French Drains

4/1/2013 at 2:00:18 PM

I would use rain catchers and french drains sound good too.

Water catchers are the best, you can attach your hose and water away and have healthy garden and conserving water at the same time.

4/1/2013 at 2:40:12 PM

Ok, so to answer your question, I think the french drain is one solution that you can go with, however remember the fact that you would need to do twice the work as if you were just to direct it towards a different direction of the house because for a french drain will cost you couple of thousand depending where you are located and you would need to dig and remove the soil, and redirect the pipes into the ground and back fill.

Thank you.

*City Developers Inc.*

Azam Kahn

4/5/2013 at 2:31:54 AM

Hi

As a gardener primarily and a landscaper secondly I see a lot of poor drainage issues with gardens and lawns, so you need to consider several things

First is how much rain or excess water will be spilling onto the grass area, because if there is a lot and the soil is very clay like and compacted, a french drain pipe will only have limited effect

Secondly always make sure the grass or garden beds are slightly sloped away from the house to avoid water getting back into the crawl spaces, basements or lower floors

Third, with any heavy rain you may get, it wont be too good for garden beds to have the down spouts to close, as overflow or splashing may wipeout any younger tender plants or wash away soil

Fourth, if there are larger bushes or other areas that need more water, run the spouts over to them, just not directly as you dont want to weaken root systems and have trees topple, or lastly you can put a dispersing hose on the end of it so it runs out a short distance rather than pooling

Consider a rain barrel to capture some of the excess, they can be fitted to have excess run back into main sewer, or attach a hose to the bottom and have the hose running farther away from any low spots

9 a good use of rain barrels in one of my customers garden is a dry creek bed, that flows slightly in the winter or heavier rains, and feeds/filters through the garden, ending in a small pool with 'wet' type plants.

Rain barrels also have tap like fittings so you can fill the watering can for your garden beds, and plants love rain water better than chlorinated tap water.

Hope this helps

Michael Davison

Rain Forest Gardens