Drying Out My Yard

[John Gehlsen]

I recently started a project in my backyard. I had a small hill that
I wanted to level out to provide more usable space so that I could
build a patio.

I had a contractor come in and build a rock wall that got rid of the
hill and created a lower level and upper level in my backyard. He did
a great job and I am ready to move onto the second phase of my project
- replacing the sprinklers that were removed when the rock wall was
put in.

The problem is that I live in the Pacific Northwest and the weather
during this time of year is extremely unpredictable. The weather was
perfect when the rock wall was being built and was supposed to be nice
this past weekend (the weatherman predicted light rain). Needless to
say, the weatherman was wrong and it poured over the weekend (1.5
inches) leaving me with a mess in my backyard.

The forecast for the coming week doesn't look very good as it is
supposed to rain almost every day this week.

I am hoping that someone in this newsgroup who has more landscaping
experience than I have can share some of their tricks for drying out
and protecting dirt areas. I think that it is going to take a couple
of weeks of dry weather to dry out my backyard so that I can work on
it.

Any tips to help make this process go faster?

Thanks.

John
Seattle, WA

[Burl]

Hey John,

The soil out here in Seattle drains fast so you shouldn't be out of
commision for too long. If it's just dirt I wouldn't worry about getting out
in it and messing it up - you can always rework it level before you start
planting.

Burl

Safe and Natural Gardening
http://www.emerysgardenstore.com

"John Gehlsen" > wrote in message
om...
> I recently started a project in my backyard. I had a small hill that
> I wanted to level out to provide more usable space so that I could
> build a patio.
>
> I had a contractor come in and build a rock wall that got rid of the
> hill and created a lower level and upper level in my backyard. He did
> a great job and I am ready to move onto the second phase of my project
> - replacing the sprinklers that were removed when the rock wall was
> put in.
>
> The problem is that I live in the Pacific Northwest and the weather
> during this time of year is extremely unpredictable. The weather was
> perfect when the rock wall was being built and was supposed to be nice
> this past weekend (the weatherman predicted light rain). Needless to
> say, the weatherman was wrong and it poured over the weekend (1.5
> inches) leaving me with a mess in my backyard.
>
> The forecast for the coming week doesn't look very good as it is
> supposed to rain almost every day this week.
>
> I am hoping that someone in this newsgroup who has more landscaping
> experience than I have can share some of their tricks for drying out
> and protecting dirt areas. I think that it is going to take a couple
> of weeks of dry weather to dry out my backyard so that I can work on
> it.
>
> Any tips to help make this process go faster?
>
> Thanks.
>
> John
> Seattle, WA

[Joe Morris]

John,

Once the dirt is wet, I suppose you just need some sun and wind to dry it
out.

To protect an area of the yard from rain, I have a suggestion based on some
experience: I have been working on a large garden bed outside our sunroom
for about two months, off and on. It has rained a lot during this time.
When the forecast was for rain during some crucial time--like in the middle
of trenching and leveling a course of brick edgers--I used several large
tarps to cover the work-in-progress and divert water to a nearby catch
basin. This method worked fairly well. You just have to be able to divert
the water to a different area of the yard, or in my case, to underground
drainage.

Regards,

Joe Morris

Please remove ZAP to email me.

"John Gehlsen" > wrote in message
om...
> I recently started a project in my backyard. I had a small hill that
> I wanted to level out to provide more usable space so that I could
> build a patio.
>
> I had a contractor come in and build a rock wall that got rid of the
> hill and created a lower level and upper level in my backyard. He did
> a great job and I am ready to move onto the second phase of my project
> - replacing the sprinklers that were removed when the rock wall was
> put in.
>
> The problem is that I live in the Pacific Northwest and the weather
> during this time of year is extremely unpredictable. The weather was
> perfect when the rock wall was being built and was supposed to be nice
> this past weekend (the weatherman predicted light rain). Needless to
> say, the weatherman was wrong and it poured over the weekend (1.5
> inches) leaving me with a mess in my backyard.
>
> The forecast for the coming week doesn't look very good as it is
> supposed to rain almost every day this week.
>
> I am hoping that someone in this newsgroup who has more landscaping
> experience than I have can share some of their tricks for drying out
> and protecting dirt areas. I think that it is going to take a couple
> of weeks of dry weather to dry out my backyard so that I can work on
> it.
>
> Any tips to help make this process go faster?
>
> Thanks.
>
> John
> Seattle, WA

[Pam]

Burl wrote:

> Hey John,
>
> The soil out here in Seattle drains fast so you shouldn't be out of
> commision for too long. If it's just dirt I wouldn't worry about getting out
> in it and messing it up - you can always rework it level before you start
> planting.
>
> Burl
>
> Safe and Natural Gardening
> http://www.emerysgardenstore.com

Hey Burl!

