Help with stormwater creek bed in back yard
briggins1014
13 years ago
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frankielynnsie
13 years agomissingtheobvious
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Front yard/drainage question--dry creek/rain garden
Comments (4)Yeah, my picture is quite poor. I'll have to take a better one. There is not a 'swale' but a spot at the end of the front bed (mud) where the water collects. The downspout comes to the end of the column, and then a long extension goes out 5 or 6 feet towards the yard. At the end of the extension, water pools in my bed and pushes the dirt around. I don't like the extension--it's ugly and sticks out like a sore thumb Water will need to be directed away from the porch foundation. We have clay soil, which I've been amending slowly but surely, and it does stay wet there for quite some time after a rain. It's a west facing house, though, so during the summer it can get quite toasty there. Rain garden to me means a special garden made up of a range of plants--from water loving to moisture tolerating planted in a swale (usu. on the edge of slope below a downspout or a source of water). The rain garden helps to use the rainwater to keep it from entering storm drains, etc....See MoreDry (wet!!) creek bed / french drain
Comments (9)First, thanks for taking the time to help us out on this! I agree with the pipe/drain gap, which is why we thought originally that the pipe should/would connect directly to the drain (but, as I said, the landscaping guy said that then more sediment could get in the drain?). I don't think a larger grate would readily do the trick - the water level rarely reaches the level of the grate (which is elevated off of the "bottom" of the trench. It enters the drain primarily through those holes drilled in the side, as I mentioned. So you think the water would move well enough through soil? I thought in general that rocks were better at moving water quickly - hence the commonality of dry creek beds, surrounding french drains in gravel, etc.?...See MoreComplete novice needs help with inherited hydrangeas in the back yard
Comments (5)Thank you so much, junco! Yes, those are hostas - now that I googled the name. :-) I wish I knew that much. They too look a bit scorched so perhaps they are all showing the effects of a hot summer when nobody bothered to water them. Hopefully they will come back OK next spring. It is really helpful to know that it is fine to wait and see what happens next Spring. If the plants come back fine in the Spring, do you have any tips for maximizing bloom? I don't think they bloomed at all last year either. Unfortunately, I don't have an irrigation system in that area but i do have a hose on the deck so I will just have to pay attention to the weather and water as needed, which should be a major improvement from "never". Trouble is if we are gone again to stay with family overseas, I will have to entrust someone with watering the garden at least once in a while. Will also do the weed pulling by hand - myself. I can certainly take 2 hours. That small fern that shows up in the picture...I am pretty sure it was not designed to be there. :-) I love big hydrangea bushes and have always wondered how some get so big, These two plants we have never grew beyond their initial size - which is not very large. Thank you so much!...See MoreSwale vs dry creek bed?
Comments (1)"is there any evidence that a rock creek bed would be superior to a swale for moving storm-water through the property?" No. Rock mulch might be preferable, though, in situations where grass or groundcover can't grow well. However, this is very few situations. Dry stream beds are usually created because someone wants the appearance of such a structure. Unfortunately, many of them are not well done and don't look good....See Moresquirejohn zone4 VT
13 years agolaag
13 years agonandina
13 years agobriggins1014
13 years agotanowicki
13 years agobriggins1014
13 years agolyvia
13 years agoin ny zone5
13 years agoelementalgardener
12 years ago
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