How to add drainage in garden bed?

[willcullen]

Hi

I created a garden bed out my back and i have planted golden cane palms but they are going brown and i think due to lack of drainage they are drowning. Ideally i dont want to have to dig everything back out but can anyone suggest what's the best way to get drainage in here?

as you can see from the images one wall is the rendered wall and the other is a brick wall up to protect the fence

[willcullen]

any tips on how i could add drainage in without making too much of a mess would be greatly appreciated

[JacobZ]

Hi @willcullen,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is wonderful to have you with us.

Unfortunately, I don't see a way of adding drainage to your garden beds that isn't fairly involved. The only way I see it being possible is to temporarily remove the plants and place them in pots, then install some Reln 65mm x 7m Slotted And Socked Stretch Ag-Pipe along the base of the planter that discharges outside of the planter box. Ideally, you would also add a layer of drainage gravel at the base of the garden bed that is around 50mm thick, however, this would require you to remove all of the soil.

You would then need to drill a core hole through the end of the garden bed where I have circled below to allow the agi pipe to discharge out the side of the planter box.

This would require some fairly expensive equipment including a Full Boar 2000W 150mm Core Drill and a Full Boar Ø77mm Diamond Core Drill Bit, so it is likely worth contacting a company that specialises in concrete cutting and coring for their assistance.

Allow me to tag some of our helpful members to see if they have any ideas, @TedBear, @Dave-1, @Noyade.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Jacob

[Dave-1 · Accepted solution]

Afternoon @willcullen

Welcome to the Bunnings community pages You are definently in the right place for these type of questions. There are lots of us with similar issues

They only thing I can think of is that end that @JacobZ has circled is to remove that and then dig out your garden, before replacing the soil put some socked ag pipe in the base with some course gravel around it. With the outlet into the arden bed next to the circle. Pretty much what JacobZ has siad bar teh core drill This I would think of as a long term solution.

Or you could plant plants that like waterlogged soil, Id test the ph of the soil to see if the plants you want to grow like the same type of soil.

Short term solution. 

Remove the plants and put them into pots instead. That are lower then the edge of your wall. Something like this Trough Plastic Northcote 60x16cm Rec Graphite Villa - Graphite 600mm (make sure tho there is some gravel in the base and a hole or two

Dave

[TedBear]

Hi @willcullen, given that diggng plants out is something that you wish to avoid, the best I can think of, is to divide the drainage problem into sections: -

You would need some 19mm retic poly pipe (13mm may do, since it will be draining slowly anyway), which would need to be buried (not quite at the bottom) along the whole garden edge, disturbing plants as little as possible. It would have T pieces inserted in the middle of each gap between the plants. Add a small length of poly pipe to each T piece and tape the end ups to keep dirt out while you bury it. (You can cut it to correct length later.) You would then cut some slotted ag pipe into short sections to be inserted vertically between each of the plants. They would have a hole near the bottom for that short length of 19mm retic pipe, connected to the T piece to sit through. Fill the up-ended ag pipe with rocks so that they act as small water collection wells, which would then drain excess water out through the 19mm poly pipe, (tape removed) & through a hole at the end of the bed. You need to run the poly pipe a bit above the exit ground level so that the water can drop out of the pipe at the end (ie to not lay on the ground). Also keep the piece sticking inside the "wells" off the bottom, to prevent too much sand getting in to the pipe.

You can drill a 19mm clearance hole through the end using a smaller masonry drill & a series of small holes in a circle. (Or just use a larger drill bit.)

I hope that description makes sense.

[willcullen]

Really really helpful. What if i, entertain me here for being lazy ha, removed the colorbond fence at the back and drilled some holes into the side of the brick against the fence, would that work? 

[willcullen]

amazing Dave thansk for this

as i said to Jacob above and sorry for being lazy ha but What if removed the colorbond fence at the back and drilled some holes into the side of the brick against the fence, would that work? 

[TedBear]

Hi again @willcullen ,

commonly known as Weep Holes....  yes that would help.  Didn't realise that removing the fence was an option, but since it is, give that a go as a simple solution.

[JacobZ]

Hi @willcullen,

Similar to @TedBear I hadn't considered removing the fence panel as an option. It would certainly work and sounds like a good option. 

My only suggestion is to add some corflute on the fence panels to protect them from being constantly wet which could cause issues down the line.

You could attach the corflute to the fence panels with Liquid Nails before reattaching them to the posts.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Morning @willcullen 

I dont see an issue with removing the fence panel and drilling some weep holes either, I would suggest that there be a 10mm gap if possible between the metal of the fence and teh brickwork so the water isnt resting against the metal all the time.

Dave