DIY (Do It Yourself) Guide – Improve Drainage in your Garden

How to Improve Drainage in your Garden

Firstly, this guide is for smaller drainage jobs  that can be attempted by do it your gardeners. Any larger drainage jobs should be constructed by professional plumbers.

There are several key ways to improve drainage in your garden

Building a retaining wall

Retaining walls will help hold back and redirect any problematic water flow lines. Retaining walls will also change the way your garden collects water and how it runs through your garden.

Installing Surface Drains

Surface drains will collect any excess water at ground level. There are several surface drains but most commonly in the garden you will see this sort of pit drains. Ensure that any pipes running to your storm water have sufficient fall to ensure that gravity takes that water away from the problem area.

Installing Ag Drains

Ag drains are a great way to remove excess sub surface moisture, as in the image above you can see the ag drain connected to the pit drain. Ensure that your ag drain is surrounded by free draining material such as gravel to maximise the effectiveness of your ag drain. This gravel should then be covered by geomesh before covering with soil to ensure that soil doesn’t wash into the drain.

Contours and Grading

Simply grading your garden can be sufficient in redirecting your problematic surface water. Grade the soil so that ridges and valleys direct the water into part of the garden where it will not be a problem, or drainage points.

Another simple fix for your drainage issues is to improve your gardens soil so that it can absorb water better, sand and gravel will help improve drainage as will adding organic matter to clay soils to help water seep into the soil.

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