Since you appear to work for Emery's Gardens (nice nursery, btw) there's a
couple of things you should keep in mind.........first, it's not 'dirt' - it's
'soil' and second, some Seattle area soils are very heavy and do not drain well
at all and finally, if you work soil that is saturated with water you can
irreparably damage its structure.

John:

Not sure where you are located in the PNW that received 1.5 inches of rain this
weekend (nowhere close to that where I live in Shoreline), but you do need to
allow your soil to dry some before you start messing about with it trenching for
a sprinkler system. The good news is that construction of the rock walls should
encourage rapid draining - provided it doesn't continue to rain. You might want
to consider covering the area with a large plastic tarp to prevent further water
penetration to this area then wating for some drier weather to finish your
chores. Light rain - the occasional (okay, daily) PNW drizzle - should not be
much of a problem. It is working with saturated soil that poses difficulties.

Yesterday was pretty decent here and I managed to get quite a few garden chores
done, but my soil, which has excellent drainage due to years of amending, was
still pretty wet and heavy. I was careful to restrict my activities to what I
could reach from the edges of my planting beds so as not to compress and damage
the soil structure. Unless we get a good dumping of rain, your soil should be
workable soon.

pam - gardengal

[Burl]

Pam,

You are right! Thanks for jumping in to give John sound advice.

I switched from using the term 'soil' in the first use to reflecting John's
use of 'dirt' simply to emphasize that if his priority is to move forward on
the patio project that it likely won't be much of a rain delay.

I admit that I did make a few quick assumptions to come to my conclusion -
they are probably not entirely accurate. I was assuming that John's patio
and terracing project are his first priority and that the contractor had
already had a massive impact on the soil. Also, when I was picturing the
project I was thinking that the sprinkler heads he'd be working on would be
pretty close to the retaining wall and so he'd be working in the backfill.
Since the backfill was close to the rock wall - I figured it would drain
nicely as you suggest.

Thanks again Pam and hope you're project turns out great John.

Burl

"Pam" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Burl wrote:
>
> > Hey John,
> >
> > The soil out here in Seattle drains fast so you shouldn't be out of
> > commision for too long. If it's just dirt I wouldn't worry about getting
out
> > in it and messing it up - you can always rework it level before you
start
> > planting.
> >
> > Burl
> >
> > Safe and Natural Gardening
> > http://www.emerysgardenstore.com
>
> Hey Burl!
>
> Since you appear to work for Emery's Gardens (nice nursery, btw) there's a
> couple of things you should keep in mind.........first, it's not 'dirt' -
it's
> 'soil' and second, some Seattle area soils are very heavy and do not drain
well
> at all and finally, if you work soil that is saturated with water you can
> irreparably damage its structure.
>
> John:
>
> Not sure where you are located in the PNW that received 1.5 inches of rain
this
> weekend (nowhere close to that where I live in Shoreline), but you do need
to
> allow your soil to dry some before you start messing about with it
trenching for
> a sprinkler system. The good news is that construction of the rock walls
should
> encourage rapid draining - provided it doesn't continue to rain. You might
want
> to consider covering the area with a large plastic tarp to prevent further
water
> penetration to this area then wating for some drier weather to finish your
> chores. Light rain - the occasional (okay, daily) PNW drizzle - should not
be
> much of a problem. It is working with saturated soil that poses
difficulties.
>
> Yesterday was pretty decent here and I managed to get quite a few garden
chores
> done, but my soil, which has excellent drainage due to years of amending,
was
> still pretty wet and heavy. I was careful to restrict my activities to
what I
> could reach from the edges of my planting beds so as not to compress and
damage
> the soil structure. Unless we get a good dumping of rain, your soil should
be
> workable soon.
>
> pam - gardengal
>