[jojo00]

I dont have the money at the moment for a french drainage system and was wondering if i just dug out a drain and lift it open along the lowest contour line of the meadow that ran down to the pond I would like to make, would this work or would it just wash out the nutrients form the soil. I was going to use the soil form the drain to make some raised beds would this be a bad move?

[Greengage]

If you have a very waterlogged site it could be done no problem I wouldnt think Nutrients being washed out of the soil would be a problem.
For nutrient uptake to occur, the individual nutrient ion must be in position adjacent to the root. Positioning of the nutrient ion can occur by one or more of three processes, Root interception, Mass flow and Diffusion,
The root can come into contact with the ion as it grows through the soil. This mechanism is called root interception. It is believed that perhaps one percent of the nutrients in a plant can come from the root interception process.
Mass flow is where the soluble fraction of nutrients present in soil solution (water) and not held on the soil fractions flow to the root as water is taken up. This process is called mass flow. Nutrients such as nitrate-N, calcium and sulfur are normally supplied by mass flow.
Nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium are absorbed strongly by soils i.e diffusion and are only present in small quantities in the soil solution. These nutrients move to the root by diffusion. As uptake of these nutrients occurs at the root, the concentration in the soil solution in close proximity to the root decreases. This creates a gradient for the nutrient to diffuse through the soil solution from a zone of high concentration to the depleted solution adjacent to the root. Diffusion is responsible for the majority of the P, K and Zn moving to the root for uptake.
Thats the science lesson so go for it.
In relationt o french drains we had problems with silt blocking the drains leading to them being abandoned.

[jojo00]

Cool thanks for the advice an open drain it is so with a inch of a fall ever ten foot? The to meadows are 50metres across and 200metres long each so i will have a lot of digging over the winter and a pond in each meadow thanks again.

[ponddigger]

hi ,any photos of your drainage project,jack

[jojo00]

This is the 1st meadow that I want to turn into a forest garden the other one is above this one in the picture, there have be horse s in the meadow s and I have to area fenced off at the top of both meadows. the horses have compacted the soil and there is alot of creeping butter cups on the left hand side as u look up from the picture. I think a drain would help keep the meadow drier and increase biodiversity with a pond. There is a contour that u can see with ur eye that runs down the middle of this meadow but some time with a A frame would soon find this. All the house s have not helped with drainage due to there foundation s running along side the edge of the meadow. I think some gesse in to keep the meadow down and keep the slugs under control and would be less hard on the ground.

[Greengage]

This set up looks strange, If you own it grand, fire away but Why would a developer leave this site vacant, is it used as access to a main drain, gas or electricity. If your going to plant a forest here and all these house are around that could be an issue if some are not in favor, leaf litter will cause problems blocking drains and gutters aphids could be attracted their x destroying cars not to mention magpies taking up residence the noise every morning jeez.
Why would there be a drainage problem so near the houses, why didnt the builder deal with this, your problem may just be compaction from heavy machinery driving over the ground causing a hard pan under the top soil therefore it may just need a mole ploug to be drawn through the soil, so many questions before you even lift a spade, what about safety issues with a pond with small children living nearby, what about anti social behaviour in the estate in a couple of years time, drink, drugs, etc........hiding place and cover for gangs questions questions. Think before you act. Would a community garden not be a better idea or a play ground incorporated into park.

[Sive]

Gracious, that looks almost like open ground the developer was forced to leave to allow for a future road......very strange, but if developed by the entire community it could be the most wonderful asset. Good luck with it.

[djh]

Perhaps the area was used to absorb roof water from the houses. If that is the case there would be soak pits somewhere along the boundary.

It would be better to link up the wet spots with a land drain pipe and cover it over. In wet weather there could be quite a lot of water collected so it would need quite a large wet area or pond to take it without flooding.