Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Feb 17, 2009 11:09 am I have a very steep backyard with practically no drainage every time it rains heavily we lose half our soil and it is starting to erode badly can anyone point me in the direction of what and how I can go about fixing this problem without it sending me broke. I need to do this myself as finance are a big issue and getting anyone in is beyond my budget.
Thank you in anticipation. Re: Steep back yard drainage 2Feb 17, 2009 11:30 am Hopefully Fu or Duke will see this and answer - but my thoughts
retaining walls, ag pipe drainage, plants - the more planting you have - the more it will stabilise the soil and stop it from washing away. Short term solution could be to turf it all. After 4 years - we're in! Re: Steep back yard drainage 4Feb 17, 2009 1:41 pm Im assuming you have a cut and fill site.
I had a similar problem, all of the water falling in my front garden (cut side) was flowing around the house towards the fill side and eroding a canyon in my back garden. First thing is cut a trench 1ft wide by 1 ft deep in your front garden (at the lowest point of course) that runs through the area where the water collects, continue the trench around (follow the water route )to your back garden (making sure that the bottom of the trench falls in a downward gradient (water doesnt flow uphill) line this trench with geofabric and lay a 90mm aggi pipe with a sock(bunnings) in the bottom. Fill this trench up with 10mm clean stone from your local quarrie. You can then attach a 90mm drain pipe to the end of the aggi pipe and direct water wherever you want (a 1m x 1m stone pit if you dont have a creek handy) Put some nice rocks and shrubs on your stone trench to create a nice dry creek look. Price isnt too bad. (Im being generous with these figures) 3 hours bobcat and mini excavator work $250 stone $250 geofabric $100 agipipe $80 this gave me 40m of seroius storm water drainage that can stand up to the Big One. Re: Steep back yard drainage 5Feb 17, 2009 8:11 pm try to make the slope as vegetated as possible.
try to design an escape route for the water down the sides of the property perhaps? A totally different way of approaching the problem. I do know of an experiment using "powerfeed" made by the seasol folks. There was a steep hillside in QLD that was covered in lawn. Everytime it rained soil washed down and onto pathways. after using the powerfeed on a regular basis the erosion was almost eliminated. This was due to a few things but one was the affect of humic and fulvic acids on the soil. Here's how West Aussies can make sand into soil Checkout The Forever Project Before starting your landscape attend a FREE Great Gardens workshop Re: Steep back yard drainage 6Feb 17, 2009 8:36 pm There are several ways to cope with a slope, one is geotextile, comes in coco fibre which will desintegrate in time and some other stuff that will take much longer, you buy it it huge rolls and lay it on the slope and plant within this. Grassy plants will do the soil binding job best, you can interplant with other bigger leaved plants as contrast. This was one way, another is to create several retaining wall/ terraces with drainage behind the walls. Anyhow, I am afraid this is the more costly option. If you decide to go for geotextile look for companies that regenerate old mine/industrial sites.
Maggie Re: Steep back yard drainage 8Mar 08, 2009 7:47 pm Hi Cookie
I am very interested in this thread as I have a similar problem with our site that is also a cut & fill. We had a drain dug up the bank (about 10m back, full length of the site which is 60m) in an effort to divert rain water, but the bank below the drain still manages to wash down heaps after every downpour. As our bank is 100% clay with a bit of rock, I have been considering the geotextile fabric as well. Am desperate for ANYTHING to grow there, just whatever it takes to stop the wash. I don't want to put in any ag pipe or drainage til I get something to grow, otherwise the ag drain would all fill with silt. Have also thought of making gabion netting baskets to make a stone wall, but was told you need to use stainless steel netting, which makes it a very expensive project. Hi All It has been a few weeks since my last update. The build has been progressing well. No major issues to report. The scaffolding was dropped today, gyprock will be… 96 356752 can someone with more experience give me their insight? land is pretty much flat its pretty much at the top of a hill. left and right neighbours are flat in line with my… 0 7453 2 4369 |