I've just moved into a house that has an established garden but when it rains it drains very slowly and puddles remain in the lawn for a day or so.
I am reluctant to dig it all up in order to put in drainage pipes because it will ruin so much of what exists and take ages to re-establish.
Do you have any ideas of a quick fix solution?
Hey Luba, bad drainage really isn't something you can get around easily so be prepared for some effort and disruption.
Essentially, it is not possible have a successful garden on poorly drained soil so you really will have to insert some drainage.
But you don't have to dig the whole lot up.
Best to get an experienced gardener in who will be able to look at the area and suggest where the best possibility of run lines might be. He will then dig some narrow trenches, lay some blue metal in then some ag-pipe on top and cover it over with a sand/soil mix.
Then you'll monitor it during the next wet period. If you still have some boggy bits then your landscape person will insert some extra pipe to solve the problem in that area.
I speak with real experience here having done this myself once, then a couple of months later added in an extra drainage line.
By taking care to slice off the turf, lay it to one side and then place it back over the finished works, the disruption to my garden was minimal.