Building paths and steps in a wet garden

[Hobden]

Apologies if this is a little off-topic, but ... we've just moved into a Victorian farmhouse with a two-acre garden. One acre of garden is level and not too wet. The other acre slopes down to a stream and is pretty wet, in fact down by the stream the banks are ankle-deep in mud in places, and this has been one of the driest winters and warmest springs on record! I want to put steps down to the stream at various places, and then a path along the banks of the stream so we can perambulate! And plant up bog gardens (in acid clay).

Any suggestions for (cheap) ways to make steps and paths. I'm thinking of just roughing out steps and then using tanalized boards to make the risers and maybe pavers for the treads, though I may dispense with the pavers. Not sure what to use to hold the risers in place. I can get treated stakes of course, but as soon as I cut them (wouldn't need four feet of stake!) I'm risking wet getting in. And I've never been sure that painting preservative on is that effective?

For the path alongside the stream (three hundred and fifty feet or so) I'm really not sure what to do. It's the wetness I have to contend with, otherwise I'd just put down ground membrane and cover it with shreddings. I do have some eucalyptus logs from a 70' eucalyptus tree that I had cut down, and I'm wondering about using them in places as stepping stones, possibly nailing treated chicken-wire-wrapped boards to the top of them. But they won't get me far! What to do for the rest of the way? Googling has not produced much of use

All hints and tips gratefully received!

 

[steveb]

in our neck of the woods, streams = mosquitoes so perambulating near them isn't as desirable as it may look from afar

Not sure what to suggest though - maybe go for a ramble around local footpaths or nature reserves if there are any up hills and see how they did it. I would guess some kind of log riser and gravel on the flat would be common - but no idea if it is economical. At least you could see how it was constructed.

-Steve

 

[a twig]

This somewhat exhaustive document may be of use, it depends how much you want to over engineer your pathways:

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pu...nts/instructionalmaterial/wcms_asist_8494.pdf

 

[skier-hughes]

Won't help with the very wettest bit by the stream, but we had drainage installed in our sloping bit, heading down to a stream. Stopped where it got to wet for walking and dug a pond.
Our land does not border the stream, it's about 20' away.
This made the sloping wet bit the driest bit of the land in the winter!!! SO much so, we are going to add extra drainage to the top flat half of our two acres.
The drain is in a sort of circle, with the two lower ends draining into the pond.
The very wet land next to the pond is still wet and not really walkable on to enjoy, but passable over. I intend to plant some more trees to help dry it up.

 

[Hobden]

in our neck of the woods, streams = mosquitoes so perambulating near them isn't as desirable as it may look from afar

It's OK, my other half is a mosquito-magnet

Not sure what to suggest though - maybe go for a ramble around local footpaths or nature reserves if there are any up hills and see how they did it.

Did just that last night - 1" thick oak planks seems to be the answer! But v. expensive, so probably won't be doing that.

 

[Hobden]

This somewhat exhaustive document may be of use, it depends how much you want to over engineer your pathways:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pu...nts/instructionalmaterial/wcms_asist_8494.pdf

Er, wow, yes, Everything you ever wanted to know about paths and steps. Thanks!

 

[Hobden]

Won't help with the very wettest bit by the stream, but we had drainage installed in our sloping bit, heading down to a stream.

I've been wondering about land drains, though the bit sloping down to the stream in our garden is full of trees and shrubs so not sure how easy it will be to do. We have already planned to do it nearer the house, but that's mostly just a grassy meadow (aka uncut lawn) so it's not so hard there. Did you do it yourself or get somebody in with a digger? Membrane-wrapped pipes in a trench sitting on gravel at right-angles to the slope? But I still fancy a path near the stream, if only to allow easy access to the bog-gardens I'm planning ...

