Fixing muddy ground
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Depends.
Why is it muddy?
Is it:
rain?
runoff?
blocked drainage?
high water table?
I’ve fixed collected runoff from further up hill using a French drain. I dug a trap ditch that intercepted running surface water and directed it into a drain. It was just filled with stones and cleanish rubble. If you can get elm brushwood, that can work for decades. (I’ve been told centuries)
The above won’t help if the water is coming up from below or if your wet patch is the lowest ground around. That takes a bit more engineering.
Best of luck with the project.
Why is it muddy?
Is it:
rain?
runoff?
blocked drainage?
high water table?
I’ve fixed collected runoff from further up hill using a French drain. I dug a trap ditch that intercepted running surface water and directed it into a drain. It was just filled with stones and cleanish rubble. If you can get elm brushwood, that can work for decades. (I’ve been told centuries)
The above won’t help if the water is coming up from below or if your wet patch is the lowest ground around. That takes a bit more engineering.
Best of luck with the project.
or is it because of compaction because of use ?
Farm gates, footpaths and the like, working areas...those get muddy because the ground is compacted and cannot absorb and drain easily any more.
If the area isn't enormous you can sometimes fork it over and help it drain, but realistically that's a huge effort for little gain if you're still using the area.
Farm gates, footpaths and the like, working areas...those get muddy because the ground is compacted and cannot absorb and drain easily any more.
If the area isn't enormous you can sometimes fork it over and help it drain, but realistically that's a huge effort for little gain if you're still using the area.
Yeah it's because of that. Maybe stepping stones is the best solution
@Pattree I've come across french drain idea before - maybe a mini version could help.
Just throw a decent depth of sand on it. You'll have to renew it after a while as it will get worked into the soil, which will also help with long term drainage.
Okay, next question; what is the soil ?
Is it marl or is it clay.
If it's clay, you'll never sort it if you're still using the place, without adding stuff to it or covering it up.
Step stones will end up slippy and a mess unless you have enough of them, and they're high enough not to flood. They slowly sink into the clay too over time (my garden ones need to be regularly lifted and more gritty sand put underneath them)
@Lean'n'mean 's idea about the sand will help, but honestly, it needs organic stuff in it to help it drain. Best I can suggest is get hold of a lot of forestry bark chippings. That can be messy though.
If it's marl kind of soil, then we used to use red ash, but I don't know if you can get that now, and it works out expensive if you've to bring in a heavy load.
Again, the bark chips might be the best idea.
Sorry, I don't think I'm really being of much help.
It's just one of the annoyances of living in a wet climate.
Best of luck sorting it out, especially at this time of year.
M
If it was here and it only had foot traffic I would cut some braken and lay it down. I have plenty here to cut and when it's not shredded up it takes ages to rot down so it could last a while.
Spread gravel you need a awfull lot woodchips might work but I'm not sure
Aye woodchips sound way better like the stuff u get in kids playparks.
Thanks for the suggestions. It's clay soil.
Trouble with sand, gravel, woodchips etc is I'm at the top of a big muddy hill and I get around by bicycle. The problem is it's getting too swampy in and around tent area as I compress the ground by walking on it. I'm running of places to repitch, and I want to stay here til I finish the mud hut I'm working on. I could get a bag of woodchips up there but I've had a simpler idea - get a turkey baster and drain the water upwards!
Trouble with sand, gravel, woodchips etc is I'm at the top of a big muddy hill and I get around by bicycle. The problem is it's getting too swampy in and around tent area as I compress the ground by walking on it. I'm running of places to repitch, and I want to stay here til I finish the mud hut I'm working on. I could get a bag of woodchips up there but I've had a simpler idea - get a turkey baster and drain the water upwards!
We at the Riverside project have the same problem, so we made a raised walkway. That is covered with woodchip for traction, and works extremely well.
It's ancient woodland mentioned in the doomsday book, and the only place to make a path was along what used to be a leat for the mill, a little further along. So we filled it in with brush, and then laid some mill offcuts the sort that comes from the bark still on, cut from the outside of a tree trunk, down on logs, and covered with woodchips. It works very well.
The leat hasn't been in use for many decades, so it was just a very muddy depression In the ground where the leat had once been. we kind of took the idea from the sweet track, on the somerset levels.
It does need yearly maintainance with more woodchip each autumn, but we make our own, so it's fairly economical to keep on top of.
We can't see the planks now as the layers of chip are very thick, and it makes a very natural looking path.
Ps, it's heavy clay soil too.
It's ancient woodland mentioned in the doomsday book, and the only place to make a path was along what used to be a leat for the mill, a little further along. So we filled it in with brush, and then laid some mill offcuts the sort that comes from the bark still on, cut from the outside of a tree trunk, down on logs, and covered with woodchips. It works very well.
The leat hasn't been in use for many decades, so it was just a very muddy depression In the ground where the leat had once been. we kind of took the idea from the sweet track, on the somerset levels.
It does need yearly maintainance with more woodchip each autumn, but we make our own, so it's fairly economical to keep on top of.
We can't see the planks now as the layers of chip are very thick, and it makes a very natural looking path.
Ps, it's heavy clay soil too.
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Figure out how to create swales. The water will pool there and you can direct it downhill from the ends of them.
They're at their most basic just furrows.
If your soil can't absorb the water you need to pass it along, and in your case that's easier because it will want to run downhill.
Thought of smashing some rocks I dug up and scattering that but the rocks are useful elsewhere.
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