I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with cement)

Thanks in advance


Andrew

"andrew224" wrote in message
m...
I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest
to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into
the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with
cement)

Thanks in advance

By the sound of it, you ought to try and investigate the reason for
this permanent wetness. If it is a water table which is as high as
that, you may have a problem on hand.

Franz

"andrew224" wrote in message
m...
I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with cement)

Thanks in advance


Andrew

Hi Andrew,
Lots of questions before an answer can be given and as I have been involved
with flooding in our road, and my daughter and son-in-law have just overcome
a very large area which was always wet, I feel I can help.

When you say small garden, how small is small?
Always wet. Do you have a spring on the land?
Is it a new house built on water meadow and are you the lowest in the area?
Do you have a water main broken?
How long has it 'always been wet? For as long as you have been there... 6
months? 10 years?
Has any land work been done recently, i.e., a neighbour raised his garden at
your expense?
Where is the nearest stream/flowing water?

and it is this last one, where my daughter and son-in-law have developed
part of their garden. There is a stream in part of their grounds which they
used to their advantage, but the stream petered out and disappeared
underground, however, another part of their garden was, like yours, always
wet. It turned out that this 'stream' fed the village Duck Pond, so in the
area which was always wet, they had a JCB in to dig their own pond, the
outfall of this carries on to the Village Duck Pond. So, is your bit of land
within the boundaries of the supply to the village pond? Can you do the same
on a smaller scale, such as a garden pond? And if you do, can you make it
lower than where the house is, so that you can take possibly damaging water
away from the house?

Your local Planning Office may have access to local maps where springs,
known as 'sinks' can be marked, and THAT might be your problem.

But first on the agenda, find out where the water is coming from, before you
try to get rid of it. You might be on a losing battle otherwise.

Come back and lets us know how you get on

Mike



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andrew224 wrote in message
m...
I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with cement)

Thanks in advance


Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Since the worst of the wet is near the house, you need to ensure that you
don't have a leak from the water services - drains, mains water leakage.
Neither are good news, but you could be paying for the latter. Have a word
with your neighbour nearest that corner: do they have a leak or soggy
ground? .. is there a local spring rising?

If the Water Board is involved, and because it's on your land, you will
probably have to pay.
If there's a rising natural spring, could you take advantage of it and start
a bog garden? The only other option is to lay drainage, and this could be
tricky if it is spring water - it may just bubble up somewhere else.

Laying concrete on permanently wet ground sounds an unlikely solution.
Would the concrete even set?!

Sorry if this doesn't sound very helpful, but it's difficult to quantify the
problem remotely. I think you need to do the investigative bit first, so
you understand exactly what you're trying to solve.

Spider

Spider wrote:

If there's a rising natural spring, could you take advantage of it and
start
a bog garden?

Or even tap it, bottle it and sell it!!!!

"andrew224" wrote in message
m...
I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with cement)

Thanks in advance
Andrew

Sounds as if you need proper drainage.......have a look at Tony's site;
http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

jenny

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'll investigate along the
lines you suggested and let you know what I find.

Thanks again

Andrew

"andrew224" wrote in message
m...
I have a small square flat garden that is always wet to walk on even
in summer time. The problem is worse in the bottom corner nearest to
the house. I have tried using a garden fork to get some air into the
soil but this has had little or no effect. Can anyone suggest
anything I may try to dry it out? (other than filling it with cement)

A natural pond and/or bog garden.

Obvious, really.

:-))

--
Brian
Sig: I have nothing to say

On 26 Aug 2004 10:36:06 -0700, (andrew224)
wrote:

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'll investigate along the
lines you suggested and let you know what I find.

Thanks again

Andrew
Remember that if you think you need to put in drainage, that drained
water has to go somewhere.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net