Lack of Drainage in Clay
By Reba47
@Reba47 (35)
United States
May 13, 2012 1:55am CST
First off I live in a rented home. On one side of my yard I have nothing but clay and the total lack of drainage Is becoming an issue for both my outside dogs and my neighbors. The owner of the house was going to simply dump gravel over it all but I explained to her how that will only help with the sprinklers, not with a storm. My idea was to dig as far as I possibly could, 6 - 24 inches varying, and mix in rocks. I planned on layering to the best of my ability small rocks, compost, clay, medium rocks, more compost, more clay and then laying out large flat rocks for walking on. No one plans on growing anything in that area. We really just need to quit drowning the neighbors vegetable plants as they are right of the other side of the fence. Does anyone know if this will work? From what I have read this is the clay that is commonly referred to as 'hard-pan', I am in the southern SanJuaquin valley in California. Everything I find says to amend the clay and save the land but as I said, we have no interest in growing on this particular side of the yard nor does the owner of the property.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@rewardsinlife (1132)
• United States
14 May 12
What you need is a drainage ditch that goes out to the street. We had a similar problem with our property where there was a drainage on one side of the house and not the other so it would back up and flood our house and backyard constantly when there was a little rain. We did a ditch that is about a foot deep and put a pipe through underground all the way to the gutter. I don't know if you want to go this far, but you do need to direct the drainage out away from the houses for the ultimate fix. Gravel and rocks will just go everywhere if you have more than a little rain storm.
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