damp garden
tsuzmir
Posts: 1
Recently I moved to new built house and back garden was very, very damp due to compacted soil and builders rubbish in it. I needed it to drain well as i wanted to keep chickens and they dont like to live in very damp conditions. what i had done is I dug up a big hole in a middle of garden with 5 arms from corners of garden (there are 4 corners, i know) meeting at the centre. kind of octopus shape thing. I filled it with stone, wrapped in weed fabric. it works well i think considering the beautiful weather we had so far this winter (I live in Ireland), but i was thinking of taking next step and here is where i need some professional advice.
It is small garden, it's completely flat , there is a shed in a far corner. I'd like to raise a level of garden by building a step out of railway sleepers (where patio meets soil) and bring enough of good quality topsoil to make a slope towards the back of the garden (there's additional waste rain water pipe approx. foot below ground level). i wouldnt move shed, as i feel that it's too much of logistic problem and it sits on paving slabs so i reckon it should be ok. big question is am i thinking right? could someone advise please if this is a right way to go?
the reason for it is not only to improve drainage, but also to make garden look nicer and to get better quality soil in for the lawn, so gras can grow quicker, especially that chickens are eating it.
does it make sens to anybody? and yes, i realise this is really long and a bit chaotic so I thank you for your patience
Posts
tsuzmir, why did you wrap the stone in weedfibre?
Chicken will ruin even quite a large lawn. If you want a grassed area, then they need to be kept quite separate. A picture may help, you will get plenty of advice once we know what is required.
I had chickens many years ago. The scratching can be reduced (though not stopped entirely) if there are re-enforcements laid beneath lawn (these come in the form of a grid, usually used for reducing ware on paths and well used areas. The bottom of some types of bread crates etc. can be embedded as a substitute and turfed over if you break off the sides. The best thing of all that I found, however, was to have a substantial sized raised sand pit in a well drained sunny spot. The chickens were so busy rolling around in the sand that they didn't bother with lots of scraping in the rest of the garden.
Hope that helps, Dinah
Daituom the weed fabric stops the drainage from clogging up with soil.