Hi, I live in Bellingham, WA. I recently purchased a home with my old lady, and have several problems to solve. I am a rookie when it comes to gardening, so any resources would be helpful. My soil is clay, and drains very poorly. My backyard has standing water during the rainy season. My friends joke about fish leaping and frogs croaking. We will be putting in raised vegetable beds along the back of the house. I'm planning on putting french drains along the backside of the house(E), detached garage(N) , and walkway. There is really no way to run them to the street. I cannot get the water off the property. I have come to terms with the fact my backyard will be swampy. Why not make it a marsh? I have started digging a large hole to run the drains to in the SW quadrant. I would like to create a marsh/pond like area. I have noticed that once you get 2ft deep the soil drains significantly better...we transplanted a bunch of lilys that were along the garage in preparation for ditchwitching the drains. That 6" deep trench holds standing water for 3-5 days after rains, where as the 2.5-3' hole drains in a day. I'm looking for plants that will do well with wet feet. Ideally really thirsty plants. That could stand being pretty dry during July/August. I was thinking a mixture of grasses, flowers, and ferns. Our neighbors have lots of flowers bushes and bird feeders that attract lots of birds, and I'd like to encourage other critters to pay a visit. Any ideas?
Hi Thad, If you can get a vehicle onto your property I don't understand how you can't get the water off, at least what comes off the roof and down the downspouts. We had a similar problem and dug a trench across the back and down the side to the street. We used solid pvc 3" pipe and dug the trench 1" deeper for every 12" of run to keep the water flowing. The trench had gravel, pipe, gravel and landscape CLOTH to keep the soil from seeping into the gravel. Just connecting all the downspouts from the back, one side and front at the same side has made an incredible difference. The pipe runs along the driveway. You might find these helpful. http://www.cuyahogaswcd.org/yard_drainage.htm http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/yardandgarden/article/0,16417,228010,00.html http://www.michaelholigan.com/departments/tvshow/seg_index.asp?ts%5Fid=5256&mscssid=MABLH6DWVXMX8NR0CASGNT9PBV4N9512# http://www.askthebuilder.com/175_Drying_Soggy_Soil_-_A_Simple_Trench_Drain.shtml http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/garden-build/frenchdrain/ You'll need to know your plant hardiness zone though I suspect you are in zone 7. Here's a zip code zone finder. http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ These sites will help you select plants by the conditions. http://bestplants.chicago-botanic.org/query_simple.htm http://www.angelfire.com/ks/knstevens/garden6.html Here's more searchs with 'wet' as conditions. The second site is from Florida so check the hardiness zones. http://web1.msue.msu.edu/cgi-bin/impsrch/modzz?wet http://www.floridata.com/lists/wet_soil_plants.cfm Just in case it's not on any of the lists and you have some shade, consider Primula japonica. It will grow in moist or wet soils. http://www.sunfarm.com/picks/primulajaponicapostfordwhite-020155.phtml http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~vm5s-tjm/e/kugaiso.htm Newt
