Anyone set up a plastic, holey drainage pipe for a waterlogged lawn?

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The garden gets waterlogged in the winter months, to the point of part of it becoming a lake. The soil has a lot of clay. I think I've made it worse in recent years because I got rid of a lot of bushes and foliage which in fairness had just grown up over the decades (it's my late parents' home) and wasn't attractive - I intend to plant some nicer things in the next few months. That said, when it was clearer back in the day, I don't recall it getting so waterlogged. And I don't want to plant new stuff only to see it rot in the winter months.

My neighbour gave me a bendy black plastic pipe with holes in it to instal as a drainage pipe. The idea was it would extend to the stream at the end of the garden but it means a lot of digging. That said, of course most gardens do not have a stream so is the idea that it could just go into the ground, extend to an area which is generally less waterlogged, to disperse the rainwater?

I'm sort of trying to get my head around it and don't want to get it wrong due to all the digging involved.

I think you should watch a load of You Tube tutorials about this. It's A LOT of work, and surprisingly dangerous to dig deeper than a foot or so depth.

You could also look at plants that thrive in wet clay and see what wildflowers etc could work. They tend to have deeper roots and actually help to minimize water retention.

Thanks for your quick response - you've got me worried though - why Is it dangerous to dig deeper than a foot? That said, I imagined it would only be, I don't know, 15in deep or it would mean a LOT of digging!
Better get cracking on your wet clay plants suggestion to get going before the rainy season, not saying this is the most stellar of summers!

We did one in our boggy area, under a gravel path. It’s only a few inches down, in a trench filled with stones and chippings. I’d forgotten about it - we did it about 30 years ago. I think it probably does work - after really heavy rain the whole area can be under water for a few hours, but under normal soggy rain-in-winter conditions, the path is fine but the lawn further up the slope was getting really squelchy.

I solved the lawn by digging out a path of bricks on a sand bed, slightly lower than the lawn surface, so I can let the grass grow over it and mow it. It’s not completely covered, but it’s dry to walk on.

For planting in the wet area, I mulched so the beds are domed to about 15cm higher than the surrounding area, and I avoid things that like good drainage.

DH did this in very heavy clay soil. He dug down deep, as far as he could, then l filled the trench with gravel, then the pipes, then more gravel. It seems to have worked, but he thinks it is a temporary solution and will get clogged up one day.

Monty Don has just done this. Have a look at his insta for the photos of the whole process.

Weeping birch is slower growing than a willow and helps soak up water.

We did this in our old house- we put three in altogether- it was massively effective- about a foot down - then 6 inches of chippings and sand then dirt on top

Look up ' French drains' YouTube OP.

My DH installed these at DP's house. LOTS digging, skips, membrane, gravel, perforated pipe, set with stepping stones on top to look like a gravel path. The idea is that you can take all the gravel out again in future, get rid of silt and put it all back. It's also connected to their drains.

It was a lot of work and not cheap. But it has worked, after 40 years their heavy clay is no longer waterlogged. It became really bad when their uphill neighbours removed trees and installed a lot of hard landscaping so they had to do something.

We've put in a willow it's pretty and functional. At our last house we dug a trench 20 foot long put in gravel, pipe, more gravel, backfilled and seeded. No issues in 20 years.

We hired a guy with a mini digger for the day. Wasn't too bad, maybe £250 max.

We put a fabric stocking thing over the plastic pipe and laid it in the trenches with some gravel. Then covered over with soil.

Cant imagine having to dig it by hand though.

Thanks everyone! Not sure what the gravel is for, is it to stop the pipe moving or sinking? If the pipe has holes wouldn't it stop the water from leaking out into the surrounding earth? Or - come to think of it - does one want that to happen anyway, wouldn't that be counterproductive?

Opinions seem to vary on how big a job this really is.

The gravel is to stop the holes blocking up with soil. As for cost it depends on how long your channel, pipe, will need to be. Your builders merchant staff are so helpful with advice. I'd pop in to speak to them.

The gravel gives a free-flowing channel for the water, the pipe gives it an even more open centre. Water will always take the easy route.

Soil next to the pipe would soon clog the holes and you’d be back to square one