Landscaping: Drainage/Erosion Fix

Our house has many, many areas that need work. We knew this going in, but over the last few years we have come to find out that the longer it goes the more issues we find, and with that also comes increasing age of the house...and more issues to address. Such is one of the pains of home ownership.

This particular area has been an issue since we moved in, but I put it off because I wasn't sure exactly what direction I wanted to go. In putting it off it has also become more of a problem over time so I decided to let it side track me from other projects and begin to take care of it. More work still needs to be done, but its a start and already making a difference at least from an erosion standpoint.

Our house has a brick wall across the front with a small patch of ground that doesn't grow anything because of the deep shade. There is also has a drip-line area that is constantly washing away dirt from the front of the house and around the corner where it is eroading away and will eventually cause issues with the wall and the foundation. The kids also cause issues because it is a great place for digging and getting muddy, so I really need to remove that temptation also.

For a quick fix, we began piling stones, concrete, and bricks inorder to build up and reduce the washout and that has slowed things down, but it isn't very attractive. It is however on the side of the house and not very visible so for now is stays exactly where it is because it is useful and it is working until I can put something better in place.

In the area at the corner and across the front, I dug a slight trench and filled it with pea gravel. Then I placed some large stones on top starting with the area around the downspout and working my way out and around to give it a good base for the water to hit and run off. Then I filled in with medium pebbles and larger pebbles so that the spaces between the rocks were better filled in and the pea gravel was completely covered.

It is only got partially complete with the rocks and gravel that I had on hand, but it looks a whole lot better than the bare ground and mud. When the weather is dry it will look like a dry stream, when it is wet it will serve as a French drain and hopefully divert water without continuing to erode the dirt.

Soon I will begin filling in areas with native plants that are also perennials so that it is easy to keep up with. So far I have put in a couple of Rosemary and Lavender plants. Next week I will dig up a few ferns and probably some mosses from the front woods. Like so many other things here it is another work in progress.