Rain water not draining

13 years ago

I've dug my first garden and now I need some advice on draining water that is sitting in puddles in my garden. Ok right now its still a hole in the ground, took me a few tries to get the right tools.

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I have a friend who's an Arborist and I've discussed how I was going to do stuff. I choose the slight incline in my backyard because it was supposed to drain well, lol. I think I dug too deep, trying to get under the grass roots, and now the water sits on clay which I dug into a bit. I plan to add more 3-in-1 soil but I tried to mix some of the old soil and use the rotter tiller to mix it up well.

Unfortunately its my dad's rotter tiller and so he's trying to tell me how to do it (he's never gardened in his life). He says that I should throw all the soil back into the hole and he'll use the rotter tiller on all of it and once the ground is level then water won't puddle in the bottom corners. I don't think that is the case since the one corner's soil is almost level with the grass and the water pools there and makes it really muddy after rain (day or two after rain). So I thought about it and I'd like to put something like the weeping hose/tub they use around the foundation of a house to collect and redirect the water away from the foundation. I thought that if I put a tube/hose with holes in it along the bottom of the garden, it will redirect the rain water out and away from the garden.

Next year I might move it to another spot in the backyard but we don't use the backyard except to let the dog do her business so right now it doesn't matter where it is. Can anyone tell from the pictures if I have clay-based soil (my dad and I argue over whether it is or isn't)? Also does anyone have any ideas about draining the water or what type of tube/hose I can use to follow my idea?

Comments (3)

lehua49
13 years ago
Chastity,

What you want to know is your soil percolation rate. If the underlying soil is too clayey or tight you will need the drainage system you are describing or better. I can give you advice on that as well as the soil mix to be used for the plants. Dig a hole which in essence you have done. Usually a 2 foot diameter by 2 foot hole. Fill the hole with water. Record the time it takes to drain. After it drains, fill the hole once more and time it again. Let us know the time it took. If it doesn't drain let us know that as well. JMHO Aloha
sweetchastity
Original Author
13 years ago
The picture above was from 2-3 days after it rained. I had to go out and use a shovel to remove the water so it could dry up. The other corner gets really wet but since there is more soil there the soil gets really soggy and a smaller puddle can form. This has happened the last 2 times it rained. We are expecting thunderstorms overnight, tomorrow morning and afternoon. I'll check after it rains but I'm fairly confident that I'll need to set up something to drain it properly.
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lehua49
13 years ago
Sweetness,

The next step is to find the outlet point for your drainage water. You will need at least a 1% slope to your drain line. That is 1 foot of elevation drop for every 100 ft of horizontal drain length. Can you drain to side yard drainage swale or an already installed drain line system? If not, you may have to install a drain to the street or create a sump pump system. How much rainfall do you experience a year? The system you want to set up in the garden itself will be a herringbone pattern of holed-laterals(1" pvc) to a main solid-pipe backbone mainline (2"pvc) that will move water out of your garden area to the main drain line with spaced cleanouts(4" pvc). The one-inch hole pipe is a cloth sleeve with gravel around the pipe. This is what they use under golf course greens and is not that expensive but works well. If you draw and post a layout of your garden shape and size I can describe it in more detail. Hope this helps you. Aloha