My driveway slopes toward my garage and all the soil is erroded when it rains. I was wondering if there was an inexpensive landscaping idea someone could suggest. Maybe a drain, side beds or something else creative? Open to some creative ideas. I really don't want to reslope the entire yard as it will be very expensive I imagine. Thank you. Joe. :-)
Slopes are not as difficult as people thing it is the try keep the soil in place and there are several ways to go. Mine is to try find plants that have roots close to the surface so that as they spread out, they hold or help to bind the soil in place, you would be looking for shrubs / trees etc that have quite shallow roots. Depending on zone and soil type will determine what type of plants you grow, the other way to try do it is to keep the lawn as this will help to steady the soil where it is growing, but to dig out the trench, as wide as you want, about 8 to 12 inches deep and lay some woven ground cover fabric and lay on top of this your choice of infill, either colourfull pebbles, slate chippings, wood chip of even some soil with small gravel mixed in to create a bed for succulents, a hedge grown in lavender for colour and perfume or there are several other colourful shrubs that would do the job. If you can let us know your zone, your soil type (clay, acid etc) then everyone will be able to help you choose plants for this area. good luck. WeeNel.
Would you please include a photo that shows the garage?
Bottom of the driveway at garage. I do need to mention I'm in zone 7A (Central Virginia) and have a clay/acidic soil base.
This message was edited Sep 10, 2008 9:01 AM
Another view of the slope. I want to also thank all of you who have taken the time to respond to my post. I own a very nice home and it stresses me out seeing my driveway. Joe
This message was edited Sep 10, 2008 9:06 AM
Thanks for the zone and photos. I can see trees and shrubs in the background of the one photo. Why don't you ask your neighbors what they did you plant theirs? Planting trees will be a nice addition buy that is enough of a slope that you do need some king of drainage.
Are their low spots that you could fill to start? This isn't a low cost solution unless you can DIY. If you change the driveway to a surface that the water can go through, you will solve the problem. Something like man made pavers.
Another Idea is right before the garage apron put in a drain. The kind that has a metal grate over it where the water can run into and then have it so that it drains out one end or both. Here are some web sites you can take a look at. The first one has a photo of what I am talking about. You don't need a fancy grill like that and I would dig it deeper and probably wider if your rain comes down fast.
http://flickr.com/photos/mollyeh11/22540591/in/set-521025/
http://www.varicore.com/Menu/residential_app.html
http://diversified-drainage.com/1244439.html?gclid=CMuJ8-q30ZUCFRxNagodxH4Vig
You may want to have a rain garden to collect the water, use native plants.
My favorite web site for rain gardens is from the University of Wisconsin. It is a great how to.
http://dnr.wi.gov/runoff/rg/index.htm
Here is a place to find plants native to VA. I would guess you can find "clay buster" plants for your area. They break up the clay with their roots.
http://www.vnps.org/
