Clay soil/additional solutions (pic attached)

[lilpebble]

We have a small garden (probably 17 by 30 ft ) part of which is used for bigger shed, trampoline so the remaining area is not big.

There is a problem that we have a clay soil that won't let water down. The garden is unusable for our child and dog (it's like a place for mud wrestling, I am not kidding even). And it's like this for good 6 months a year.

I have purchased 200kg of wooden chips to put on top, hope the amount will be enough for the area.

Is there anything i can do to improve drainage? Budget-friendly solutions? Like clay breaker or anything?

how deep is the clay, have you tried digging down more than a spade's depth?

Following with interest.

Ours is fit for a clay wrestling match as well.

We've even considered doing the drainage soakaway channels when we do an extension as the diggers will be here anyway. But not sure how effective they are and definitely not a cheap solution.

That's a bit of a job. You need plants sucking up the water, and rotted vegetation breaking up the clay. How you get there, I'm not sure.

You could dig drainage channels, put coarse limestone chippings in, then fill it back in with coconut fibre or something.

Plant something thirsty around the edges. It's a small garden but if you planted the corners it might help. Dig bucket loads of compost/wood chippings/bark into it. If the edges are sucking up water, the middle (lawn?) may cope better.

Good plants-
Ornamental willow- twisted spiralling branches.
Marsh marigold
Canna lily

I guess it's mostly soil in our region.
We moved our yucca from the pot to the little piece in front of our house this summer and had to dig about 60 cm down... It was a show for our neighbours. We were leaving water to soften the soil and then dig it out. We put a bit of store-bought compost there, so the plant had better nutrients.

There are also a lot of construction rubbish, pieces of bricks and stones, concrete, but I guess it's a "thank you" to Barratt

Thank you guys for replies!!

There are also a lot of construction rubbish, pieces of bricks and stones, concrete

Ah,I think I get the picture. First thing is to keep off it when it's wet, you'll just compact it. I would also suggest raised beds for those areas you want to garden in. I'm also afraid that either you get a huge amount of top soil delivered or you are going to have to deal with rubble. Try dealing with it at a sq metre at a time, remove the rubble and add lots of organic matter, used mushroom compost etc. It will take some time but I find it's easier to break it down into smaller tasks rather than do the lot. It may be by next summer when most is sorted and you can grass over it for your child to use.

We got soil improver from the tip and dug that in but also bought some worms from a fishing shop (we asked their advice on the best sort) to help dig the soil over. We made our own compost and mulched our borders with it every year and the worms dug it in fur is.
We planted things that liked wet conditions and things did improve.
If you have a lawn, get a garden fork and spike loads of holes in the lawn, then sprinkle sand on and brush it into the holes.

We paved over ours.

You definitely need to identify areas and work it a bit at a time.
So a contorted willow at the far end, work the soil as you plant it.
Maybe a long, low bed closer to the house with smaller thirsty plants like canna lilies, marsh marigold, Chameleon plant.

Work each bit as you go. Maybe get a path put in, so you can stay off the rest.

Add perlite to help aerate the soil.