Questions tagged [drainage]
Ability for water to drain through soil. Use this with questions about what techniques, tools, materials to use to increase or decrease drainage of the soil or other planting medium.
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retaining / garden wall and double drainage - pipe vs. weep holes
my entire lot sits 2’ lower than all my surrounding neighbors’ lots with some really shoddy gabion fences filled with dirt and ditches below to prevent water from swamping the yard (previous owner’s ...
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Coverings of drainage hole
I use plastic pots, concrete and ceramic pots with holes at the bottom, often without a saucer for outside. When I water, I bath my plants or put enough water and allow excess amount to pass through ...
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How thick does the impermeable layer need to be when grading a yard?
I'm grading my yard and have found a deep layer of sand (at least 2 ft) extending out about 10ft. Perhaps the sub base for a patio? I understand I need an impermeable layer to ensure rain runs away ...
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Ensuring drainage for filled in concrete pond
We've got this small concrete pond that we wish to fill in to make a flower bed.
The pond is 60cm deep at one end and 30cm at the other.
It currently has two 1cm holes in the bottom of it, which has ...
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How can I fill sink holes?
We recently purchased a 5-year-old house. It's a 3-acre lot with the house built on a raised hill in the middle. There are a couple of spots at the edge of the "developed" yard where the ...
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How do I fix my muddy, boggy clay lawn?
My lawn turns into mud between October and April every year (UK), and then in the summer becomes almost impervious to garden forks. If I do manage to break the surface, it's still fairly damp ...
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Plants that absorb carbon monooxide and other drainage gases
I have drainage pits around the house, sometimes the drainage smells comes from the pit but they are odourless gases such as carbon monoxide which can be harmful and there are other toxic gases such ...
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how to prevent underground drain pipe from clogging
I have a hydrant that's buried about 3 feet to avoid problems with freezing. It drains excess water in the line down into the ground about 3 feet down, and I there's a drain pipe that carries the ...
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How to choose the right garden plants around the building wall and dry wells
If trees/shrubs are planted too close to a house, the roots can damage the foundation
Only two to three feet is available from the building wall on both the sides of the building and dry wells with ...
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Mini solar-powered pump for poorly-drained soil
I have a tree which wants well-drained soil but which is planted in clay (other than the good soil that was added around / below it).
Because of where it is, it can accumulate too much water, so I put ...
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Bird of paradise leaves shriveling, how can I fix it?
The leaves on this Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia Nicolai/banana plant) are folding onto themselves and browning at the edges. I'm struggling to figure out why this is happening.
It might be due to the ...
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Factors to consider when choosing between Perlite and Vermiculite for improving drainage in raised beds?
My local community gardening organization gave me plans and instructions for constructing and filling a raised bed. They said to use half top soil and half compost, in layers. I foolishly did not ...
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Why is my French drain not working?
I recently dug a French drain on one side of my house. It starts at 18 inches deep, with a catch basin on highest end. It slopes down to the front of my house. I used perforated corrugated pipe, with ...
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Grape vine why is it drying up
So I planted this grapevine in spring. It started from a little twig was growing beautifully health all green and vibrant but like five weeks ago started seeing leafs drying up see below pix(the leafs ...
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Should I use an open or closed French drain in clay soil?
Around my property is dense, clay soil that holds on to water to the point where the soil will still be damp in hot, dry weather. This has resulted in poor drainage, so I’m currently installing French ...
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Unusual drainage problem
I cut a mature apple tree on my lawn and pulled out the stump. And it seems that I got a minor drainage problem because of that in a few years: I see a much stronger flow at the place where the water ...
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Can I connect a french drain to my down spout?
Since I live on a hill where and because of the way my house is positioned, and I have neighbors behind me and next door, I have to drain forward, towards the sidewalk. I know there are major ...
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Which diameter corrugated pipe should I use for a French drain?
My area gets a lot of precipitation so I want to install French drains and rebuild some retaining walls. I know I need some perforated corrugated pipe, but I’m not sure which diameter to get. Should ...
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Best Base For Zero-Scape Rock Garden?
My wife and I are in the midst of a pretty massive (at least for us) landscaping project in our yard and we are to the point where I think it's important to get some advice from people who actually ...
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How were French drains constructed prior to geotextiles?
How were French drains constructed prior to geotextiles? My understanding is that geotextiles act as a filter to stop particulates from clogging up the area around the rocks or pipe, so that water ...
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How to balcony garden in a pot without drainage holes?
I plan on using containers of various sizes (10L, 20L, 200L, 1000L) for growing vegetables for fun but have impediments to providing drainage holes, such as:
no large enough tray available
pot ...
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How much topsoil on top of clay to level sloping garden
Hi I have a separated garden first is lawn and the second was a play area with a (10m x 6m)membrane over clay with bark. We have now removed bark and want a level lawn but my problem is how do I level ...
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How do some seeds germinate and flourish in soil filled pots?
I have regularly seen people not recommending plain soil for pots, since the roots of the newly generated seedlings suffocate in the lack of oxygen due to its compact nature and lack of water drainage....
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Laying a raised lawn above a concrete slab
I hope you are well.
I've scoured the internet for a good answer to this, but can't find anything definitive and keep reading contrary articles and recommendations.
I have a rolled gravel patio ...
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Can I use cat litter in potting mix? Has anyone tried it?
I've read in some bonsai forums that it's possible to use cat litter in alternative to the traditional bonsai soil, which is really expensive.
I want to try it in the potting mix I'm making for my ...
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A material that holds little water suitable for potting mix for interior plants?
