Brandon Jensen

John Elliott wrote:Brandon, just because you live in the "Low Country" doesn't mean you have to have 3 pieces of it in the back yard. I'm afraid the only way those 3 low spots are going to stay dry is if you build the grade up a foot or so --maybe like put a hugelbed on top of them. It's either that or plant some bald cypress there and let the back yard revert to swampland.

Since you have a French drain, that is at least keeping the groundwater moving, or else your backyard wet spots would stay muddy a lot longer. Is your house a slab-on-grade, or do you have a crawl space? If it's the latter, you ought to check the crawl space after a heavy rain to see that the French drain is doing its job.

As to the "dry" spot in the front, it can't really be that dry with all the groundwater movement you have going on. Does it have lots of sand showing through the grass, with the grass looking like it is just hanging on and trying its hardest to spread and fill in? I'm thinking that your soil is either very sandy, or very little organic matter on top of compacted clay. In the case of the former, the water drains away too fast and the plant roots are high and dry; in the latter case, once the hot weather arrives, the clay becomes as hard as concrete and again, the plant roots are high and dry. The solution to both is hugelkultur -- lots of organic matter, as it will sit in that groundwater flow and wick it up to the roots.

There is only one reason that "nothing seems to stay hydrated without watering" in our climate: lack of soil organic matter. Everything you do to increase soil carbon, from building hugelmounds to adding biochar to tilling in wood chips is going to pay off for you.

My house is built on a slab. And your right about the clay, it's everywhere. I honestly believe the builder put sod right on top of clay. That's why I built the raised bed to have a little garden. So it sounds like hugelkultur is my weapon of choice. But I think I might need a little more planning for the south side of my lot. There is just so much water.

Thanks for all the advise. These are my thoughts, more of a start, Im sure edits will follow. I like the idea of extending a gutter drain pipe from the north east gutter to get water to the dry spot up in front of my house. I am thinking using some sort of water catchment to slow the water down. Either a swale or pond, or both. Suggestions?

Along the south side of my house. Thinking of possibly adding a series of swale and hugel beds along the hole side. But to aid in overflow, installing "monks" through the hugelkulture beds. Do you think that would work? This would involve removing the existing french drain pipe, which Im nervous to do. Because if my idea doesn't work, I would be left with quite a swamp, again.

That's what I have so far.... thoughts?

Thanks for the ideas. I believe the small pools are forming from roof run off. I installed gutters last month, two in back, each running to the corners of the house. But it is quite a good distance to the front of the house. I will have to think about how to get it to the front dry area, vs being dispensed on to the side of the house. On the south side, I was thinking about a pond/hugel area in the backyard, and then a couple below ground Hugel beds along the house and up by the road. But I think the flowing water will eventually overflow the beds, then I would be left with a wet mess on the rest of the lawn. Is there someway to have an overflow solution with hugelculture beds? Or should I use a series of micro ponds? I guess the amount of digging and earthworks required to deal with the water is a little overwelming to me. But I have been irrigating my raised garden bed on the south side of my home, all the while having great water flow in a drain right next to it. Seems like a waste. I would also love to include numerous veggie beds along this flow of water, essentially being self watered.

Here is an updated picture showing pipe from dispensing water onto property. Before I connected it to my french drain, my entire backyard was a swamp.

New to permaculture, reading as much as I can. I understand the basic principals of hugelculture and swales, but having a hard time figuring out how to utilize these different techniques in my suburban lot. I am having a major water flow problem on my site. Along the south side of my property there is a continuous flow of water through the french drain which leads to the street then down the storm drain. I feel that this is a waste. I would love to utilize this abundance of water to have a large self watered garden full of edibles. Another problem is the pools of water that form after a rain in my back yard in three separate locations. These areas stay pooled for a day or so, then muddy for a long period of time. This does not go over well with my four legged friends that love to run through it. My last issue, is a large dry area in front of my home. I have dried planting edibles in a bed, but nothing seems to stay hydrated without watering. Any help would be much appreciated.