# Live at bottom of hill with clay soil (swampy)



## DrOK1919 (Oct 12, 2018)

Hi all,

So i live in a townhouse at the bottom of a hill with clay soil. My lawn is a small 500 sqft but I really want it to be a good outside space. Because of the fencing around the hill, and the clay, there is not much drainage after a large rain. I'm working to make a french drain to get most of the water out, but my soil itself is very wet a lot of the time because the clay is compacted and does not drain well. There are also a lot of spots with standing water.

I was thinking about gutting the whole thing (my lawn is mostly weeds now), amending the soil, and then placing sod. I was wondering how i should go about doing this so I end up having a lawn that dries out after a day or two so i can spend time in my backyard?

Thanks,


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

The french drain should help. Where are you sending the water to?

I think you could use sand on top of the clay to help it dry. OSUturfman linked to a athletic field approach called Spartan fields that uses a similar approach.


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## DrOK1919 (Oct 12, 2018)

That looks like a pretty good idea. I am the second to the corner house and to the left of the yard is a storm drain. Water has a hard time reaching there due to the fencing on our property.

So in my haste to do something about the yard i kind of started digging up the top a you can see. should i just take that soil. regrade my yard to have a downward drainage, start digging the trenches for the pipe, and then do the sand capping? Just want to make sure i get it right before i start anything....again .


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