Garden drainage mapping

Watch how surface water travels within your site and where it pools up. In flat gardens, the easiest way to do this is to wait until it rains heavily and to observe the result. Using your base design, make note of which way the water travels and where it pools up.

In one recent situation. I had to deal with large quantities of runoff rainwater entering from a lane way behind the garden and creating a waterfall whenever it rained heavily.  Without seeing the rainwater in person I would never have believed this was happening. In this situation, a significant landscaping effort was required to direct water around the house and keep the foundations dry. The garden in motion.

Monitoring how long water pools up for after a storm will also give you an idea of soil compaction and composition. If your site has significant grade changes focus extensively on this layer of assessment as you will likely have a wide variety of soil conditions present across your site.

Note: If you don’t have a garden base plan please refer to previous blog
Understanding your garden: Creating a Garden Base plan & site assessment 101