Landscaping 1 acre

ShowMeTheCash

My house sits on a 1.5 acre site, I have only really kept the law around the house garden worthy and fenced off the 1 acre field at the side of my house.
The 1 acre field up until now would have sheep graze on it from time to time.
It is a sloping field and in need of some drainage towards the bottom third of it.

I am having some work done new wall and a retaining wall built.
I plan to have the digger dig a drainage tenches the length of the field 100 meters with a few more trenches feeding into it to drain the field properly.

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something like this.

What I want to do is shape the field as to sow some better grass make it tidy and eventually do something nice with it.

In terms of the work needed, should I just get the digger to landscape and shape the field?

Will i need to plough the field afterwards?

I know these are broad questions but I know very little of what happens to shape a field and sow a nice field of grass...

gozunda

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

My house sits on a 1.5 acre site, I have only really kept the law around the house garden worthy and fenced off the 1 acre field at the side of my house.
The 1 acre field up until now would have sheep graze on it from time to time.
It is a sloping field and in need of some drainage towards the bottom third of it.

I am having some work done new wall and a retaining wall built.
I plan to have the digger dig a drainage tenches the length of the field 100 meters with a few more trenches feeding into it to drain the field properly.

|
|\
| \
|\ \
| \

something like this.

What I want to do is shape the field as to sow some better grass make it tidy and eventually do something nice with it.

In terms of the work needed, should I just get the digger to landscape and shape the field?

Will i need to plough the field afterwards?

I know these are broad questions but I know very little of what happens to shape a field and sow a nice field of grass...

Ah you have a drainage problem in the lower field*

Regarding the drains you are putting on - what type will they be - pipe? mole drains etc?

The important thing about drainage that any drain has a outlet that will allow the water to discharge and clear eg existing stream or dyke

With a field on a slope you will have a potential water table intersection area which without a sufficient fall it may be very difficult to drain

Alternative option would be to excavate a small area to provide for a pond for birds and wildlife which could also help manage any drainage / water logging issues.

May I ask what uses you are planning to put the field to?

An alternative (and cheaper option) would be to manage any weeds, and cut the existing grass sward then add lime / fertliset to help improve it. Recommend getting a soil test done to see what the soil is deficient in. Spraying, ploughing and reseeding a one acre field could be expensive tbh.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/ted_ralph.shtml

ShowMeTheCash

gozunda wrote: »

Ah you have a drainage problem in the lower field*

Regarding the drains you are putting on - what type will they be - pipe? mole drains etc?

The important thing about drainage that any drain has a outlet that will allow the water to discharge and clear eg existing stream or dyke

With a field on a slope you will have a potential water table intersection area which without a sufficient fall it may be very difficult to drain

Alternative option would be to excavate a small area to provide for a pond for birds and wildlife which could also help manage any drainage / water logging issues.

May I ask what uses you are planning to put the field to?

An alternative (and cheaper option) would be to manage any weeds, and cut the existing grass sward then add lime / fertliset to help improve it. Recommend getting a soil test done to see what the soil is deficient in. Spraying, ploughing and reseeding a one acre field could be expensive tbh.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/ted_ralph.shtml

I have attached a google map view.
There is a large drainage outlet at the bottom of the field.
I have marked out in red where I plan to put the 11mm corrugated drainage pipe.

What you cannot see is there is actually a drainage ditch on the other side of the wall that follows around to where the end of the main red line is on the photo, there is a tunnel that flows under the road and this water flows into a small stream.

From the photo you can see the growth due to the water logging.

Luckily the field slopes down into the flow away area so I think some well placed drainage piping will see the line of the back wall and lower part of the field drain pretty well.

I want to turn the area in a garden, I will think up some designs later but just now I want to drain the lower end maybe shape three areas.

i.e. flatten the rectangle just below the blue line then have three levels in the main field with smaller embankments.

gozunda

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

I have attached a google map view.
There is a large drainage outlet at the bottom of the field.
I have marked out in red where I plan to put the 11mm corrugated drainage pipe.

