waterlogged garden

[ragtagbob]

Our hill top Pennine garden is sloping from top towards the house. All the top borders and top half of the lawn is absolutely sodden. There is a natural spring to one side but the old field drain appears to be inoperative now from the agricultural field at the back. This isn't a new problem but the amount of rain we've had recently is creating complete saturation and clogged soil etc.Worried the plants will 'peg out'. Will forking the ground help do you think to help drain? Ragtagbobtail

[Mudman]

It sounds like the field drain could be 'silted up'. The quick fix would be to hire a drain company to flush it but that's only a temporary solution. You really should have it dug up and re-laid with, at least, 14mm dry chippings surrounding the pipe. (Wrap it in 'Terram' weave sheet to be completely sure it doesn't happen again).

Another option to consider would be to built a 'well head' at the source of the spring to channel it away from your underground drainage. That'll reduce the load on the drain and help to reduce the 'silting'.

Hope that helps.. Let me know how it goes. I had a simmilar problem and the new drainage helped me.

[spacechimp]

Well, at least you haven't got a drought.