Topic: Waterlogged Ground?

[nuttyone]

:(  I took over my lottie the tail end of last year, it hadn't been worked for approx 3 years, and its condition was awful. Being unable to dig, I have a tame neighbour who rotivated it for me. It has now been spread with manure and I am itching to get started. However, it seems that it is on a clay bed, although all the other allotments, that have been worked seem to be doing ok. They certainly seem to be able to produce good crops. At the moment though mine is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wet, and walking on it is rather like walking across Morcombe Bay, it is so boggy. Some of the others seem to have dug trenches along the sides to drain the water, but I am unable to do this. Will I just have to wait, until this "dreadful" rain ceases?

I am sure in the height of summer I will be crying out for rain !!

Is there anything I can do at the moment.....I have a small greenhouse at home.

[manicscousers]

nutty, try not to walk on your soil, we have the same conditions as you, we've gone over to raised beds as our allotment, or most of it, spends 3 months of the year under water..if you walk on it, it will compact it more, we've started sowing seeds in the house and will plant most of them out as part grown plants as neither of us can kneel or dig for very long  :)

[wilko]

H Nutty,
 I don't have an allotment, but I'm turning part of my back garden in to my lotty, and my soil is a heavy clay as well, I'm planning 5 raised beds, 2 of which I dug before the recent frosts, and they have don't seem to bad at the moment.  I dug lots of well rotted manure in (horse) free from a neighbour  ;) , i keep pulling the weeds as they appear, the texture is quite crumbly now, even though the rest of the land is like a quagmire  :( I'm not walking on the land I've dug by the way! the other beds I'm going to have to wait longer before I can do any more work on them because of this blasted rain  >:( I've got some seeds germinating on the bedroom window sill, 4 out of five of the cucumber have come up, 2 pepper seeds lots of tomato's, and some lavender. I really can't wait to see things ( other than weeds  ;) ) growing.
What else can we be doing guy's, while the weather is so bad?  :-\

[manicscousers]

I've started lots of lettuce, sprouts, small cauli, beetroot in fibre pots, carrots and spring onion the same, peas in a piece of guttering, all will be planted out in warmed ground with a bit of protection..just about to sow some herbs.. ;D

[nuttyone]

Thanks one and all.....perhaps something there for me to be getting on with. I'll keep you posted !! Perhaps, unless I'm too busy planting seeds and looking after them !!

[cambourne7]

I had 8 ton of clay dog out of my garden and decent stuff but back in mixed with sharp sand and when its wet like now it gets over saturated and the water logged soil sits on the water logged clay and its like quck sand :-(

I have got to the stage now where i have but weed membrane down in an area i want to do a camomile lawn and i am going to but more soil on it and plant on top. I have the membrane going under the boarders around the lawn to help draw the moisture out to plant roots once the plants are establised i am sure it will help but right now its just mud  :'(

I can only suggest you get your little greenhouse into action.

[Baccy Man]

Keep adding organic matter compost, manure, leafmould etc.. you don't need to dig it in just spread it around & the worms will do the digging for you, it will drastically improve the soil quality.
Round here it is all wet sticky clay with bits of slate everywhere and puddles that can take a week to drain I have been adding large quantities of organic matter for the last 7 years & now have to dig about 18" down before I see anything that resembles the original clay soil I started with & I no longer have any drainage problems at all.

[Rohaise]

And as I write this ....you should hear the thunder ..and the rain  pouring down !    :o Rohaise   x

[cambourne7]

sun is shining here and all my camelias have flowered - wow

[Rohaise]

 I,m on the other side of the Lizard and it is throwing it down here !   I have one Camelia bush which is gorgeous at the moment also ...and two pathetic little  camelia rooted cuttings  which I bought in woolies  which I hope I dont lose .   Rohaise   :D

[cornykev]

Raining, sunny spells and a lovely big rainbow, with impressions of my mate at work doing Bungle and zippy impreshions all day.  ;D ;D ;D

[KittyKatt]

My allotment is also on heavy clay, and I've gone down the raised bed route, with paths in between. It's more work at the beginning, but has the advantage that you always walk on the paths and never walk on the beds, so the soil there doesn't get compacted. Also, raising the beds helps improve drainage. I've  also added as much organic matter as I can get my hands on and already 8 months on) I'm beginning to notice a difference. Yes, the paths are squelchy - I've put bark down in the worst areas, so I don't slip too much, but the beds, although the soil is wet (we've had lots of rain recently!!!) are not waterlogged and it's still workable.  Other people using raised beds are also able to work their plots, but many of those using the traditional method are faced with something resembling the Somme!! Just forking organic matter on top seems to do the trick to break up the clay - somehow those worms know where to go!

[artichoke]

Heavy rain was forecast all day here (East Sussex) but I spent 5 hours on my first allotment, and only got soaked once - crouched in my tiny hut listening to wind up radio for 10 minutes, and it was over. Soil the wet side of perfect, but was able to dig and weed a lot.


When I first got it in 1999, village had its most serious flood ever, including the allotments. Then it dried out, and set like concrete. Spent the hot summer of 2000 hacking away at it and adding mushroom compost plus everything else I could find. This made the most amazing difference, othrwise I would not have been able to spend today happily forking it over, etc. Good luck!

[telboy]

nuttyone,
My sympathies!
If compost has been spread for you - you have a start.
If you can help yourself, cast as much sharp sand as you can, it's cheap & will open the soil in time. Some will say thelime in the sand will react with the compost, but your equirement is workability surely?

[cambourne7]

I am hoping to spend the best part of the weekend on the lottie and i have 2 lits of things that need doing which i can amend depending on the weather..

Saturday

List 1 - If its not 2 wet
*Finish digging over and back fill 3 beds
*Complete list 2

List 2 - If its 2 wet or raining
*build mini greenhouses i got without instructions on freecycle
*build a shelf in the shed
*finish putting floor in shed ( fake wood floor over stone slabs where i can hide tools )


Sunday ( providing i can still walk from saturday )

List 1 - If its not 2 wet
*Plant up bed 3 & 4
*Build framework for beds with netting or Upvc on one bed
*Paint (stain) outside of shed with paint from freecycle
*Complete list 2

List 2 - If its 2 wet or raining
*Multiple trips from house to site with all sorts of salvaged goodies inc comfy chair
*but front onto compost bin
*Screw top to outside table
*Finish connecting up water butts

Nuttyone maybe you could try that approach?

I just need to rember to put the drill onto charge :-)

[cornykev]

Better still if its raining go down the pub. :P :P :P ;D ;D ;D