I, too, thought of a bog instead of a french drain, but knew the summers here in NE Texas would be
too dry and hot to keep it up all summer. and sure enough.. ground cracked, even bricks started
seperating..
had to soak around foundation to keep the walls from cracking. Everyone in this area has to water
their foundations in summer to keep the brick of houses from shifting.
"John T. Jarrett" wrote:
I've lived in Austin and Houston for over ten years each now.
Unless you are on the East side of Austin AND have a ton of clay in your
soil, a bog garden will go bone dry.
If I remember correctly, in both May and June of this year, each month had
one rainy day and totalled less than an inch on both days.
Here in the hills, the saying goes, "We live in a perpetual drought
interspersed with periods of flash flooding."
Sure enough, I have a little "weather bug" program and every time it rains,
I get a flash flood warning message!
But the plants I planted where my neighbor's yards all sloped into mine
required watering every day in May, June and August (except when it rained
all of July). During the July rains, the exposed soil turned green with
algae it stayed so wet...but turned into two inch deep cracks when August
came.
I used to build wetlands in Houston - and I would kill to have made my wet
spot one! But everything would have dried out. I can't see how I could build
one here and expect ornamental plants to live year round without some kind
of lining.
--
John T. Jarrett
http://logontexas.com
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"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
That is the perfect reason for a bog garden. And you can design it where
dogs stay out. This would the least expensive and the best thing you
could do for a native habitat. You would be amazed that it:
1. attracts birds
2. attracts insects
3. atracts amphibians
4. is NOT a mosguito breeding ground
5. is a flood control/rention pond when filled with Canadian Sphagnum
peat moss
6. is a biofilter for rainwater
7. has year around interest
This would cost you about 1/4 to 1/3 what your other proposal would
cost.
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/boggardenjuly.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/boggarden1.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/streetview.jpg
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden - my habitat
superstar_etta wrote:
So I am a new home owner...no lanscaping experience. I have an area
of my yard along the fence that is very wet and not draining well. I
was going to dig a channel put in a large PVC pipe with holes in it,
cover the pipe with gravel then dirt (the yard has a slope to a huge
field). Has anyone heard of doing this? I want to then plant
shrubs/hedges on top of all this. So I was wondering what shrubs are
strong enough for texas summers, but still benifit from alot of water?
Or can anyone think of another solution? We just bought the house
and I can't afford a landscaper and my dogs are getting wet and muddy
all the time. HELP PLEASE
--
J Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
τΏτ - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/reference.html
--
nTX USDA Z 7B
Leona
Non Commercial site
http://www.geocities.com/tvksi/index.htm