always wet area next to house

 

   I've got a small area of soil right next to our house that I'm having
trouble with.  It is roughly 3' wide and maybe 14 or 15' long, right up
against the west side of the house, between the house and the sidewalk,
near the front door.

   I planted several things there this Spring, and everything has died.
  I dug down in there, and found that the soil is staying very, very
wet.  Also, though the good topsoil goes down about 3", the underlying
material is simply gravel, and that is wet too.  There is no water or
anything visible there, and no water actually rushes into a hole when I
dig, but it evidently stays the wettest spot I've ever tried to garden in.

   Yesterday I realized why - the prevailing wind and weather here comes
from the SW, and when it rains against the side of the house, the water
just runs down the side of the house and down into this little area.  I
mulched the area, which probably holds the moisture in even more.  I
don't think there is any good drainage under the sidewalk, so the water
just sort of sits there.  I could probably grow rice there without too
much trouble!

   So, I have two choices, really.  I could start thinking of growing
only plants that don't mind having a lot of water just a few inches
below the surface.


   Or, I could dig everything out down to about 9", leave two or three
trenches, and mound up some light, organic soil, sand and peat moss in
between the trenches, and plant there.  I thought about trying to get
the area drained better, but I don't see any easy way to put in drainage
tile or anything like that, without busting out the walkway.  That might
be a project to consider next year.


   Anyone ever have a situation like this?  How did you handle it?

 



 We have what we call swells around here. Sort of like ground water that
travels in a certain direction and is usually be nigh.   One runs into
my basement from the north and leaves our above brick work with a
permanent  damp spot luckily outside.   A remedy could be a french drain
. I just learned to live with it.  Weird as even in a drought that spot
is damp.

--
Bill  S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
     What use one more wake up call?  
http://ocg6.marine.usf.edu/~liu/Drifters/latest_roms.htm

 



Maybe you need roof gutters, and/or need to unclog them.

So long as you don't have a basement and/or water is not coming in
then you are in pretty good shape.   However three inches of soil over
gravel is not good for growing plants, that it's wet is much worse,
you need to dig down into the gravel to see why it's not draining,
probably clay... almost as if the builder back filled with gravel in
an attempt at remediation because the wet area was evident... be
thankful that water is not coming up into your house.  

You can probably easily place perforated PVC pipe under the walk to
lead water away but still it needs somewhere to go that will perc.
Most houses don't have very good plant growing conditions right up
against their foundations due to all sorts of debris buried when
backfilling... I don't recommend planting within three feet of the
foundation, especially if there's an  overhang, then for most folks
that negates any watering benefit from rain... and often there are
building materials buried that poison the location for growing much of
anything.

 


   Just had new roof gutters and downspouts installed as part of
purchasing this house.  I can attest that they are working fine, because
the water coming out at the south end of the house blasted my mulch out
into the yard several feet.


   I have a basement, but it has only been affected by water once in the
last 4 months, and that was a trickle that went away quickly after a
very heavy downpour.

   Part of the issue is that this place was built with virtually no roof
overhang.  The older homes I've lived in had probably 2' of roof
overhang, but this one was built in 1979, and the roof only sticks out
about 2" more than the side of the house.  Thus, if the wind is blowing
at all, a lot of rain is hitting the west side of the house and running
down into this area.

   I haven't completely figured out what we are going to do in this area
long term.  My wife would like something more along the lines of an old
fashioned porchf.  Right now there is just a small raised slab by the
front door.  Mostly I was hoping to have some nice yellow pear tomatoes
the same year we moved in, but I may have to settle for a fall garden
with greens.

 



How about a 3" or 4" dia. hose to run the water out to where it won't be
a bother,
or
you could try raised beds, or simply an earthen mound 6" to 12" high,
circular or rectangular.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html