Subject: Bad drainage

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Almloff)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 16:20:31 LOCAL

I have a section in the middle of my back lawn that collects water when it 
rains.  There is grass there but it is not very thick.  What is the best way 
to improve drainage for a clay based soil?

Kevin

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From: [email-masked] (Mary Panza)
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 16:22:08 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Kevin

> to improve drainage for a clay based soil?

I would not assume that your drainage problem is due to a heavy clay soil,
unless you've already confirmed it by having the soil analyzed or checking
soils maps for your area. Check your county library or with local DER or
similar environmental agency (or the extension service of a state
university in your area) for soil maps. 

You don't mention where you are located in the country, but your problem
could be a lot of other things than heavy clay. And the treatment will
vary depending on the problem. Various things that can cause poor
drainage: heavy clay soil, some type of pan, or a drastic change in the
porosity of the layers, e.g., a fine silty clay loam laid over a pebbly
loamy sand. In the latter case, capillary action isn't working properly to
provide good drainage. You may just have the bad luck(?) to a patch of
local alluvium that will always and forever be a wetter than everything
else. 

Usually, a deep rooting, perennial plant that isn't affected by the excess
water is probably your best bet in most of the situations, with the
exception of a serious hardpan. The roots will break up the clay or
compacted material, allowing for airspace and, thus, better drainage. A
more water-loving plant might even take up enough of the water - once it
grows large enough - to temper the problem even further. 

-Mary

-- 
Mary Panza                                           [email-masked]
Adobe Systems, Inc.,Prepress Group,411 First Ave. S,Seattle,WA  98104
Disclaimer: If I'm talking about our products, I'm probably speaking officially. If it's anything else, my opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Adobe Systems, Inc.

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 06:35:19 GMT

>to improve drainage for a clay based soil?

Build a french ditch under the lawn.

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked] (Mary Panza)
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 16:22:08 GMT

-Mary

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 06:35:19 GMT

Chris Owens

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From: Jennifer Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 Mar 1995 15:16:58 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> Meliva, [email-masked]
writes:
>Sounds like a terrific place to build a pond or plant a bog garden.  

A story: 
 A couple of years ago, I noticed the street near the front of my yard 
developing a bulge, and figured it was probably caused by the roots of my
scamore tree.  When the bulge was visibly bigger a couple of days later,
I decided it couldn't be the tree.  A week later it burst open and water
started coming out -- a little trickle, not a stream.  Soon after there
was a permanent pothole at the edge of the road, filled with water, which
constantly replenished itself.  I called the township and said I thought
there might be a leaky water main, and they came out and investigated but
said that wasn't it.  They put a patch on the road, which opened up again
two weeks later.  The little pond remained, and the part of my yard
between the sycamore and the street got very soggy.  I decided to plant a
bog garden.

I went to a nursery that claimed to specialize in wildflowers and bought
what was supposed to be native blue flag and what they called "yellow
swamp iris," which I assume is Iris pseudocorus.  Also a bunch of ferns. 
I popped them all in the bog and they loved it there.  The little pond,
meanwhile, stayed about the same size.  It attracted lots of birds, and
my neighbor's elderly cat would come and sit in the irises and watch the
birds and dream of younger days.  The neighborhood kids would play in it
too.  (Mind you, we're talking about a body of water approximately 14 x
18 inches, on the edge of a suburban street.)

The first spring, one purple iris bloomed, kind of a reddish purple and
not what I expected blue flag to look like at all.  The next spring the
real blue flag bloomed, plus the mystery purple iris, plus the yellow
ones.  It looked great.  

At a family party that spring I consulted with my cousin Frannie the
hydrologist, who said it sounded like a spring had broken through.   We
started referring to the hole in the road as "the spring," and
speculating whether we could get the state Dept. of Environmental
Resources to keep the township from fixing the road and messing up my
spring on the grounds of protecting a wetland.

Then winter came around again.  The first week of January, while I was at
work, the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company came out to fix what they
declared -- two and a half years after the water first appeared -- to be
a broken water main.  My neighbor Starr (whose cat enjoyed the pond so
much) came out and stood where my dormant irises were planted and kept
the workmen from digging in that spot.

So the pond is gone, and the bog is gone too.   The neighbor's sweet old
cat died last winter.  The irises, I am glad to say, remain, and they
bloomed just fine last year.  I am waiting for May, and more flowers.

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From: [email-masked] (Meliva)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 21:42:56 -0500