What to plant to maintain the soil from eroding?

[6miths]

Pachysandra is an excellent choice for what you are describing. Vinca is pretty good but takes longer to get established, doesn't have as dense a root growth for soil holding and doesn't offer the same protection if heavy precipitation is experienced. Flowers are prettier on Vinca but pachysandra can be quite fragrant which is pleasant. Agree that English Ivy can get out of hand but it covers quickly and holds very well.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6miths Pachysandra is an excellent choice for what you are describing. Vinca is pretty good but takes longer to get established, doesn't have as dense a root growth for soil holding and doesn't offer the same protection if heavy precipitation is experienced. Flowers are prettier on Vinca but pachysandra can be quite fragrant which is pleasant. Agree that English Ivy can get out of hand but it covers quickly and holds very well.

I love Vinca and have it too, but here in high zone 7, it occasionally gets whacked with disease that takes out about 30% of it. Happens every 3 or 4 years or so, and I haven't figured out why. It is probably a fungus.

It can leave large patches completely dead and vulnerable that take a year or two to recover. So, it is way down on my list for erosion control.

[6miths]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras I love Vinca and have it too, but here in high zone 7, it occasionally gets whacked with disease that takes out about 30% of it. Happens every 3 or 4 years or so, and I haven't figured out why. It is probably a fungus. It can leave large patches completely dead and vulnerable that take a year or two to recover. So, it is way down on my list for erosion control.

I agree. We are 6b/7a with a good microclimate and it grows well but it wouldn't be my first choice for erosion control as much as I like the way it looks and holds up to light traffic. I haven't seen the patchy wipeout but occasionally I see it killed by ice build up in a bad winter or more commonly by salt and road spray when planted near sidewalks and busy roads. Not an issue for OP I am guessing.

[RunningBum]

I was thinking that vinca didn't grow well in shade since I have it on both sides of my house, and it's taken good root and is expanding where I get some sun, but barely staying alive where I don't. But I read where it should work in shade. The side not growing well isn't easily accessible and I probably didn't care for it well at the start to get it established. I haven't seen any of the disease, and it's not near a road. The only thing I have to do is keep breaking up the rocky soil where it wants to expand to, so the spreader roots can dig in.

[Brat]

Don't plant English Ivy!!!

[Fedup]

I have Japanese Honey suckle, I’ve heard it’s a pest in some places in the South.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat Don't plant English Ivy!!!

It is a menace. A few neighbors think it is nice and let it grow up the trees. In this posture, it easily throws off berries which the birds love. So, the stuff starts popping up everywhere! We already have the same problem with poison ivy.

Mother nature has a cruel sense of humor. Birds love these berries of both English and poison ivy. The birds are immune to any toxic effect. The berries are good for them! The seed inside is tough and does not digest. The birds drops a PERFECT packet that includes moisture, seed and fertilizer. Just wonderful.

At least I can keep up with the poison ivy. It spreads so slowly. English ivy is tricky. You *think* you can keep up with it. But then, one day, you discover a runner that went 20 ft. in one season under the mulch. It tricked you! All of the sudden, it is out of control. Control quickly becomes and illusion. It should only be used as a last resort. I suspect it may become more widely illegal to sell in many places soon.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem I had a similar situation and dug back the soil near the house about 6" deep and 4' wide. I made sure the exposed soil had good slope away from the house (at least 1/4" per foot) and tamped it down well. Then I put a sheet of Tyvek down and ran it up the wall a few inches, then covered it with the 6" of soil I took off, tamped it town, and planted groundcover. The Tyvek will not allow liquid water to pass through, so it helps assure the water starts seeping in about 4 feet away from my wall. Tyvek is also vapor permeable, so the soil underneath will eventually dry out when it gets sodden. And the 6"of soil on top is enough to grow grass or low groundcover. This was not recommended by a book or an expert, it is just what I did. I haven't had any water problems since I did it, but I also did some other stuff (surface drain, low French drain, etc).

I did something similar, only I used 6 mil plastic sheet under the soil to make sure that any water had to flow away from the wall as it sunk into the ground.


The other thing I did was up size my downspouts and the connection between the gutter and the downspout, which is a normally severe restriction. When there is a heavy rain, the downspouts can't handle the flow and water over tops the gutters dropping water next to the basement wall where it sinks and intrudes into the basement. Of course, the downspouts need extensions away from the foundation.


Ivy needs to be contained, but it was the only thing I could get to grow in the heavy shade I had - I tried pachysandra and vinca with no success.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Ivy needs to be contained, but it was the only thing I could get to grow in the heavy shade I had - I tried pachysandra and vinca with no success.

Last resort.

You will contain it for many years. Then one year, you will be tired and the stuff will escape from you. Don't worry, millions before you will have experienced the same thing, including myself.

[brucethebroker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Get a sump pump. Have your gutters discharge the water 10 feet from your house (heading downhill if possible). These things worked wonders for me, especially the gutter change.

+1. Sounds like you might live on the side of a hill. If so, consider digging a shallow swale across the back of your property, diverting rain water washing down from above away from your home on either side. This worked great for us when our home was built into a hill.

[Brat]

There can be issues discharging rainwater off your property. Consider building a 'dry well' or two away from your foundation for downspouts to discharge into, there are even some that are containers which function like surge protectors with holes that drain the water slowly. It is easy to construct these well-liners with a piece of large diameter plastic pipe and a drill, no need to spend a lot of money. During dry weather, roots may want to reach into the wells for moisture so wrap them in fabric designed for that purpose. If you live on a hill you do not want to supersaturate the soil, it may slide. Release water slowly.

Kitsap County, WA experienced a lot of landslides a few years ago. As a result, the Kitsap County Conservation District offers advice online and has an annual native plant sale to assist residents. Native Plant Sale | Kitsap Conservation District

[John Galt III]

I'm occasionally having a back yard flooding problem near the house during heavy rains. My plan is to 'treat when needed' by using a long garden hose to siphon out lots of the ponded water into the alleyway, which runs downhill slightly, behind my yard. No one will freak out since the alleyway already gets plenty of runoff during storms and it goes somewhere acceptable. Haven't tried it yet. Have to make sure exuding end of hose will be lower than ingress end and that water can actually be siphoned off. The good news is that the ponded water currently drains away somewhere by itself in a matter of a few hours. No basement to worry about. Yay.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III I'm occasionally having a back yard flooding problem near the house during heavy rains. My plan is to 'treat when needed' by using a long garden hose to siphon out lots of the ponded water into the alleyway, which runs downhill slightly, behind my yard.

I've done something similar, results were mixed. Unless the total "fall" is appreciable, the flow through the hose is quite meager. Also, if there's any debris in the water it will clog a garden hose. I made a small "strainer" with a used water bottle, duct tape, and a nylon stocking that did a good job of keeping the hose unclogged while still letting water into the hose. You may need to dig a small "sump" hole to put the "uphill" hose end in so that it doesn't gulp air before the pond is dry.

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem I've done something similar, results were mixed. Unless the total "fall" is appreciable, the flow through the hose is quite meager. Also, if there's any debris in the water it will clog a garden hose. I made a small "strainer" with a used water bottle, duct tape, and a nylon stocking that did a good job of keeping the hose unclogged while still letting water into the hose. You may need to dig a small "sump" hole to put the "uphill" hose end in so that it doesn't gulp air before the pond is dry.

Thanks for the idea about the strainer. Another idea I have is to direct the downspout into a big garbage can (already done this successfully to collect rain water for garden) and then use that additional 3 feet for siphon height. The ponding around my house just gets worse each year. I think the ground level is dropping near the house for some reason. As I said before, no basement, so hopefully no problem.....