 

[skier-hughes]

As you can see ours is a field of grass, so easy to access.
I had a man with a digger as we dug right down to the clay, about 3/4' deep and put a layer of gravel down, then the pipe and another layer of gravel. We did it this deep to ensure we have dry ground and the water will sit on the clay and rise, so removing it from the bottom means their is more ground above to soak up water.
We put it in like the diagram, as per the digger mans recommendation - he's done about 40 years of this - so, the water running off the top of the field gets caught by the land drain and taken down to the pool and the ground in-between runs off into the land drain below it.
150m of drain, 20 tonne gravel and a week of digger man digging and filling, and me raking out gravel in the ditch, laying pipe and raking gravel on top.

The portion inside the land drain was the driest bit of the land all winter, only ever wet just after rainfall.

The digger man suggested if it didn't dry up as planned we could add some herringbone inside, but it is fantastic, best £2k spent.

 

[Hobden]

I had a man with a digger as we dug right down to the clay, about 3/4' deep and put a layer of gravel down

Can you remember how thick the gravel layers were?

then the pipe and another layer of gravel.

Is the pipe permeable? Or perforated? If the latter, did you wrap it in a permeable membrane? I read that you should do this to help prevent the pipe from silting up.

The digger man suggested if it didn't dry up as planned we could add some herringbone inside, but it is fantastic, best £2k spent.

2K is indeed a good price for a dry garden! Sounds like it's just what we need, thanks.

 

[skier-hughes]

Probably about 6" thick top and bottom. The digger man just dropped some in and I raked it around.
He said no need to wrap it in a membrane if we used plenty of gravel.
We used 20mm gravel.
I bought good quality perforated land drain pipe which has plenty of holes in, 5 in each circumference and it was quite thick. I looked at cheaper pipe but this tended to have 3 holes per circumference and was much more flimsy.
Whereabouts in the country are you?

 

[Flyfisher]

Lots of good information about land drainage (and other landscaping topics) on the 'paving expert' website: http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

 

[Bevmarley]

Following this as we want to put some sort of drainage across the garden as in winter it is like a bog. Also our chicken run is at the bottom of the garden and it turns into a swamp in winter.

 

[CliffordPope]

If it's really wet you need a board walk supported about 6" off the ground on pressure-treated pilings. Cover the boards with wire netting.

 

[Hobden]

Probably about 6" thick top and bottom. The digger man just dropped some in and I raked it around.

What did you do with the excavated soil? Whenever I dig a hole and then put the soil back there's always a large heap left over!

I'll start looking at drainage pipes (sad or what).

Whereabouts in the country are you?

We're in the rainy SW. Though v. dry at the moment!

 

[Hobden]

Lots of good information about land drainage (and other landscaping topics) on the 'paving expert' website: http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

Lots indeed. Thanks very much, that's an excellent reference.

 

[Hobden]

If it's really wet you need a board walk supported about 6" off the ground on pressure-treated pilings. Cover the boards with wire netting.

I've already been saving wire-netting from other parts of the garden!

Not sure what to use for the wood pilings. Tanalized wood is relatively cheap but I hear various bad stories about it not being too good these days as they had to change the formulation to meet environmental requirements. Oak would presumably be good, but v. expensive. There are various African hardwoods that are cheaper (e.g. idigbo, sapele), but I've no experience of them. Anybody know if there are any that are very resistant to water? And cheaper than oak

 

[paulc]

If you are going to the trouble and expense of digging trenches, would it be worthwhile laying in pipes for a ground source heat pump ?

 

[Hobden]

If you are going to the trouble and expense of digging trenches, would it be worthwhile laying in pipes for a ground source heat pump ?

Don't know! Something else I know nothing about (the list seems to grow daily)

 

[skier-hughes]

Probably about 6" thick top and bottom. The digger man just dropped some in and I raked it around.

What did you do with the excavated soil? Whenever I dig a hole and then put the soil back there's always a large heap left over!

The digger man put it back and compacted it down with his digger.
The soil from the pond we have dug will be spread across the very wettest areas

I'll start looking at drainage pipes (sad or what).
https://www.professionalbuildingsupplies.co.uk/products/land-drain-158/100mm-perforated-land-drain-50m-coil-1435.aspx