The Brew Cabin

Hi. I have a garden that used to have grass on it but it is now so wet that as soon as you stand on it you just slip and slide ripping off the grass, it measures approximately 30ft by 18ft and slopes diagonally from the front right to the rear left. I want to put a drainage system in to sort it out. What would be the best system to use to sort it out?

Jason Percival

Land drainage is a last resort when trying to improve the drainage in a garden. Have a look at the FAQ link in the Land Drainage section first. If you can improve the condition of your soil, it will not only rectify the drainage problem, it will give you a better garden.

However, if drainage seems to be to only solution, you should use a collector-type drain, but bear in mind that you have to drain it to somewhere. Have you an outfall in mind?

what I had in mind to use as an out fall was to dig a hole 3' square and about 3' deep with the sides built from block and then filled with gravel. Would this be ok?

Or do you have a better sugestion?

What you are proposing is a soakaway, but you've already said that the garden is waterlogged, so to where would a soakaway drain? The answer is that it won't - it will just fill with groundwater and all your work will be for naught.

A soakaway can *only* work in well-drained ground, which you haven't got. What you need is a Surface Water drain that you can connect to, or a ditch, stream, river etc, to which you can outfall.

Read the section on soakaways for a fuller understanding. :)