Water logged Soil advice

Can anyone offer some advice on how to tackle water logged soil please.

 

Is it waterlogged all the time or only after rain?
Is it in a particular part of the garden or all over?
Is your garden at the bottom of a dip or do you get run off from neighbours gardens etc.

 

It’s mainly after it rains. There is a slight run off on that side of the garden. The neighbours also have soil on the other side of the fence.

 

If you have clay soil or a seam of clay below that area, drainage will be slower due to the characteristics of the soil. You can improve drainage by incorporating organic matter into the soil. Drainage can also be affected by rubble, old plant roots or utility pipes below.

 

Another question is how much of a problem is it really, could you plant that area with plants that need damper conditions and don't mind being wet over winter.

 

Is the grass wetter in that area too? If so, it might be worth aerating it with a fork, as it could be heavily compacted.
I also agree that if it's generally temporary - ie the soil isn't sitting soaking wet and/or with puddles most of the time, some shrubs will help soak it up. The lysimachia in the pic certainly likes being damp, so it suggests the soil holds moisture well.
Regularly adding organic matter to the soil itself, is also the best way to help with poorer drainage, as mentioned, but if the neighbouring garden is higher, any excess rainwater/moisture and run off might be coming in that way.
A combination of approaches may be needed. A temporary edging along that side of the grass could help, as you can then add that organic matter to a better height. If things improve over a year or so, you can take it away.

 

What organic matter would you recommend? The grass is also wet in that area. I do tend to after cutting the lawn fork that area.

 

Anything really. Compost [home made, old/spent, or a commercial multi purpose type ] well rotted manure, leaf mould. Those are the main ones.
There's also composted bark, but I'd go for the others rather than that. It's good around woodier plants, ie trees and shrubs.

 

I’ll buy some compost on the weekend and see if that makes any difference. I’ve been out this morning and the soil is still soaking wet. It’s not drained at all.

 

It does sound as if there's an underlying problem of compaction. That's the most common reason for water not draining away.
Anything else might need a lot more investigation, which may not be feasible.

 

Was the lawn laid and border created during your time at your property or before? Also is your property a newly built one where the contractors may have left building rubble on the site and covered it with a thin layer of topsoil and quickly turfed it?

 

Im not sure what was done first as it’s my parents house. It was built in the 50s and lived there ever since and the garden hasn’t changed.

 

OK, that eliminates the builder’s rubble theory then! Digging down to investigate the quality of the soil and any possible cause of poor drainage or compaction is an option. If it gets better during the current warm, dry spell, it may be a case of accepting the poor drainage over winter and planting wet tolerant plants.

 

No amount of tiddling about with soil improvement will solve an underlying drainage problem if the subsoil is compacted. If the excess water does drain away after a few hours then planting moisture-loving plants will help, but if it stands for days then the answer is to dig a trench and install either a French drain or whatever the equivalent land drain is currently in UK. The only problem with that is that wherever the drain finishes the land will need to accommodate the resulting water. That usually means a soakaway or a pond that can be topped up from another source when the drain water dries up in summer.

 

Could be due to impaired drainage from gutters.Houses of that period typically had soakaways and become clogged over time with soil/roots. We have had record rainfall in the UK, especially in the east,