Building up a lawn by 10-12 inches

Apologises but I originally posted this in the wrong section and although I've used the search facility I still can't find the answer, so here goes

Hello,

Sorry but I'm a newcomer here and I'm totally in the dark regarding gardening. My house I bought recently has the most waterlogged/mossy garden imaginable so I asked a local firm to assess the situation.
They said that they could put loads of herringbone drainage etc. in to take the water to the bottom corner but at the end of the day my garden sits roughly 10-12 inches below the footpath at the side and lane at the back so no matter how much drainage was put in it would still back up and flood the garden.
They recommended building up the garden with gravel (to act as a soakaway) then soil but quoted a price of £10-12k and as a single parent I can't ever think about spending this.
I'm going to have to do it myself so my kids can have a usable garden, my question is really about how much stone and soil to use. Is there a ratio for how much gravel to top soil? Is there a particular grade of stone to use?

Any help would be most appreciated. Many Thanks

 

Hi Adrian

Any photos may help , it would be so much cheaper to do yourself but hard work

 

T

 

The 1st and 4th photos show the rough size of the area, the middle 2 are an attempt to show how much higher the surrounding paths are. I think the gardeners plan wasn't to use French drains but to cover the entire area in gravel then soil to make the entire garden a "soakaway"

 

Right Adrian, your garden is a bit of a challenge but lets see what we can work out.

Looking at the pictures I assume the garden slopes away from your house to the back fence where the other properties are and from left to right. Is that a brook or a soak away running through it? Looking at the last picture.....what is the large, possibly concrete surface to the left? Also, there seems to be an area in front of that surface that looks like it has sunk round the edges of a young tree, or is that a usual walkway for you? Finally could I have a close up pic please of the plant that is at the corner of that raised concrete surface?

Sorry to ply you with questions, but they are all relevant to what's going on with the ground.

 

Hi Adrian

Great space .

Is it a new build ? and how old are the houses ?

It may be case of the ground has had bulldozers and lorries etc and is so compacted the water hasnt a chance to drain away , I know you can get a lawn doctor in that would put cables into the lawn to blow air in I will have look at that and post some more info

 

Hi "Sheal"

The concrete area is what I believe the previous owners used to keep a trailer on. Yes the garden does slope (in parts) down to the back fence. I'll upload some photos asap. There are no walkways in the garden apart from one from the patio running to the shed in the furthest most corner of the garden. The only "soakaway" put in is the "dry river bed" shown to the right of the 1st photo running towards the back fence.
Any other sunken areas is basically where the rain water has found it's own course.

 

"Spruce"

The house dates back to the 50's, I'm basically at the bottom of a housing estate built on a hillside with inadequate drainage all through the estate so if it rains today I'm still getting other peoples surface water 2/3 days later :(

 

Where I keep my bees is a 5 acre water meadow and 12 months of the year it is soggy apart from maybe August time , 10 feet over the hedge another field very rarely soggy and its well drained as its on a slight slope not much but the difference is amazing.

You would require land drain's and somewhere for that water to go to if it can or the ground you have is the soak way for all the houses around you ?

From a gardeners point of view I can see from the rushes growing that it is wet all year round.
Sorry I cant be more help ...

 

Thanks for the info Adrian.

Spruce hit the nail on the head and the latest pictures confirm it, the reeds that are growing suggest a water meadow or may be a natural pond in your garden in years gone by.

It's a large area so it's not going to be easy for you to take on the work by yourself. I don't think you need herringbone drainage but more of a fan shape running from the back of your house and the left hand side of the garden down towards the right hand corner and into the soakaway. I would also hire a heavy duty rotovator, or better still a small plough to turn the soil including the lawn over, get the drainage in, also dig in loads of gravel and/or sand to help with that, then build up the surface to meet the ground surrounding your garden, level off and re-turf or seed. I would leave the right side as it is, I think that will naturally drain into the soakaway.

It will be hard work and time consuming for you but it's do-able if you have the ability and will be a lot cheaper than hiring someone. Perhaps you have relatives or friends that can help you with it.

I can't help you with the construction of the drainage but other members may be able to. I have tagged @Charlie996 he may be able to guide you with this.

 

Land drainage depends on so many things. The sub strata of the ground in some depth has to be examined and calculated by an expert before a plan can be made to resolve .. Unfortunately while I understand the properties of the masonry required to go into these situations I know nowhere near the knowledge to comment on the resolution for the problem. Sorry.

If I lived close by I would happily look and offer an opinion but it would be of little value as I'm no expert in this field.

 

Thanks Charlie, I wasn't sure whether you would be able to help or not.

 

My 2p's worth.Check for services drains first then if ok maybe do this...
Dig up concrete channel on right and dig down laying plastic land drain. Then runing from left to right diagonally run say 4 land drains running to and connecting with the drain youve just done on the right.
Just have a shop around for the drains,gravel and mini digger hire.May cost you a ot less than youve been quoted. Hard to do but once done you will be well chuffedwith yourself.