Question
In am in Folsom, California, a suburb of Sacramento - northern central California.  My backyard lawn has no drainage, no drainage pipes in the yard at all, and water does not sink in to the lawn.  The soil is very dense clay, and the lawn stays unreasonably mushy and wet even when it doesn't rain or get watered.  How can I improve this situation?

Thank you very kindly.

Juli Rose

Answer
Hi Juli Rose,

If your house is relatively new, realize that most communities have building code laws which require home-builders to have their lots properly graded and adjusted to prevent potential drainage problems.  You may want to check into this and see if or not the builder is responsible more than Mother Nature. Otherwise....

ABOUT DRAINAGE FIXES

 A drainage problem for an average sized house on an average sized lot can often be greatly remedied by the installation of rain-collecting guttering on the house itself.  If you already have guttering, check it out for its efficiency of construction-flow.  The house guttering can collect thousands of gallons and shunt it all to a proper drainage route or collection system.

 If you have a particularly compacted-clay soil, you can have the lawn commercially aerated (or rent the machine to do it yourself).  This removes plugs of clayish top-soil and improves drainage temporarily. Adding sand and humus, manure and compost to clay soils also helps it to drain.  Adding the humus-compost will help top improve the top soil, and it will make it all more sponge-like.

Note that adding sand will help drainage....but it does nothing for soil fertility.

 If you cannot raise the grade or create even a mild grade with berms and contours by adding top-soil/clay/sand to just make excess water flow to some point where it is no longer a problem, then you can sometimes construct under-ground systems (special gravel-packed ditches with perforated collection pipes, etc) to collect and re-direct water.  Occasionally, you may have to use sump pumps to direct collected water to a drain portal. These can be an expensive fixes however, and should only be done by a contracted professional. Permits may be required for these jobs.  Such systems when properly installed can be nearly invisible after the lawn grows back and can do a great job of keeping the lawn and top soil properly hydrated.

 A less expensive remedy for excess water that is not such a great volume is to simply find the lowest point (or make one) where water mainly collects, and established PVC pipe-lined
SINK-HOLES or a CISTERN SYSTEM.

This is just a 'long as you can make it' section of open-ended plastic pipe sunk into the ground to fill-up when it rains. They fill-up removing water from the lawn, and then the collected water slowly perks into the soil from the open bottom of the pipe.  Water that would normally pool on the yard, should go to the tube-volume.  The most difficult part of making this type of rig is just digging the cylindrical hole for the pipe. A post-hole digger may be all that is needed, but a hard-clay soil can make it a chore.  Hire some help if needed. The pvc pipe should have a rim that rises a couple of inches or so above the grade and will not cause any problems for lawn-mowers. Place some gravel in the bottom of the pipe to help prevent a soil up-serge effect.  It should also have a piece of wire-mesh over it to keep critters from falling into the hole and any other accidents such as twisted ankles. These pipes will eventually sometimes fill-up with debris and need to be cleaned-out. This may become a seasonal maintenance event for the cistern system.

Estimate how many gallons collected would help, and go from there to decide on diameter and depth of the cylindrical collecting volume.  This set-up drains from the open, gravel-covered bottom of the pipe and can be as large as needed or practical (PVC Pipe of 6-10 inches diameter is often sufficient). If you can design-engineer your sink-hole PVC-pipe cistern system to also collect water near trees, it will serve a dual purpose to help get water into the soil for the trees.

 If these collecting volumes drain too slowly after filling up after a big rain, you may need to install a submersible pump to divert the water up and out of the collection basin to an exit portal.

 Submersible pumps come in several brands and price ranges.  Consider how much water you might need to PUMP OUT PER HOUR when shopping for these pumps.  Also, a way to turn off the pump automatically may be needed since they will burn-out if left to dry-pump.

 This last fix, the sink-hole system, some homeowners could manage to construct themselves without too much expense or work; again, digging the holes is the hard part. A large diameter piece of PVC pipe and a post-hole digger are the main tools and parts you might need; the pipe opening should have a protective cover. Places like Home Depot should have all the tools and supplies you will need.

 Finally, some people have worked a Water-Garden or Goldfish-Koi pond into the landscape as a remedy for soggy yards.  Collecting and raising Koi and aquatic plants can be an enjoyable and profitable hobby for the biologist in the family. In dry times you may actually have to add water to these ponds to adjust for evaporation. Ponds can, however, become too much of a maintenance issue for some home-owners and if you are not the kind of individual who enjoys an indoor aquarium, then it is probably not something for you to consider even though it could greatly remedy the soggy-yard syndrome.
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Plants for MOIST SOILS:

A more 'spongy' soil with less clay and more organic matter will help the soggy conditions.
Don't expect plants like cactus to help much.  Lawn and garden centers sell 'soil amendments' such as compost which when added to the soil will help to make it absorb and drain better. These organic materials also improve the top-soil and root-zone fertility so that grasses and plants grow better and extend their roots deeper into the ground to take-up all the more water that is becoming a problem. With the soil only partly improved over the harsh clay conditions, you may be able to get many other plants to grow well enough to do a lot of the work to keep the soil less soggy.

In general fast-growing plants which have shallow roots and non-woody stems will also help to soak up water from moist soils. These types of plants may need more watering during dry conditions than what nature will provide.
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Only Use plants and grasses rated for your climate-zone.
HORT ZONES from ZIP CODES:
http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html

To help you decide what plants to use and where to place them check-out
the "PLANT SELECTOR" applet:

www.growit.com/Bin/PSelect.exe
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Recommended plants for a soggy soil are

01.  Lilies and tuberous plants that soak up
    and store water.

02.  Caladiums and  Elephant-Ear Colocasia and
   other plants with large surface area leaves.

03.  Ferns are also good at soaking up water.

04. If your climate can support any of the
   tropical philodendrons and/or banana type plants,
   these are gluttons for water.

05.  Mass plantings of Coleus, Impatiens ('Patient Lucy').

06. The many varieties of HERBS will drink a
   lot of water in the summer.
   These will also do well in the shade.  
   Hybrid Mentha ('Mint') are practically
   like bog plants in moist soils.

07. Species of Phytolactae , Solanaceae   
   and Atropa ('Angel's Trumpet') and
   Mirabilis ("Four-O'clocks") are all
   heavy water drinkers.

08. Establish Espalier vines or various shrubs
   along a wall where water collects at the base;
   this will look good and serve to soak up the
   water to bring it up to the taller parts
   of the plantings.

   Trumpet vine and Lonicera (Honey-suckle) should
   help keep the soil dryer.
   Some of these typically viney plants have
   bush-form hybrids these days.

09.  Shrubs or tress of the Genus Salix (willow)
    and Eunonymus are great water users.
    Cotton-wood and Catalpa trees are also water hogs.

10.  There are ornamental varieties of
    Carex (Sedges) which are
    classic bog-plants and also other dozens
    of "ornamental grasses" to consider.
    A clump or two of hybrid ornamental bamboo
    or pampass grass would soak up
    hundreds of gallons of water.

Nurseries in major cities and mail-order specialty suppliers will have any and all of these plants.

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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more facts and links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

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