Install Holes In Your Lawn For Drainage 

Looking forward to seeing the longer term results. Great idea 💡

We did this on a couple of greens at one of the courses I worked at few years ago mate worked a treat. 👍

Great advice as usual, looking forward to see it solving the drainage problem

Did it work?

Great video, I've had a real problem with drainage for years on my lawn, the thought of digging a system of drainage trenches was very daunting, this offers a real alternative to that. Thumbs up guys!!

Customer of mine did this last year - it worked an absolute treat.. He and his neighbours have huge issues... He drilled about 4 holes overall, filled so much with pea gravel, then filled with decent soil, a bit of gypsum and compost.. This year while treating Ive notice its performing so much better, good video

I did this in my new build house a few years back, but went 3ft deep as the house acts like a dam. Used pea shingle and it's made a real difference a vertical French drain.

Lol 😂 wonderful video my favorite part was the drop in the pool lol 😅

Look forward to seeing results as i have similar issue oct-feb

You both make an excellent couple. 👍

Great job!

We have an older new build. It was full of clay and rubble with hardly any top soil. Only weeds would grow. Last year I dug up the large rubble and weeds and the worst areas of heavy clay. Then used a drill with an auger bit to make 2 inch holes down to about 6-8 inches randomly in the worst areas then filled with pea shingle. Before sewing a new lawn I left it like that for a while. After heavy rains I would add new holes where water started to pool. Eventually I covered the whole lawn with new top soil and sewed grass seed. It was a lot of effort but our lawn is pukka now. No weeds and no swampy areas either.

Brilliant job. Great method. Thanks for sharing Daniel.

Did something similar but on a smaller scale last year, using an auger bit in an electric drill. I filled the holes with rubber crumb, inspired by one of your videos. Made a big difference as my back used to get flooded with heavy rain.

We need more Joshua! Maybe one day he will have the honor of piloting old faithful.

I had visions of it sticking and you spinning around and holding on for dear life. 😁

Thanks for the content, I'm going to give this a go on mine next weekend, just out of interest is there anything else you'd suggest over this only got a 24m2 garden.

good idea, me mom; 's tennis court surroundings need this for sure, glad I found your tutorial...those augers are tricky, one or two-man operation, I would want two men in case it snags and will throw around in a circle. ask me how I know.

Good idea. In the USA the drainage expert drugs the about 2 ft n then the fabric n put a little big prices of gravel stone n cover it up on top the fabric so the the stones won't get chocked up. The results were excellent as poured the with a garden hose on top of it n the water going done n not flooding.

Josh Crisp you beauty of man 🎉😂 keep up the good work my spanglish brother 🙌

We used Lytag on this sort of thing years back

Because of the clay and the old spring, there have been flooding problems in a few of my neighbours back gardens. So when creating a lawned area in our back garden, I dug a pit (about 3 feet deep) with the diameter of the pit smaller than a wooden pallet. Filled the pit with rubble etc, covered that with top soil and made a rockery on top of that. Bedded in plants etc. into the rockery. After 4 years, we’ve had no water build up in our back garden.

A new trend happening, works well but in US add landscape fabric into hole and cover also, then add soil and plug

Gonna try similar on a smaller scale. With an auger drill bit. My lawn is really bad clay on a new build property. Then fill with top soil / compost.

Nice! But no need for fabric cloth then pour the gravel in?

Will this work if I've already dug a hole for my above ground pool 2 to 3 foot down. Now water from rain creates a moat around the pool. It's hard red clay from South Alabama.

What a good idea!

Iv binge watched all your videos and love the content. Makes me want my own lawn to look better, but it's on a gradual slope and isn't level. Will this hold me back and do lawns need to be bowling green flat to see results like yours?

Really good idea! Something I’ve been thinking about doing myself! Just one question - why not drill down as far as possible with the auger?

What would be your advice if the clay level is only a few inches below the surface?

I want to do something similar. Need maybe a dozen holes only a small lawn. But limestone chippings are about a tenner a bag, if I make 2ft ish holes that’s a lot of bags. Is my maths wrong lol or should I just use pea gravel or cheap 20mm bag of gravel @ half the price?

