Back Garden Re-vamp

The experiment is underway ! Not only that but it's been 24 hours since a drop of rain fell.



The last pic was taken at 19:45 so about 4 hours in. It seems to drop about the same amount each hour.

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I have about 4-5 inches of water left in the hole now. It's poured down all night but at the rate it's been draining I expect that by the 48hr mark it will have emptied away. Had I fantastic day and one a little cloudy and the surrounding areas were nice and dry but alas it is pouring down again

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Looking at your pictures I don't think you have 100% clay Jonathan. You've said it will come apart in your hand, so that suggests there is possibly sand mixed in. Britain has had a particularly bad winter again and soil is saturated, even my sandy soil is squelchy underfoot and that's very rare.

I think perhaps you will need to dig over the whole garden at least a spades depth and get some sharp sand/grit or small gravel dug in, then you will be able to lay your top soil. In the process, is it possible for you to put a slight slope on your garden towards your back fence. Any accumulation of surface water will then probably drain into the field at the back of your garden.

 

Well done.

Johnathan,
Did you fill the hole with water the previous evening too? I ask because the experiment works if the sides of the hole were saturated the day before and then the experiment starts the next day when the hole's filled with water again.

I was wondering that too.

We could do a topsoil test.
Question 1: After rain, is the topsoil sticky; does it cling to your wellies in large lumps? It looks pretty thin in the photos.
Question 2: You moisten some in your hand so it holds together and then knead it to break up the larger lumps. Form it into a ball if you can. a) Is that impossible/ does it form a strong ball or/ does it form a weak ball that breaks apart easily? b) rub it between a finger and thumb. Does it feel gritty/soapy/silky?

Sub-surface pan?
The layer that was hardest to dig: is it a different colour to the rest of the soil? Is it like baked clay? Are there streaks in it? And is the soil above it darker and the soil underneath, lighter?

 

Hi.
The sides of the hole were definitely wet but not sure I would say saturated.
After rain the topsoil in high traffic areas tends to get slushy in places. I am inclined to think that it could be an accumulation of the amount of rain we have had here and having had to let the hens roam where the lawn was. Previously I can't remember it ever being like this. If it is moist it is difficult to form a ball it just falls to bits and is slightly gritty.
Where I dug the hole i didn't have any trouble lifting the soil like I did the other day. After about 40cm there was clay but it moves easily enough if you don't take to much at once. The soil colour did get a little darker further down however.





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OK. How many inches did the water fall an hour?

 

It was approx 3/4 of an inch per hour

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If we assume the sides of the hole were saturated, that's just slightly fast. One inch in three hours would be perfect drainage. 24 inches an hour would be worryingly fast.

So, seems to me you've got your cure right there: dig through the hard soil pan in a few spots and it will cure future waterlogging.

Dig through it every time you plant anything or dig a bed and that'll act as a sink hole.

So the pan doesn't re-form and also to slow the drainage in the holes a little, just mix up the soil under the plants with plenty of compost.

And maybe dig and re-fill one monster hole near the worst bit with stones in the bottom half.

I reckon you've got good clay or loam further down. And then your housebuilders bought in sandy, gritty soil (which drains too fast and leaches nutrients away) to level your lawn with and somehow compacted the surface, which now won't drain properly, leaving just a thin layer on top for your grass roots.

If you liked the grass you had before the flood took it away, you don't need to do anything more.

 

That's definitely good news. I can get cracking now. Thanks very much for the advice.

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Had a couple of fairly bright days so got back to my garden project.
I've moved and partially filled a raised bed I made last year. I made another L shaped one also and I'm planning on making another 2 but another board higher and slightly wider. Before you ask both of the beers are mine !
Had a few things going on in the greenhouse also so that I got stuff to put in those raised beds
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