In reading your message, the first thought that came to my mind was terracing. I wonder if it wouldnt help to remove some of the sand and replace it with topsoil? I know it sounds like a lot of effort, but I dont know what else you could do.

I have a hill that is eroding. We just put up a retaining wall and new fence. That is at least giving us 2' less slope. Like you, the water just seems to run to the bottom. We did put in more sprinklers. Every time I plant I put better soil down in that area. The hill is just blotched with plants, clumps of grass or sandy areas. We have been working on it for almost 2 years now and I'm not sure it is much better than when we started. I am going to put a bunch of daylilies on it next to see if that will help in areas. Trying anything and everything.
Sky~~

At Echo, they have a much steeper experimental hill tha they have tried many solutions on. It seems that the one that worked best was a combination of light terracing and Perenial peanut. On a sloap like you are describing, it sems like they did the Perenial Peanut alone and that worked well. Think of it as a green mulch.

I also came across this site while trying to figure out what is coming through my fence from my neighbors yard. It is ground cover for drought areas. Worth reading I think. http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Xeris/grndcov2.htm

do a trench to help guide the water, like a dry creek bed... would look nice and help with gulley washers...

Thanks to you all for the information.

I went out yesterday and began moving the sand around a bit. Basically I made some emergency trenches, to direct the water away from the house, then piled up long mounds of earth which I'm hoping will catch the water running down the hill--like a series of miniature dams. Now I'm beginning to see that much of the water is coming from the neighbor's yard, which is at the top of the hill.
Everything's very temporary now--just piles of loose sand really. I'm going to keep an eye on where the water goes over the summer, making adjustments as necessary, until I'm directing the water where I want it to go. Then I'll have to make it more permanent (and attractive) somehow, probably with some very gradual terracing. I think I'll be able to do it without disturbing the roots systems of the shrubs and trees too much as long as I don't make any drastic changes in the level of the earth.

I would love to plant each level of these future terraces with perenial peanut, but up here it stops growing in late fall and disappears during the winter.Maybe if I overseeded it with rye. . .

The garden looks like a construction area right now (which is sad, because I was finally beginning to think everything was settling in). But if the water goes where I want it go it will all work out for the best. I'll be able to direct it to the roots of plants rather than the street, and maybe I won't have such a terrible time with garden drying out.

Thanks again.

Bill

From the sounds of it you might need a combination of terraces, dry stream beds, and burms. I have a similar problem although it sounds like your property slopes more then mine. My property has the added problem of being at the bottom of a fair sized hill so all the runoff from my neighbors further up the hill comes across the yard. I'm in the process of putting a dry stream bed along the back of the house to re-direct the run off. My parents next door have put a 2 foot wall across their back yard, put in 2 dry stream beds(1 in front and 1 behind the house), and put in a series of raised flower beds along one side of their property. It's taken years and a lot of work to solve all of their run off issues but the result is very good looking.

These are a couple of the raised flower beds that is blocking some of the run off from my parents neighbors yard. The flower beds have burms on the side along the property line and large rocks along the inner edges.
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Here's their retaining wall. Originally it was made out of pressure treated 4x4's but the wood started rotting much quicker then it was supposed to. Since they ended up having to remove part of the wall in order to get their septic systems drain field replaced my parents decided to replace to entire wall with block.

This is what my dry stream bed looks like so far.

And here is what it looks like in a heavy rain.

Try some plants that like very well drained soil, like Beach Sunflower, Gaillardia and Railroad Vine. They should do well in your situation. I like the idea of terracing, too.

If you are having trouble watering, with the water just running off rather than penetrating the sand, try using a hose-end sprayer with a little bit of dishwashing soap in it. The soap will help break the surface tension and allow the water to start penetrating the soil. Once the soil is moistened it will absorb water more easily (just like using a damp sponge to soak up a spill, rather than a dry sponge).

Karalynn, thanks for the pictures and the information. You're giving me lots of ideas. I'm especially interested in the dry stream bed. How did you make it? I think it might be just the solution where the water's building up against the house.

We had a fairly strong rain yesterday and I was able to see that even the minor mounding I did prevented water from running down the hill, but it also allowed me to see just how much water was coming from my own roof and patio. Because the house is on a hill, it's very difficult to get this water away from the house--it would have to go up hill.