Would love to see the results of this. I done the same in my lawn this August, over 80 hole drilled and over 1 tonne of drainage stone in before full overseed. Alot of my holes did not get as deep as I wanted due to conditions under lawn unfortunately, but certainly wont have done any harm. Too early to tell yet how big an improvement it will be but have my fingers crossed!!

The only issue is these holes will fill with soil around the stones making the drainage bad again over years. Perhaps fill the hole with a filter material and then fill with stones. Like a French drain setup

Great stuff Daniel. Been waiting for this one going up. Think i know what I will be doing this wekeend. No auger for me though, fence post diggers will suffice I think. Going to do a light overseed and top dress once done.

Brilliant idea. I've got terrible drainage in mine (new build) this could be a winner although I'm not sure how the hole driller will manage in the ground as its full of any old shite/rubble then turfed over, typical on all new builds but could be worth a shot! Thanks Dan

Nice.

I had a pond in my garden that I filled in and extended my lawn over it. It was partially filled with some builder’s debris and topped up to a finished level with at least 300mm of topsoil. Last year during the summer heatwave it was the first area to dry out, the patch replicated the shape of the former pond, the grass has not recovered well at all. I hope you don’t have a similar experience with your drainage arrangement. Fortunately for me, since following your channel, I’m in the process of renovating my lawns and giving the garden a makeover.

Beautiful!! How do you pull the circle sod plugs out so identical?

What did you put on top of the limestone?

How would this hold out over time? Would the holes start to say where sand gets rinsed through the stone underneath? Desperately need to do this but now I’ve seen it actually done I think I’m converted!

Health and safety would love this video. Get a signal and mark it with a spade? How deep was the cable?

The scan is a good idea. Having found the cable lines, it might be a good idea to put mini stakes in the margins of the lawn so a string line can be used in future?

what is the soil profile for this to work, we have a really thick layer of more than 10 metres of loam, then who knows what

Marks the underground lines with a shovel to ensure that they get cut properly 😂

Thanks for this idea. How did you cut the round turfs in the later part of the video?

What happened to the "crumbs" idea you've used before, scale of the job? Do you reckon you'll see any "lime" impact on the soil condition or is it deep enough not to be an issue?

Hi Daniel wee question about top dressing with Jack magic the same brand do an all purpose compost aswell is there much difference in them just as I can get it from local hardware but not Jack magic

Did this in the middle of my lawn where it would be like a swimming pool. 1ft x 1ft hole and back filled it with broken slabs and bricks, rocks. Worked amazingly good. No more flood in the middle of my lawn 🙌

Last year I hired a manual 6 inch post hole borer ; think is was £6 hire fee And bored a dozen holes in front lawn which was pure clay And it’s made a massive difference

I was thinking about going really deep with the drill and then using landscape mesh, would limestone stones be better than the rubber recycled stuff in your other videos?

nothing can go wrong with this genius plan!

Maybe to make these last forever you could line the holes with a land drain sock (geo textile) to avoid any soil/silt ingress. Going to try this on my lawn, thanks!

I have drill envy..

7:00 looks like you built a golf course for novices like me 😆

My back garden slopes toward the house. There is an aco drainage barrier between the grass border and patio slabs but the soil under the grass is saturated. I dug out a leveled area for a shed base last autumn, thats now like a pool due to water draining from the highest part of the garden. Would adding a fair few of these at from the middle to top of the garden prevent the above issues?

Hi Dan. How long after grass starts growing can I weed? It's full of them. Thanks mate.

Strange question for you. Watching the video under my house, it is on a crawl space, I have always had water issues. I have set up crudely two sump pumps to keep it dry and if the pumps are working it is good. Could something like this keep that area dryer? It would be a pain digging holes for sure..thoughts?

Update?

Curious, won't dirt fill into the rock gaps eventually and stop the water from draining into the lower earth properly?

That was entertaining

How has this fared over winter? I’ve got a Makita Auger and a boggy lawn, think I’ll try this before a full land drain.

definitely one of the best lawn care youtubers.

Good job you've done there. I know you said to use 10mm Limestone but which sand do you use? Does it need to be Horticultural sand?