What you cannot see is there is actually a drainage ditch on the other side of the wall that follows around to where the end of the main red line is on the photo, there is a tunnel that flows under the road and this water flows into a small stream.

From the photo you can see the growth due to the water logging.

Luckily the field slopes down into the flow away area so I think some well placed drainage piping will see the line of the back wall and lower part of the field drain pretty well.

I want to turn the area in a garden, I will think up some designs later but just now I want to drain the lower end maybe shape three areas.

i.e. flatten the rectangle just below the blue line then have three levels in the main field with smaller embankments.

Re "growth" - what are ye referring to - rushes?

Ya if you have a fall to a drainage ditch you should be OK.

To put in the drainage pipe will require someone who knows what they are doing ie putting the pipe in without gravel / stone could lead to the perforations in the drainage pipe blocking with soil very quickly.

I would agree get the drainage done. Then see how the waterlogged area responds. I've seen drainage and reseeding done at the one time and it can take a long time for the area to recover.

Definetley get a soil test done to see what the you need to add in the way of lime / fertiliser etc.

Btw what is the 'rectangle' that you mentioned for flattening?

ShowMeTheCash

gozunda wrote: »

Re "growth" - what are ye referring to - rushes?

Ya if you have a fall to a drainage ditch you should be OK.

To put in the drainage pipe will require someone who knows what they are doing ie putting the pipe in without gravel / stone could lead to the perforations in the drainage pipe blocking with soil very quickly.

I would agree get the drainage done. Then see how the waterlogged area responds. I've seen drainage and reseeding done at the one time and it can take a long time for the area to recover.

Definetley get a soil test done to see what the you need to add in the way of lime / fertiliser etc.

Btw what is the 'rectangle' that you mentioned for flattening?

The drainage i plan to do with 11cm not 11mm and 3 quarter inch stone.
The stone works pretty well in a previous but much smaller job.

You will see the blue line, I am having a retaining wall put in at the side of the house, you will see a rectangle of grass a little greener than the rest of the field it used to be a vegetable patch is is already pretty flat but I plan to make it a nice flat lawn for the kids to play.

ShowMeTheCash

gozunda wrote: »

Re "growth" - what are ye referring to - rushes?

Ya if you have a fall to a drainage ditch you should be OK.

To put in the drainage pipe will require someone who knows what they are doing ie putting the pipe in without gravel / stone could lead to the perforations in the drainage pipe blocking with soil very quickly.

I would agree get the drainage done. Then see how the waterlogged area responds. I've seen drainage and reseeding done at the one time and it can take a long time for the area to recover.

Definetley get a soil test done to see what the you need to add in the way of lime / fertiliser etc.

Btw what is the 'rectangle' that you mentioned for flattening?

Ah yeah the grows you see it rushes the field is pretty good in the clear areas. just very wet in the areas you see the growth.

Sonnenblumen

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

My house sits on a 1.5 acre site, I have only really kept the law around the house garden worthy and fenced off the 1 acre field at the side of my house.
The 1 acre field up until now would have sheep graze on it from time to time.
It is a sloping field and in need of some drainage towards the bottom third of it.

I am having some work done new wall and a retaining wall built.
I plan to have the digger dig a drainage tenches the length of the field 100 meters with a few more trenches feeding into it to drain the field properly.

|
|\
| \
|\ \
| \

something like this.

What I want to do is shape the field as to sow some better grass make it tidy and eventually do something nice with it.

In terms of the work needed, should I just get the digger to landscape and shape the field?

Will i need to plough the field afterwards?

I know these are broad questions but I know very little of what happens to shape a field and sow a nice field of grass...

I think you're working backwards. I wouldn't allow a digger near the area or break any ground until you have finalised the design. Of course drainage/groundworks/ground grading etc might well be important and early aspects of implementing the design. But you do not want to digging and removing potential resources and/or features which will impact on design scope and end results. Similarly you do not want to excavating trenches, walls etc only to be digging/interfering with some or most of this. I've seen this time and time again, people rush in and end up wasting money, by jumping the gun. The last thing you need to be doing is letting someone loose with a machine in a field, and without a coherent and developed plan, you're risking wasting your time, effort and underachieving the true scope.

