A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 2 BIG problems .....

I have two big problems with my new house.

First one - my front flower bed ---


who ever designed the house put the downspout right in my flowerbed its a wonder the day lillies haven't died with the way they have flooded.

what to do with it? I'm guessing maybe brick pavers and have a container garden?? The downspout is right on the corner and at the bottom of a peak, I don't know if I can move it.

Second problem -
The back corner of the lot where they landscapers just ran out of sod (I guess) and never fixed it. ( we bought the house this way)


view looking at my house


not sure what to do here. I think it looks like a perfect spot for a vegetable garden. I definately want to plant something disquise that ugly white thing until I can afford to fence in the yard. But I am not sure how to get this ready for next year gardening... don't have a clue where to start.

Snazzie,

How much rain does it actually receive?
And how much sun???

the flower bed, with every good rain, the bed fills up so much that my mulch washes out on the walkway... there could easily be 2 inches of rain built up in that spot.... the downspout just rapidly pours water out.

when I first moved in, it was full of red mud. I dug it out (and moved the the dirt to the backyard area) and filled the hole with sand, better dirt and horse manure... hoping the sand would help the drainage, didn't help.

whoops, as far as sun, it gets sun till about 1pm.


here is one more pic of the backyard... which gets all day full sun

Next question,
I can see the down spout, and the concrete in
front, what is on the other side of that
concrete??
Or what's the distance to get over it??

I'd go with the back yard for the
veggie garden if it gets full sun!!!!

yes, definate veggies and flowers in the back. Should I do anything now and over the winter to that spot in order to get it ready for gardening next year?.. right now it is just good ole red clay...

here is a pic of the front house...

maybe this will give a better scope on the problem.

That's a better picture of the area...
I dunno?????
I was thinking to plant plants that like
water or wet feet, but with the concrete
where it is, and how much, not sure you
WANT to keep that area too wet for too long???

I'm hopin' some of the guys comin' thru can
give you a hint or two..
but we'll keep thinkin'!!!

Hi,

From the photos, it appears that the ground slopes away from the house and also slopes to the right towards the driveway. You can go to the local home center to see if they have gutter parts (or a flexible gutter extension) to move the end of the downspout onto the concrete area to the right of the downspout. Basically any area between the current downspout and the garage door opening. Should cost around $10-15.

Hope this helps.
Steve

[img]http://shopping.netsuite.com/core/media/media.nl?id=107&c=ACCT18259&h=b84c298d886222bc7dfd[/img]

PS: In the backyard...what is the white thing? Is it part of the property or does it belong to somebody else? Why not just remove it?

thanks steve :)We talked about doing that... actually, while I was digging the hole out, my husband suggested doing that, but I didn't want to mess up the yard (and wait on him to do it, I was already digging the bed out and on a mission) and thought I could just fix it with alot of sand... whoops - LOL.

as for the backyard, the ugly white thing concets to the hideous drain from the street in front of my house... i can't get rid of it, and techincally it isn't on my property, so in a couple of years when I can put up a nice fence, it will be hidden.

Hmmm...I wasn't thinking of running the extension through the flower bed like what the photo shows.

I was thinking you could remove the end of the downspout (the little piece that curves away from the wall,) and attach the flexible downspout extension directly to the downspout itself. (shouldn't be too hard...all the pieces screw together with sheet metal screws.) That way the extension is flush against the wall of your house. Then flex the extension onto the concrete area closer to the driveway so the water runs down the driveway instead of the yard. This way the entire extension would be on the concrete and doesn't run across the flower bed. It would also be snug against the base of the exterior wall, and out of the way, and kinda out of sight.

Steve

I was thinking along the same lines as reguy....from what I can tell it is slightly uphill to the street sooooo... something to check into before doing anything....does the driveway slope down toward where the far right white vehicle is?....and once it gets to the other side ...is there a drain underground to somewhere else???(if no place to go it will be a swamp)....if the water stays next to the house that is not good either...or will it drain to the backyard??? or down a slope causing your neighbor a problem ??? :rolleyes:

My neighbor has two areas where it has pooled on his side and then run underneath a retaining wall....with help from some gophers..... and totally eroded my slopes.... Grrrr....he is going to have to divert the water flow....so he is digging a slanted trench putting piping under the grass, dirt and it will drain out and down the street.

You can take a hose and run it for awhile at the point by the garage where the extension would stop and check it out first.

Just suggestions!
Catlover

We used the suggestion that Steve showed, but we buried ours. We ran it out about 4 feet from the house so it wouldn't stay next to the foundation...

Dianna

I would re-route the downpipe from where it leaves the gutter. Just run it horizontally (with a minimum 1:100 fall) across the top of the garage doorway. Then down the wall beside the downpipe on the other side.
If you paint the pipe the same colour as the wall above the garage door you won't even notice it is there. Probably cost about $50-$80. Gauranteed to work.

That slope where the grass won't grow is perfect to mulch heavily and plant with small trees and shrubs. Ones that like excellent drainage and relatively (from the look of it) poor soil. Put taller plants to the top of the slope and shorter ones to the front and it will increase the appearance of the slope and create an impression of greater elevation variation. You have a great looking series of drops in elevation on that block. It could look unreal and be extremely productive if you plan it right. Keep the vege and herb area closish to the kitchen and you'll find it easier to look after and more regularly used. I'd suggest you have a look at the basic principles of permaculture. Your block is perfect for it.

I had the same problem, actually the font door area of your home is identical to mine, slope included. I plugged the downspout on the left, left the leader intact, and put a new leader on the other side, and then ran my hose under the side where I could dig and got the water away from the house.

Works great and other neighbors have followed my lead. Don't you think the builders would know better?

permacultue huh??...now there is a new word for me.... I am going to look into that...thanks!!