Drainage problems can damage and kill grass and plants.
(Courtesy: Echofaction at flickr.com)
One major threat to your lawn and garden is improper drainage. It’s more than having puddles on your lawn. It can actually kill plants and grass because the roots are not getting oxygen. Moreover, such a condition can cause problems with the environment including the manifestation of fungus, which can also threaten damage to plants.
There are things you can do to combat drainage issues that can result in an overall more healthy lawn and garden.
Remedies for Drainage Problems
Most problems related to drainage are due to clay soil. Such soil is thicker than sandy or loamy soil and is slower to permit rainwater to filter through it. You can improve the situation by simply improving the soil.
A drainage issue means that there is standing water on your lawn or garden after a light to modest rain. You can identify a more serious problem if the standing water remains for more than a day. Besides clay soil, these problems also result from high water tables, low grading compared to nearby properties, layers of hard materials below the soil like stones and extremely compacted soil.
You can create an underground drain to alleviate the problem. One of the most common underground drains is a French drain, which is a covered over gravel-filled ditch. An alternative to the French drain is to build up the soil where you are having the drainage issue or create a berm to redirect the water flow. This is ideal when specific beds of your garden are getting flooded. Keep in mind, however, that a berm is meant to redirect the water flow. So if you create a berm, the water flow is being diverted to another portion of the lawn or garden and may cause drainage problems there.
Another method of handling draining issues is to create a pond or a rain garden. Both alternatives collect excess rainwater as well as add a feature of interest to your landscape.
A more primitive method to handle the problem is to use rain barrels. There are occasions when a lawn or garden has to deal with more than the falling rain. Depending on location, they may also have to deal with water flowing off nearby buildings. Barrels attached to downspouts will collect rainwater that commonly flows into the yard. The collected water can be used later to water the lawn and garden when your region suffers a period of limited rainfall.
(Next time: how to create a rain garden)