ShowMeTheCash

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I think you're working backwards. I wouldn't allow a digger near the area or break any ground until you have finalised the design. Of course drainage/groundworks/ground grading etc might well be important and early aspects of implementing the design. But you do not want to digging and removing potential resources and/or features which will impact on design scope and end results. Similarly you do not want to excavating trenches, walls etc only to be digging/interfering with some or most of this. I've seen this time and time again, people rush in and end up wasting money, by jumping the gun. The last thing you need to be doing is letting someone loose with a machine in a field, and without a coherent and developed plan, you're risking wasting your time, effort and underachieving the true scope.

The digger is coming in to dig the founds for the retaining wall which is needed, and a wall at the front of the garden which again is needed.

Again an areal photo makes it hard to see but the house is higher and there is a steep embankment towards the blue line.

it was noticed that the concrete on the drive has actually moved a little so the retaining wall is really to keep everything around the house in place and to stop the soil at that edge from moving.

So this is the main reason and priority for the digger coming out.

While the digger is here I will at very least get the drainage sorted.

In terms of design, until the fields is drained correctly its hard to know what I can do.

I do not plan to do anything drastic, just smooth out areas so it is maintainable going forward.

macraignil

Looking at your aerial photograph the red lines for drainage are 2 to 3 times the length of the lines for the retaining wall foundations. This will probably mean the digger driver will need to work longer on your drainage project than the retaining wall. I personally would prefer to know what I was going to do with an area before investing in major drainage works like you describe. It sounds like a lot of work just to grow better grass that will require regular grazing or mowing to keep tidy.

An acre is a considerable area to landscape and I would personally add trees and a pond from the start.

ShowMeTheCash

macraignil wrote: »

Looking at your aerial photograph the red lines for drainage are 2 to 3 times the length of the lines for the retaining wall foundations. This will probably mean the digger driver will need to work longer on your drainage project than the retaining wall. I personally would prefer to know what I was going to do with an area before investing in major drainage works like you describe. It sounds like a lot of work just to grow better grass that will require regular grazing or mowing to keep tidy.

An acre is a considerable area to landscape and I would personally add trees and a pond from the start.

The digger will do that in a relatively short space of time.
The digger is needed to dig the founds but then the found need to be laid, then the retaining wall built, the wall in total (Blue line) Is around 170 feet and the wall is going to be probably 7 feet in areas depending on how deep the founds go.

Once the wall is build the digger will be used to back fill the embankment to the top of the wall.

So in terms of the project of building the retaining wall the digger is needed at the beginning and again at the end.

Founds would be dug in a morning, concrete poured the same day, wall built is 3-5 days depending on the weather.

I just don't want a digger sitting for 3 or 4 days when it easily do this job while the wall goes up.

ShowMeTheCash

So forgetting any aspects of garden deign.

Retaining wall and field drainage only.....

I have attached a more detailed photo.

The wall is roughly 55 meters. Blue
Drainage roughly is 250 meters in total Red.

Anyone hazard a guess at how much this would cost? Ball Park or min/max.

Assume wall is 7feet high. by 170feed.
Blocks, concrete, stone for drainage, and cost of labor and machinery digger dumper etc...

Sonnenblumen

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

So forgetting any aspects of garden deign.

Retaining wall and field drainage only.....

I have attached a more detailed photo.

The wall is roughly 55 meters. Blue
Drainage roughly is 250 meters in total Red.

Anyone hazard a guess at how much this would cost? Ball Park or min/max.

Assume wall is 7feet high. by 170feed.
Blocks, concrete, stone for drainage, and cost of labor and machinery digger dumper etc...

