Clay soil causing boggy lawn

Fairygirl

Just one word m'penguin - stunning.
It's very daunting having a blank canvas, because many people just feel intimidated by it,  don't know where to begin, and therefore do nothing but a bit of grass and a border or two. It shows just how fantastic a plot you can have with a little [or big!] bit of planning and foresight.
...and not a blade of grass in sight! 
Lots to inspire you Dan - if you decide tackling the grass is a bridge too far 

No grass and lots of planting is often very low maintenance too, which many people don't realise. Getting a mower out and faffing around with it to do a small area can be more work. 

dan.townend

It's very nice! Although I would like to keep my lawn personally if I can. In the summer its not too bad, just the winter really. I do like gardening though and I don't find mowing the lawn a chore really, so I'm happy to do any work to make it better.

Dovefromabove

I find that damp lawns are best left alone over winter if at all possible ... rake any dead leaves off and spike it in the autumn then do nothing and try not to walk on it ... otherwise you'll risk ending up with a quagmire. 

wild edges

I don't suppose there's any way you could get hold of the site investigation report from when the houses were built? Building Control should hold the info on file but whether they'd let you have a copy I don't know. Basically it would give you an idea of how deep you'd have to dig before hitting a soil layer that drains. If it isn't too deep then it gives you options to create a small soakaway which you can fill with gravel and top off with topsoil. At least the water would have somewhere to go then.

If it was me I'd dig a trench between the patio and lawn and fill it with gravel which will help alleviate the problem a bit in heavy rain. It would help a bit to make sure you're catching all the water off the shed and not letting that water butt overflow. Otherwise if you need to get across the lawn in the winter a lot then maybe some stepping stones or a gravel path would be the best option.

Dave Humby

Building a soak-away under the patio might be an option. I would imagine the footings of the end wall are also helping hold in the water. Does the garden slope in any direction?

Fairygirl

dan.townend said:

It's very nice! Although I would like to keep my lawn personally if I can. In the summer its not too bad, just the winter really. I do like gardening though and I don't find mowing the lawn a chore really, so I'm happy to do any work to make it better.

Absolutely Dan. I like my grass too 
It's down to you whether you want to try a few simple things re the drainage, or go for it big time with full drains etc.

Like Dove said, I try and avoid being on the grass too often in winter as we get a lot of rain and it can get squelchy, so it's good practice to avoid too much foot traffic. 
I created exceptionally good drainage in the back garden , to counteract the wet, when I made a lawn there but the inherited, compacted front grass just gets on with it, and I don't need to be on it much anyway in winter. It's north west facing and shady, gets fairly mossy, but improves by summer. I spike it now and again, when I can be bothered, give it a bit of feed and weed in spring, and otherwise it just gets regularly mown. Looks fine most of the time 

Marlorena

That's a really beautiful garden... better than most you see at Chelsea...

dan.townend

Thanks for all the help so far. So if I was to build in some drainage either after the patio or at the side near the flower bed would help it? Would aeration and top dressing with sandy soil every year help the grass at all? 

tessagardenbarmy

Wow @madpenguin that is absolutely  stunning.

Fairygirl

I think if it's holding water all the time Dan, you need to address the soil itself rather than just put drains in, although, of course, they would help in very heavy rain.
If you can create a medium that's lighter and freer draining, the water will pass through more easily.
If it's not suitable to lift everything and completely redo the soil [quite a big task] the best way is to spike the area really deeply and often, brush coarse grit down the holes, and have a programme of topdressing in spring, and at other times if possible, so that you constantly improve the overall texture of the ground.