I'm working on a potting mix for interior plants. And I want it to hold very little water and it should have great aeration and drainage.
I'm looking for a material (organic/inorganic) that is cheap ...
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Balcony forest clearing [duplicate]
Please edit away the title to anything more suitable; I am not a native English speaker.
Now to the point. An apartment in temperate climate. A garden of about half a cubic meter of soil spread in ...
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Can I use the gathered sticks from my yard for "to-be-compressed landfill landscaping"?
What is the harm of mixing common natural materials (wood, vines, roots, rocks) in with soil for
landscaping?
On first thought, it seems compressible objects like wood will compress (and decompose) to ...
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Will the new soil hill in our backyard cause water damage to our neighbor’s house below us?
In order to maximize the amount of play space in our backyard, we recently had many yards of soil brought in. We live on a slope. Our neighbors home behind our backyard is about 3 feet below our ...
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Turf laid just on topsoil?
I have a new long garden raised path that has been built up both sides with concrete.
What happens if I just lay top soil on this & then turf. How much topsoil & should it be fertilised?
Will ...
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How far should a mulberry tree be from my house's foundation?
I have a 17 year old huge mulberry tree in my backyard, about 29 ft from the house. Also it's close to the backyard drainage. Is that OK or could it harm the house foundation?
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What's the right way to protect this brick if I want to pile soil up in front of it?
Problem
Water pools up next to the house because it's the low point on the soil side of things.
Solution
I'd like to have a lot of dirt brought in that will raise this ~6-8 inches to encourage the ...
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Drainage design for planter boxes
I am designing 2ft x 6ft planter boxes to be set on concrete. I'd rather not have to install a bottom. Could drainage be provided by using 1 inch PVC pipe with multiple holes drilled in them ...
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How to remove High Performance Bedding (HPB) from the bottom of my raised garden bed without disturbing the surrounding interlocking?
I recently got my backyard interlocked and had a stone garden wall installed (6 feet long, 3 feet wide and 15 inches tall). The garden wall is surrounded by interlocking on 3 sides and a wall on the ...
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Does bottom watering basil work?
I have a couple basil plants growing in pots. Normally I'm told that I should water it from the top and let it drain fully through the holes on the bottom of the pot. Can I bottom water these plants ...
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Grass For Low-Maintenance Drainage Ditch in Austin Texas
I'm trying to figure out what would be the best grass to plant in a drainage ditch behind my house. Specifically, I'm looking for something that best meets the following criteria:
lowest maintenance ...
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How to make well-drained sandy soil from potting mix?
I want to plant sage, which is said to grow best in well-drained "sandy soil". I bought some potting mix from the hardware store.
Is off-the-shelf potting mix already sandy, well drained soil?
...
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Drainage problem on sloping driveway
I have a driveway that has a slope. I have a flowerbed right next to the driveway that wraps around the front of the house. The slope causes water to stand after rain or water use and dirt runs onto ...
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Marigold is dying? Recent transplant
I very recently bought two Marigold plants and transplanted them into a large ceramic pot with no drainage plug. Its a really large basin, I put potting mix and soil. Made sure I watered prior to ...
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Would a vernal pond (as either a retention basin or a infiltration basin) be a viable solution for this drainage issue?
So my backyard is showing some heavy pooling issues. I am in Southern Maine, USA
The lowest point (picture 1) is, unfortunately pretty close to the garage pier foundation, and when the water pools it ...
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How can i improve drainage in my containers if potting soil or the components that make up potting soil aren't available in my city?
I have quite a few container plants and most take about an hour (some even more) for the excess water to drain out completely. I raised the issue with my local nursery and they tell me it's fine, no ...
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Contractor regraded and sodded to direct water away - grass now within 1/2 inch or at top of foundation
I have just had some work done to correct a drainage problem at my house. The engineers specs said to "lower the soil against the house (which I found out means raise the soil up because water is ...
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How to minimize rot when building raised bed from sleepers?
I am building a raised bed for vegetables out of pressure treated sleepers and I need to put them over concrete.
I live in UK and there is more than enough humidity so I do want to prolong their life ...
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How to know if my pond is leaking?
Dealing with a manmade pond and a lot (real estate) next to it that's owned be someone else. The pond is about 85 feet across with a dam on one side. The dam is close to the other lot and water is at ...
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Cucumber plants wilting and dying outside during a rainy summer
I have several cucumber plants planted outside (I'm in Zone 4). They are planted in large containers or raised garden beds.
hey were doing okay until about a week ago when we started having rain ...
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Fungus on bottom of Dracaena Lemon Surprise
I'm taking care of a Dracaena "Lemon Surprise" potted plant that I've had for roughly a year. Overall it seems to be doing really well; it is top, newer leaves are vibrant and dark green ...
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How should I improve boggy soil where a pond used to be?
I have just filled in a large pond.I Drained the pond and removed the liner. I used bricks and stones to line the bottom and the bought 4 tons of top soil and a ton of soil improver and rotted horse ...
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hoya in the garden, behind a pergola
I have a huge pergola, beyond which there is a garden. The roof one solid unit, so no light or rain may pass through. The garden is dominated by fruit trees, and then two small plots of cacti, far ...
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Scoria coarse "sand" for my Haworthias and others
I don't find horticulture-grade pumice available locally. So, I bought some scoria and sifted it. I got three grain sizes, with two shown here:
The third is whatever passed through the finest sieve. ...
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Drainage question; tall, cylindrical pot vs stouter one
I recently repotted a Euphorbia Milii that hasn't been doing too well. I posted a question on the forum, and it seemed like the pot was too large. Specifically, I got this answer from a helpful forum ...
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