My Wet Patch

[bearded bloke]

Can you take some photo's of the general area so we can see what you have to work with please. Great care needs to be exercised here in how & where you redirect the water as undermining the wall that supports the road could potentially cause even more problems.

[Bigmallly]

How is leaving tubes in the ground going to help drainage unless they have holes drilled into them through the length of the tube.

[d000hg]

Oh yeah, that was when I thought the soil was just too clay-ey. Now I realise the soil is the same everywhere, it just doesn't drain in that corner.

Hammering in and leaving permanently hollow rods with holes in I could see being an option, but I never heard of such things. Such a "minimally invasive" approach would be great!

[veggiechicken]

You pull the rod out - leaving a hole!! Fill it with sand or gravel to improve drainage, if you want.
I was going to suggest you check for water mains (or any underground pipework before you do it). I see from your previous thread that you know where the pipes are http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tch_78977.html

[d000hg]

So the bars remaining in the ground doesn't 'block' the holes? I could see it working if you had a steel pipe with holes drilled in it.

But it sounds easy, you just get like 1m lengths of iron rod and a sledge hammer? (OK, maybe not easy but simple)

[veggiechicken]

Same principle as using your garden fork - but bigger and deeper holes - just to open the soil up a bit.

[d000hg]

How does hammering a steel rod into the ground help... I'd have thought it would need to be porous? That's why I asked. Does he mean like a regular steel piling you'd use for foundations or something else?

[veggiechicken]

It has been known to hammer a long bar into the ground in several places to assist drainage.

Can you go into a bit more detail?

Even completely non-technical me, understood what BM meant

[d000hg]

It has been known to hammer a long bar into the ground in several places to assist drainage.

Can you go into a bit more detail?

My thoughts are that you may already have a pile of rubble down there if you are so close to the road???

I think our entire estate has a foundation of this hard-packed rubble stuff, I can't remember the proper name. It sets into almost like a soft sandstone and while you can dig into it, it's very hard work. This is only about 9" down and is very solid so I think it acts to stop water, rather than as a soak. My thought was to break through this in one small area and dig quite deep, then fill with larger rubble and gravel which would be much more porous. And that hopefully, this would be deep enough to get through to whatever is underneath the stuff the builders laid, so water can seep through.

If the retaining wall to next door had air bricks it would probably be a non-issue but as it is, their wall acts as a dam I think!

[Nicos]

My thoughts are that you may already have a pile of rubble down there if you are so close to the road???

[Nicos]

How about a live willow structure which would suck up some water and be pretty at the same time??

[Bigmallly]

It has been known to hammer a long bar into the ground in several places to assist drainage.

[d000hg]

As it it's in a corner, could it be lending itself to become a rockery?

If I didn't already have plants there, and had the space, and hadn't already put the time in this year re-doing the lawn to be beautiful and neat and square

So my "can you suck water out of the soil" idea doesn't seem to exist, which is a shame.

I'm surprised there's nothing out there you can just hammer into the ground and it acts as a more permanent aeration solution. A soakaway seems the best option but a lot of hard work!

[Bigmallly]

As it it's in a corner, could it be lending itself to become a rockery?

[mothhawk]

Learn to love moss. It's soft and springy, needs little cutting as it doesn't grow tall, and if in a damp area, stays green all year. You can fill it with snowdrops, bluebells, and anemone blanda for the springtime.
Moss lawn works for shade | Hoosier Gardener