Hi Folks,
'First time posting in the landscape section.
I live a semi - detached twin. I have a 4 x 14 foot raised flower bed.
I would like to put in a small 6 inch high retaining wall made of presuure treated logs but do not want to restrict drainage.
What is the strategy with drainage ?? - Is it okay to have it soak into the ground near the house if we have a bed there ? - is it better to have it draining away from the house or a combination of both ??
If so - is there anyway to build some drainiage in the retainig wall ???
Any suggestions would be appreciated - this is new to me .
Thanks - jg1234
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Howdy jg1234,
I don't claim to be a garden expert of any kind, but a long time ago (>15 yrs) we lived in the Seattle area (very wet at times!) and built such a garden.
It really worked great in that climate--where the ground tends to get really waterlogged. No drainage was needed; it just kind of self-regulated.
In our case this garden area was away from the house; drainage was not an issue.
What kind of climate are you in? This could affect your decision.
Regards,
-k2 in CO
Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum
http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous
I don't claim to be a garden expert of any kind, but a long time ago (>15 yrs) we lived in the Seattle area (very wet at times!) and built such a garden.
It really worked great in that climate--where the ground tends to get really waterlogged. No drainage was needed; it just kind of self-regulated.
In our case this garden area was away from the house; drainage was not an issue.
What kind of climate are you in? This could affect your decision.
Regards,
-k2 in CO
Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum
http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous
k2,
Thanks for the quick reply. I live in North Eastern Pennsylvania.
We see a lot of rain in April and May and the snow is slow to melt where the bed will be because of little sun.
I am thiniking it will self regualte - but was hoping to design the small wall with options that would assist drainage. I think weep holes would look bad so I wasn't sure what else to do ???
jg1234
Thanks for the quick reply. I live in North Eastern Pennsylvania.
We see a lot of rain in April and May and the snow is slow to melt where the bed will be because of little sun.
I am thiniking it will self regualte - but was hoping to design the small wall with options that would assist drainage. I think weep holes would look bad so I wasn't sure what else to do ???
jg1234
Hi again jg,
Your questions are good but beyond my experience. Again, our experience was that the raised bed worked very nicely in a wet climate even without much engineering. It was on the South side of the house--again, away from the home. We grew tomatoes and gave them a more effective growing season.
If it's near the home, I'd definitely take into account drainage/slope. Typically you do want that area graded somewhat away from the home. And don't forget your downspouts throw a whole roofful of water onto a limited area.
Also interesting....I was doing some searches and found this link, which is largely about flooding problems in the U.K. I talks a bit about raised gardens--but I think it's interesting from the standpoint of using plantings to reduce flooding (hopefully you won't have THAT problem!). Here in Colorado, we choose plantings of different kinds for several utilitarian purposes, including hill-holding (erosion protection) and fire mitigation. The right plant choices can help in many ways:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/gardening_which_guide.pdf
Regards,
-k2 in CO
Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum
http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous
Your questions are good but beyond my experience. Again, our experience was that the raised bed worked very nicely in a wet climate even without much engineering. It was on the South side of the house--again, away from the home. We grew tomatoes and gave them a more effective growing season.
If it's near the home, I'd definitely take into account drainage/slope. Typically you do want that area graded somewhat away from the home. And don't forget your downspouts throw a whole roofful of water onto a limited area.
Also interesting....I was doing some searches and found this link, which is largely about flooding problems in the U.K. I talks a bit about raised gardens--but I think it's interesting from the standpoint of using plantings to reduce flooding (hopefully you won't have THAT problem!). Here in Colorado, we choose plantings of different kinds for several utilitarian purposes, including hill-holding (erosion protection) and fire mitigation. The right plant choices can help in many ways:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/gardening_which_guide.pdf
Regards,
-k2 in CO
Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum
http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous
