"Janet Price" wrote in message
...
I have heavy clay soil with several soggy areas and am looking for an
inexpensive way to eliminate or reduce them.

My yard generally slopes down from right to left and from back to front
with the house set higher so I've had no water leakage in the basement.
But the yard's not even and there are small ridges and dips here
and there. At present I have several areas in which there's an inch or
so of standing water. From past experience, I know it may take a month
or so for them to dry up and if we have a wet summer, some of them may
remain soggy for most of the summer.

For the past few days I've dug a few holes 4 or 5 inches deep in the
middle of some of the spots and have been scooping water out of
them--probably 50 gallons so far. In one spot, digging a small trench
over a slight hill drained a bit. I've thought of filling the holes in
with large gravel instead of the clay that was there. Anyone have any
other suggestions? Can I make a pond/bog and collect some of the water
there?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Janet
--
Janet Price



We have the same problem in one corner of our back yard.

I plan on digging a hole there and inserting a large stainless steel wire
waste basket. I will attach a cover to keep pets, people and things from
falling in and use a sump pump to siphon the water out as needed and spread
over other parts of the yard.

I will then plant some shrubs around the cover to hide it.

I think this will keep the area dry enough for many plants to grow in that
area and if nothing else it should eliminate standing water and a place for
mosquitoes to breed.

Shepherd