Advice on dealing with wet area of yard

blairs_2009

15 years ago

I am in southwest ohio and am trying to garden in a subdevelopment. My challenge is that we have have clay soil and my yard was graded to allow for water drainage with the neighboring yards. When it rains--as it has the past 2 days, the area (about 3 feet wide and across the entire length of my rear yard) becomes like a little stream--water mainly sits there (doesnt flow). Given that its clay, the water will sit there for days afterward, there are places where the ground is not flat so I get little pools of water that linger a bit longer, and given that we have an irrigation system, the ground never completely dries out--it's always "squishy" in this area.

I have tried planting 2 willow trees (one on each end of the yard) and while they are thriving, the water still accumulates. I've also tried bringing in top soil to help level the area out and judging by the water that is laying out there today, it didnt help. We cannot enjoy walking around the yard as 2/3 of the plantings are on the other side of this wet area.

I have pictures if anyone is interested; however, I would greatly appreciate ideas on helping to improve this part of the yard. To date I have not planted anything directly in this wet area but I'm wondering if more willows, river birch, etc, would help to manage this issue. We did install a stone bed over one area (so we could walk around the rear part of the yard and enoy the garden) but that has begun to sink into the mud...

Please help!

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Comments (5)

nycynthias
15 years ago
Have you thought about trying to just go with it, and making it a marsh/pond? There are lots of plant ideas that will work with a scheme like this. I don't know if you have a homeowners association that would prevent you from making a body of standing water, but if not, that is something I'd consider. I'd love to do something like that with water-loving grasses, irises, etc. Maybe add a little wooden bridge over the boggy area, to give you access to the planting areas beyond?
Also FYI if you don't want stones/gravel to continue to sink into mud you can lay down landscape fabric using staples. It won't stay perfectly in place because of the water issues, but it will contain the stones.
The other idea would be to install a french drain but obviously you'd have to have a channel to send the water into, ie: a destination. In a subdivision that may not really be available to you though, since you can't/don't want to send it out into the street because of erosion.
natural-sens
15 years ago
mini dry well. not sure the volume of standing water you're dealing with but if you excavate say 6' by 3' by 2' deep, line hole with geo textile fabric, fill 4/5 with clear gravel (3/4"), cover with geo textile fabric top up with decorative river rock or other, grade so that water drains to this area. You could play with it; shape it like a dry creek plant decorative grasses behind, a small boulder or two, ground cover in the front... to make it more appealing and looking like an intentional design.

This dry well will essentially act as a natural storage basin taking standing water from the surface where it is a nuisance and a mosquito motel, storing it below the surface from where it will then slowly percolate deeper into the ground. The size of it depends on the amount of standing water you deal with during seasons of heavy rain. Not a small operation necessarily but the only tricky part is disposing of the cut earth you remove from that hole. (Berm up another part of your garden, rent a small dumpster bin?)

good luck
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Well I would try to make lemonade out of lemons. Yes you can prune, or "limb up" the branches that hang over onto your yard, but you wouldn't want it to look hacked up. You may not be a gardener and so this solution may not appeal to you, but it really is not hard to put in a mixed shrub border (very low maintenance, really!) back there, with some large stones or small boulders mixed in, buried 1/3 or 1/2 to look natural. Then you just need leaves raked in there, your grass clippings, and pine straw if you have that, to use as mulch in between the mixed shrubs. This really will catch the mud and water and prevent further erosion. The shrubs should be evergreen, mostly, so it will look nice all year, and with varied height and foliage, and shade tolerant. You can search for that and it is easy to find, or a local garden center can help you. If you plant native shrubs you will probably do even better. This mixed shrub border will give you something very beautiful to look at, attract birds etc, the dogs should love to explore in there and not make a mess. I have one of these at the back of my yard, I make a small walkway behind the shrub border in case I have to get in there, I layer leaves and small branches and pour the stuff from my paper shredder back there (you can't see it) and it makes a nice path. I have cut and pasted 2 examples, it can be much simpler than the below examples, but use a few different shrubs, not all one kind. You don't even need to put in flowers or hostas or anything other than the shrubs. In my vast gardening experience, shrubs are the easiest of all plants. You are in a great gardening area, Atlanta, to achieve this. http://www.bing.com/images/results.aspx?q=mixed+shrub+border+with+stone+outcroppings&form=MSNH14&refig=0df17a0772a1474cbbc125bffcc81840&pq=mixed+shrub+border+with+stone+outcroppings&sc=0-19&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=#view=detail&id=32DCD70D6EEE49DAB1A040EC510D3E798E4F48F4&selectedIndex=85 http://www.bing.com/images/results.aspx?q=mixed+shrub+border+with+stone++&form=MSNH14&refig=0df17a0772a1474cbbc125bffcc81840&pq=mixed+shrub+border+with+stone+&sc=0-19&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=#view=detail&id=251E31D0E7653476CBE29DD3A8F04EEE12DCE152&selectedIndex=229
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hortster
15 years ago
Plants that tolerate standing water, for short periods of time but will also live without it:
Willows
Alder
River birch
Baldcypress
Redtwig dogwood
Sweetspire
Aronia vars.
Many varieties of daylily
Yellow Iris (I. pseudoacorus)
Ajuga varieties
Houttuynia, Chameleon (Houttuynia cordata ÂChameleonÂ). Careful! Can be invasive!
Liriope varieties
The best solution is to get your neighbor to let your drainage go away through their yard, a tough one...taking soil away vs. adding is usually the best answer, honestly! More soil usually dams it up for someone else, just like has probably happened to you.
Hortster
pennymca
15 years ago
Pictures would be helpful.

I like the wooden bridge idea that will get you from one part of the yard to the other, especially coupled with the idea of a rain garden. Rain gardens help the environment, besides becoming an aesthetically pleasing way to deal with the problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Gardens
joepyeweed
15 years ago
Think Rain garden, plant flowers and grasses that would do well in those conditions.

Some of my favorites include asclepias incanarta, and joepyeweed!

Advice on dealing with wet area of yard

Comments (5)

nycynthias

natural-sens

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pennymca

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