Flood Prevention

[Westi]

Well beds only had a few puddles today so drying out, but I won't be walking on it for a bit yet. Does anyone have any ideas to create some sort of run off to prevent these events? As infrequent as they are, it is still a pain & a lot of veg don't survive the swim. This area flooding affects 6 beds so quite significant.

I am sand over clay, about 4/5' of sand this side. I appreciate that the problem is the clay area under the sand, but the whole site is clay based, I'm just lucky to have the river dredging on the top. I can't do much about the clay but thinking of something to divert my actual plot rainfall away instead of it hitting the clay where it can go no further & backing back up.

Cheers in advance.

[oldherbaceous]

Unless the surrounding ground is lower than your plot, Westi, there is very little you can do, apart from keep lifting your soil levels by adding organic matter, or top soil if you can get any for free.

[tigerburnie]

I'm with OH, don't dig, just pile stuff on top, compost, manure, anything to improve the soil and raise the surface. My raised beds have a flat top to them, but an old uncle in Norfolk had more triangular beds with the flat bit on top maybe only two wide, but they were two feet above the rest of his ground.

[Westi]

Thanks OH & Tiger. Well as it turns out I have quite a lot of my compost available as I have just opened the double pallet compost bed that's been cooking for about 3 yrs. I have access to wooden patio board lengths as well as well as some floor boards. My plan as the knees start creaking & I can't get up from weeding is to have proper tall raised beds so might as well start here. I think the council provides cheap top soil as well as compost delivered so I will have a mooch on their site & do a scroll of the other online sites.

Cheers again! PS: Just as it was drying out we have more heavy rain coming tomorrow & back on a yellow warning.

[oldherbaceous]

If you can raise the paths too, it would make a big difference….

[robo]

How deep douse the clay go down ,a big part of my plot is an old duck pond I bought an 8 inch auger and drilled a hole 10 feet deep I then filled the with pebbles and broken up bricks

[Westi]

I've never dug the sand deep enough to reach it & my Asparagus was dug quite deep counting the depth of the areas on the sides of the mounds. I had a chat to my neighbours who also have some badly flooded areas under the plastic they cover all their outside beds with, only using the net or plastic tunnels over winter. He thinks the problem lies with the work the railway is doing behind our back fence line.

This farmers huge field has not be used for near 3yrs while the railway replace & add extra cables on the pylons, where normally it is turned over every year, sometimes twice. I'm thinking this could be a possibility, as his field is clay, but normally he gets the big machines out & turns all the milking cows manure through it. This field runs across the back of the whole site then up the hill one side & right down behind the garden centre & supermarket to the over bridge the other. I'd say near 2 miles long & 1/2mile wide. Also the area the railway is working at the current time is right behind ours & if you peek through the hedge row it is a total mud bath & covered with plastic interlocking stuff to allow their vans & huge machinery on.

Any chance this could be contributing or am I being optimistic? Still a wake up call to get on with some raised beds as the railway work apparently is also going to put in a double track from the single in this bit so think quite a bit more time to wait until the farmer gets his field back.

[tigerburnie]

I would go raised beds, no digging and easier to maintain, best thing I have done on my garden

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Westi, it certainly sounds as it could be run off from where the ground has been compacted from the machinery….do you know if there is a ditch between the farmers field and your allotments?

[Westi]

No ditch OH. The area near the railway gets flooded quite easily as there are run offs built into the embankments which quite often floods the little tunnel under it several feet deep & that is the farmers access to the field. When the farmer gets access to his land again I will have a chat to him (or one of his workers), as they are really helpful & might consider building us a moat/ditch for the future.

In the mean time I will continue collecting wood for raised beds. I got quite excited about those Woodblox ones as no screwing or the like but reality struck when I saw the price! In the meantime I will raise the paths & beds without any edging & have put my feelers out for topsoil.

[Primrose]

I don't have any solution to your flooding Westi but given the future climate change scenario, probably better to start thinking of some raised beds for the future. Might even be an opportunity ity to try out that Hugel log stacking system to reduce the amount of soil needed.

Is there any way, if the local flooding is extensive, part of the vulnerable area could be dug out, covered with thick plastic sheeting and turned into a permanent water storage area for potential dry summers.ahead?

[Tony Hague]

If you make a raised bed, it will need to be raised, not just a border of wood round a negligibly higher bit of ground as you often see. One way might be to dig the paths between the beds lower, to get the earth to fill them. Even better if there is grass, cut turves and put them in a fair way down and upside down. Then get some wood chip or something to make the paths usable. In the fullness of time this will compost in situ so can be added to the beds when replacing.

I'd steer clear of Hugels. Daft idea. Waterlogged wood does not compost usefully, but depletes nitrogen.

[Westi]

Hi Tony! Definitely going to make them all about hip height, both for prep for what nature might throw at us next & I'm getting no younger & it's not as easy getting down to weed. I'm not keen on Hugels either, it is a valuable form of growing if you live in the Tundra & other places that freeze really deep as thaws earlier so they can grow. My neighbour has them & comparing my crops to theirs they are much smaller & it is like for like as I gave them some seeds to get started.

[Primrose]

If you're planning on soil deliveries from your council source Westi I,d check as closely as you can on its provenance. It may come from a variety of sources and whilst it might be ok for general garden use (& developers perhaps use the source for laying out gardens in new house builds, it may not necessarily be ideal for growing vegetables in.
Given the care and attention you give to your plot it would be a shame to have this ruined by poor quality or partially contaminated material.

I don't know if there are any statutory regulations about quality of material sold from such Council sources. Perhaps somebody better qualified than me can throw some light on this.

[Westi]

Thank you Primrose. You're a bit psychic! I was having a chat to the bloke in the next row when he walked his dog around & asked him about any topsoil he knew off that could be delivered. The first thing he said was 'do not touch the council's'! He recommended I use the actual trade suppliers stores who will deliver it in those big bags that they can hoist over the fence. He was definitive about making sure it was put over the fence as we've had a few issues with folk who think things out the front are for giving away - yep even if in unopened packages with the person's name on them!

But of course first I have to build the raised beds! Working on Santa's helpers for that!