I am really considering this approach. Only concern I have is that maybe the water wouldn't actually drain away to anywhere because of the water table. If the water table is quite high then there's a chance that it won't make any difference?

Would you look at this as a good alternative to a traditional French drain? It looks an easier job, with less mess and cost. My own lawn is a complete mess every winter, it just doesn't dry out at all. The water table is naturally quite high . It has had 10mm of lying surface water on it since September last year. The grass has pretty much rotted off over winter and it just looks like a muddy mess now. Two dogs on it doesn't help either. 🥺

Thank you for this. Is there any reason to use limestone or can any gravel around 10mm be used? Thank you!

Is that sand that’s applied after the stone is put in or is it topsoil?

Has this worked? I’m thinking slightly smaller scale as have 100m2 new build lawn that seems to be clay like and soaked. Was gonna use an auger bit and fill the holes and top dress before seeding a new lawn.

Will this help with sewage smell after heavy rains from backyard septic system?

Do you not need to put some sort of membrane in before stones?

Hi, how far down were you drilling? How long would you expect this to last as you mentioned in some comments that the clay eventually gets between the stones and water will gather again? Thanks

Any particular spacing or just random?

I have serious drainage issues in my lawn. Its soo soggy underfoot. New build, only had 18cm top soil and then its just solid clay! 😫 Would this help my situation if I were to auger into the seemingly impermeable clay layer and fill with stone? Would I just end up with pockets of water sat underground that are unable to drain away, or would they eventually drain through. Thanks!

Did you ever check on the results of this. Tempted to do it myself but would love confirmation it works before I dig 100 holes and fill with 5 ton bags of gravel!

Could this much drainage cause potential sinkhole in the future?

so I think my issue is that i have A LOT of clay in my backyard, the water simply has nowhere to go and pools on top of it - - do you guys reckon giving this vertical drainage a shot might solve my issue?? I have a chicken coupe on my tree line and the run off from my neighbors yard comes down to it, the chicken coupe turns into a swamp and it really makes me upset but i cant afford $5-10k to pay someone to do drainage :( - I have considered digging a trent around the coupe and filling with gravel but i dont know if that solves the issue either - thanks, cheers

What's the product you put just under replaced turf and on top?

My daughters new home has 1ft of top “soil” then under that it’s seems to be 100% clay! My question is if you can only drill down to the clay and not under the clay won’t the water just build up from the bottom of these holes and back onto the top of your lawn as it won’t drain through the clay even with lots of holes filled with lime stones?

Thanks for the video. Here in America we need to call 811 which will have a company mark all the underground pipes, cables and it’s FREE !!!

Would be beneficial to hollow core aerate and top dress with a 70/30 mix also after this step to break top layer of lawn.

Did this lawn ever get a revisit? Did it work?

From the thumbnail wording I thought this was going to be a joke, something along the lines of Yosser Hughes's brick ventilation.

Instead of using a spade to mark the lawn, get yourself some baby powder/talc and you can draw the cable on the lawn, then it washes away after.

Did it work? Must of had a good testbthis winter

Hi Dan, could you explain bit more why you used 10mm limestone rather than 20mm? You mention airspace but I would have thought there be more airspace with 20mm as chipping can't knit together so tightly?

Please let us know what stones to use for filling the holes. thanks, alot

I bet you found out the hard way about detecting cables with your hair style ⚡️ 😮

So really Daniel is for aeration

Wish I could understand you lol. What did you saw off? What is the stuff you put on top of the limestone? I just couldn’t understand what you were saying. Lol

Basically a bunch of little dry wells.

Did it work? Considering a lawn dump?

Was this a good solution to the issue?

What are you putting in soil?

What if patchy as hell and there’s no grass in the damp spots

Hi Dan, wondering if you’ll do a follow on video to this to see how it worked? I’ve seen people say that in a heat wave the excavated area dry out quicker and look obvious? Cheers Ciaran

why fill with stone? is it co its cheaper? how would it work better?

How do you get one of those machines?

Did it work?

That’s a lot of holes!

Hibbers…you think it’s too late in the year to do a over seed and top dress?