Some Q's for you:
Why are your land drains draining towards the centre and not towards the perimeter?
Why are you using a 110mm pip and not 150mm/180mm?
Why is soak pit (yellow circle) in the middle of site and not nearer perimeter?

The orientation of the pipework scheme looks to be backward?

It will be interesting to see what if any quotes come in here.

ShowMeTheCash

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Some Q's for you:
Why are your land drains draining towards the centre and not towards the perimeter?
Why are you using a 110mm pip and not 150mm/180mm?
Why is soak pit (yellow circle) in the middle of site and not nearer perimeter?

The orientation of the pipework scheme looks to be backward?

It will be interesting to see what if any quotes come in here.

So everything is running into the bottom left corner.
The main pipe from the back of the house to the very bottom is running down hill.

The pipes are not running to the middle but running away from the middle.
The middle of the field is pretty dry.

As for the soak away... It was a bad idea to stick it in the middle of the field but that was not my doing so I just need to work with it.

Does the drainage plan make more sense now?

ShowMeTheCash

I have attached a drawing with arrows showing the direction.

The main issue is the water is not getting away at the bottom.

ShowMeTheCash

110mm pip and not 150mm/180mm?

The big coils I think usually come in 100 meter coils at 110.
100 meter would cover the length of the field.

I think 160mm tend to come in 35meter coils.

Talking so some of the local farmers they reckon 110 should be adequate for the job.

That is really the only reason.
You think I should go bigger?

ShowMeTheCash

Work started on Monday.

The founds for the wall are dug and the concrete has been poured.
A miserable day for it all the same but block work will start tomorrow.

We are thinking of digging the tench for the drainage an leaving it open until it drains for a few days/week (again depending on rain) before putting in the stone and pipe.

Sonnenblumen

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

110mm pip and not 150mm/180mm?

The big coils I think usually come in 100 meter coils at 110.
100 meter would cover the length of the field.

I think 160mm tend to come in 35meter coils.

Talking so some of the local farmers they reckon 110 should be adequate for the job.

That is really the only reason.
You think I should go bigger?

Defo and the larger pipes come with joiners anyway. Bigger capacity. BTW be sure to wrap the pipes in a permeable membrane, and encase in 300mm 10mm pea gravel otherwise they will in time silt up and become useless.

Dig deep (at least 600mm ) but 900mm better and check trenches to ensure you have a good fall. You need a solution to manage the run-off at the end?

ShowMeTheCash

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Defo and the larger pipes come with joiners anyway. Bigger capacity. BTW be sure to wrap the pipes in a permeable membrane, and encase in 300mm 10mm pea gravel otherwise they will in time silt up and become useless.

Dig deep (at least 600mm ) but 900mm better and check trenches to ensure you have a good fall. You need a solution to manage the run-off at the end?

So the drainage ditches took a different line places and we added a few more.
Guy I have out has done this before so he knew where the trenches had to go, he also found some old stone drains which explained why the water was not getting away at the bottom.

There is a good run on the field and the ditches have been opened now almost a week and the field already is pretty dry. ditches are 3/4 feet deep.

The flow of water has all but stopped now but when the ditch was cut it was like a damn bursting the amount of water.

We are using the 110mm pipe I talked with the guy and he reckons 110mm is more than enough for the area, if it was a larger field he said maybe then you would need a larger capacity but for the water that is in it and run on the field 110mm is plenty.
But we have made more trenches so maybe twice as much as originally planned.
We are using 3/4 inch stone, pipe and stone will go in tomorrow.

You mention membrane... I have not seen membrane be used even when i look at youtube videos of land drainage it is corrugated pipe and stone...

I am sure membrane would ensure the slits on the never get blocks but i think in this project it might be over kill.

ShowMeTheCash

Job complete just in time for the good weather

Took a little longer than expect a lot more stone, but the field is now a blank canvas well drained and strategic drainage pipes laid.

Retaining wall built and am currently getting it faced with stone.

Now just getting the lawn soil ready for the grass, hopefully get that by the end of the month.

Place looks tidy I will start planning the garden now.