Why is the meadow damp?
The fact that the meadow is damp is mostly due to the insufficient permeability of the soil. Heavy loamy or clayey soils in particular tend not to allow water to seep away, but instead to accumulate on the surface. This happens especially in meadows, that lie in a depression, because here the water cannot even escape to the sides.
also read
- Leveling an uneven meadow - This is how you straighten a meadow
- Drying out a damp meadow - this is how it works
- Maintain a meadow
How to dry the meadow - what you have to pay attention to
Of course, you first have to be careful not to dry out any protected wet or swampy meadows - this is namely subject to approval, although the required permit is now only rarely granted will. These meadow species are rare biotopes and are considered worthy of protection. It is of course different with the damp meadow in front of your house, that you need to drain naturally - Otherwise it can happen to you that the excess moisture ends up in the masonry at some point and does your destructive work.
Lay the drainage
When laying the drainage pipes, make sure that you do not lead them into the depression, but run parallel to the slope. It is also important that the pipes end either in a septic tank, in a stream or in the sewer system. In addition, you should run from top to bottom - that is, with a downward gradient - as it is well known that water only flows downhill, but not uphill. And this is how you lay the drainage pipes:
- Make a plan in advance of how you want the pipes to run. Consult with a professional.
- Mark out the course trenches and raise the overgrown sod with a shallow one spade away.
- Dig the trenches and fill in a layer of gravel at the bottom.
- Now take perforated (and wrapped with a fleece) rain gutters and place them in the trench.
- Check that the pipes are actually going downhill by pouring some water into them and seeing where it goes.
- At the end of the pipes dig an approx. two meter deep drainage ditch that is filled with gravel.
- The trenches with the pipes are also filled with gravel. Only a thin layer of earth is on top.
Tips & Tricks
If the meadow is not near the house, you can use the damp meadow with the help of a soil improvement and transform the right plants into a true wet meadow biotope and thus create a coveted habitat for many rare plants and animals.