Kitchen Garden Forum

Suddenly out of the blue one of the big beds got totally soggy at the end of the last year & wouldn't drain or dry out & when forked the holes just filled with water. There are no pipes or anything like that in the area but with this & the incessant rain (despite covering it), it is even more slushy. My thought is; as the plot is sand over clay this area may not have as much sand.

Anyway I need to somehow drain this to make the bed usable (or grow lots of watercress)! I have seen some ideas on line but a lot of effort & things needed that 'no more nails' will not secure. My thoughts are to give it a trench/gutter run off with maybe a gravel base, but realise I will need to slope the bed but need advice on where & how to align this without mucking around too much with the clay as way too heavy but I gave it a mega raise of my compost on top before covering it but that is just soggy as well.

Cheers in advance as usual!

A sump sounds like less work than trying to double dig, if there's a lower point, digging a pond for a start to draw water away?

Is it a raised bed, Westi?

Hi OH! It is not a raised bed. The area was previously 3 bed with quite narrow paths between, just me walking along with the hoe, no barrow.

Tiger, the soggiest bit seems to be along the fence with the neighbours so I was thinking this would be the best place to put in a trench/sump, so I did a mini dig along here end of the last year with no discernible difference. I have kept it covered with black plastic over winter & I have only uncovered a corner to have a peek, so maybe the middle bits will be OK & this was just run off from the paths? It is destined to be the pumpkin/squash bed this year so they shouldn't mind too much.

Tomorrow is not going to be as windy as today so I should be able to take the plastic off completely to check the whole bed. If it remains a quagmire I shall take some pics. My confusion is that these beds have been fine for a decade & then suddenly not?

It does sound a mystery, especially as it was such a dry February, Westi!
Your neighbours haven’t run a downpipe off a shed roof, behind the fence have they…..it seems that water is coming from somewhere.
The only other thought I had was, with the really dry summer we had last year, that the clay might have split in a new place, causing a fisher and this could let water rise when there has been heavy rain. We have areas like that in the field behind us and that is the highest part of the village, but when we have had a lot of rain, the water keeps coming up out of the ground for many weeks….

I took the cover off today & the soggy bit is just at the path edge not the whole bed now. I was thinking about while forking it over & had a brain wave. (Very small one mind)! When my membrane paths get threadbare I don't take up the old one but lay the new one on top, my idea for this was it would be extra protection when stones work their way up so the membrane would last longer. I must have about 5 layers on the path now, but of course that would stop the water being able to seep through. Makes sense to me to a degree but then all the beds edging the path should be soggy as well, but maybe it is linked to this one not having as much river dredging dumped on it.

I have decided to experiment as don't really want to lift all the layers off the path so I am going to dig in some guttering along this edge but butted off then I can just lift it out & empty it (if it works) on beds that would appreciate more water! Let me know if there is an obvious flaw in this idea as it felt like an Eureka moment at the time but experience has taught me that the consequences of a fix it can be multiple fix its!

You don't have any rivers nearby do you with a sudden new underground spring wending its way towards your plot?

Maybe it was a high tide….

Hi Primrose, The closest river is a mile of so away which is the Mude river (read small trickle - river is a big exaggeration)! It is fully diverted in pipes underground from the source in the farmers field & collecting from another trickle from the estate over the bridge until it is channeled into the woods.There is another spring in the woods as well which fills it enough for a fishing lake in there.

Hearing on the news there is a water shortage perhaps find a way of storing it for when there is a hose pipe ban?

"Soggy bed advice needed" Check you hot water bottle?

Sorry in a silly mood this morning.