Sorting out the mud????

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SpruceRI

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My field shelter is set back in a small wooded area which means the bit out the front never grasses over and is now an absolute bog. It's bottomless. My shetland sinks in over his knees
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I've dug a bit out, about 6ft x 3ft sq outside one of the doors just so I can close it, and it's quite pleasant walking in that bit
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(But the digging out just about killed me!!)

Now, in the summer, when (and if) it ever dries out I was going to buy a membrane to put down with grass mats ontop. But having looked at prices, I simply can't afford them... soooo was thinking of just putting the membrane down and spreading woodchip ontop.

Presumably the membrane allows water through? So will it just get boggy underneath again and that the whole lot disappear into the mire?

Or should I just put tarpaulin down so no rain gets to the soil, it remains hard underneath, then the woodchip will be swimming ontop??

Any ideas?
 
YOu need to raise the ground level inside and outside the shelter so that water does not settle and pool in there, so consider a couple of tonnes of 1" stone chips for a base, then you could spread some sand and then bedding over the floor inside
 
I wouldn't use wood chips, they will just break down and add to the bog. i would get some one out to dig out with mini digger then do similar to what MH is saying or use hard core or road plainings out side.
 
The inside of the shelter isn't a problem it's as dry as a bone.

I can't afford to hire a mini digger with or without a person to drive it, nor can I afford road planings. Access to the place is tricky. No road or track access, just through a field and then the gap from my field to the field shelter area is less than a cars width, so you might get a mini digger in there but nothing bigger.

Has anyone laid membrane with woodchip directly ontop, or a few of those holey mats with the holes filled with woodchip?

Thanks
 
We tried putting woodchip on the mud by our field trough. It just got churned up into the mud and just kind of added to the problem. Could you wait until the ground dries out and then try putting rubber matting down the area that gets boggy? I also know of someone who uses old carpet in gateways? That seems to work for some people but not all - might be worth a try though??
 
Thanks yes, wood chip directly on the mud just churns in.

Can't afford rubber mats, the worst area is about 15m square. If I just make a track I think the mud will end up covering whatever I put down and it'll be lost in the mire.

No easy answer to this.
 
If you're desperate & can't afford to do it properly yet, (digging out, hardcore, surface) just trample in half a dozen bales of straw until all the moisture is soaked up; you just need to use enough in the first instance, & keep topping it up. Crude but effective. Works for me.
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Edited to say, has to be straw, not woodchip- woodchip isn't absorbant enough. It looks awful, of course, & you will have to dig it out if & when you do re-surface, but if you keep topping up & trampling in, straw does work; you've just got to use enough of it. I'd just straw a track, but straw it really well until you can't "sink " any more.
 
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