawn from the paved area? If it does that could be adding to the problem.
Also a bed of about two to three feet wide along the edge of the fence would absorb more water.


There's no "quick fix" for a really nice garden unless you are prepared to spend a fortune on plants.
Your best idea would be to visit a garden centre and choose a few plants as and when you cam afford them and fill it up a bit at a time starting with any area you can see from your lounge window, as this always encourages people to keep at it.

Ours evolved over twenty years.

 

[Stevenb87]

Thanks for the replies,

I have an 18inch deep stone drain around the edge of the garden, with similar depth french drains in the centre of the grass. This has helped, but water tends to collect in the front right of the grass as you look at the picture.

I have aerated the lawn a number of times this summer but hasn’t improved the drainage. The soil is very heavy with clay.

unfortunately I get the feeling I will need to remove most of the current garden and replace with clean stone and better soil.

The front edge of the garden is 4.5m, a hedge of approx .5m I don’t believe would take too much from the garden.

I like the idea of a vertical drain in the damp area. This is something I could maybe take forward. The patio does not run into the grass thankfully, it runs into a gully at the side of the garage.

 

[Tetters]

Welcome to the forum @Stevenb87

 

[Logan]

If it's always damp in the damp area, you could plant plants that like it damp, instead of you fighting with it.

 

[Hawkwood]

It depends on your damp, and of course of the rain.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Probably not a solution for you looking at your garden. I have an old and ill kept garden of heavy clay, plenty of rubbish to burn and I do it in an incinerator which gets good and hot. Every time I do it I add about a bucketful of clay in small bits and it is turned into terracotta, good stuff to add for drainage and it takes the clay away at the same time.

 

[Chuck-D]

A willow tree has an insatiable demand for water and a large root spread if your lawn is not near septic or water supply it can be very effective.

 

[Tetters]

I have a sneaky feeling that Steven with the damp problem cleared off a long time ago