But now I'm thinking I may be able to channel the water along the side of the house with the dry stream bed--like Karalynn's. I know I'll have to adjust the slope--and I guess dig a small "dry pond" for the water to pour into. There's no other place for it to go . . . Wow. This is going to be a ton of work.

Zeldaplug, thanks for the tip on the soap. I'm going to give it a try. Sometimes it seems impossible the wet the soil.

Bill

Hmmm ya got me thinking Bill. Dennis just built up a mound that is surrounded by rocks in the back area where we get a lot of standing rain. I planted Cassias, my Alamanda Cherries Jubilee in the center and ornamental grass (the red one in big clumps with wheat like flowers) I also planted some baby bald cypress. The cypress will take years to grow, so in the meantime I added some ornamental looking plants. The soil is a mix of sand and soil, but it does get a little water repellant when dry. Amber and Zeldapug (where the heck you been lately Zelda?) mentioned some forms of ground covers. Does anyone know if Seedum would do well? I got a generous baggie from Misti&Chrisaggie at joanmary's swap. I am just wondering if it would hold up here. I think it would enhance the looks for sure as well as keep the soil together.

Bill, the streambed started out as just a ditch dug out right before a hurricane hit to keep my back porch from flooding. I had just closed on the house that week! Over the past year I've been scavenging for limestone rocks at construction sites. The larger rocks form the sides and I'm filling the bottom with smaller rocks. It's not finished yet and I still need to dig out the shallow pool that the streambed will drain into. I think I'll be extending the streambed in the other direction too so that it runs along the entire back of the house. The recent hard rain we had managed to cause it to overflow onto the back sidewalk.

Thanks, Karalynn. I may try digging a ditch first, seeing how it works, and pretty it up later. Finding a spot for it to drain is going to be more difficult. The garden is small and pretty heavily planted. Basically I would have to take out a bed, dig a shallow pool area, and replant it as a "sunken bed" with something that does not mind a ton of water flowing onto it now and then. . .
I'm also wondering about the grade. This ditch may have to be pretty deep towards the end. The back of the house basically faces three hillsides. None of the hills are very steep, but whichever direction I try to make the water go is still uphill. So the ditch has to cut into the hill. . . We'll see . . .

Thanks again,

Bill

I am spending the playoffs searching for gardening info. IÂve been at this for a number of days, 11 in fact. I would greatly appreciate any leads for terracing, how to, and irrigation system building, IÂll use rain water roof run off with storage for this, I am in need of info .My lot backs on to a berm 8' high 8' deep I figured I can put in five or so benches having sealed the waters leaching to underground by covering bottom of row with plastic sheet tilted to drain it to collector. I wanted to reuse the water from watering the top row to water the next row & so on collecting used 2nd row and redirecting it into drip feeder along top of 3rd row & so on. I am willing to do the work but have not a clue as to where to start. Perhaps it is because I am not that good with a computer? However in these days I have come up with some pretty hair brained ideas. But no where I can find where it has been done before.... This I do not believe. Some one must have tried this. please have pity so I can pay attention to the playoffs.

Bill did you solve your problem? Any chance you could post a picture? I've got a similar problem and someone with a bobcat willing to do the recontouring. I'm going to have to move lots of plants it's currently a butterfly garden.
Marion

We had a similar problem along the front of our property. Full southern exposure and sand with a slope. We ended up putting in a two tiered terrace/retaining wall made out of cinder blocks w'rebar. Then stucco on top of the cinder blocks. It gave me two tiers of beds to plant in. I grow gaillardia, beach sunflower, purple heart, purple coneflower, and vinca in it. They have been established in there for several years now and reseed themselves. I never have to mulch or replant because they love the conditions so much and grow pretty thickly. Just thin and clean out once a year. It solved the runoff problem for us. Hope that helps!
Elise

Marion,

I did solve the problem. Knock on wood: it still hasn't been tested in a major tropical storm or hurricane. Basically I just did some very minor terracing using those landscape blocks you find at any big box store. No mortar necessary. They just help hold the sand in place. Here's a pick I took during winter. You can see the two very low walls in the distance.

Basically the two little walls create three levels to that part of the yard and prevent so much water from running down to the patio and house.

That mass of wandering jew is planted on a slight mound that serves as part of the "wall."

Here's a closer shot of the lower of the two wall. You see it's just two blocks high.

Bill