How do I give my backyard a makeover?
by
Chay
+4
Any ideas for a backyard makeover. Just bought a house and the yard floods every time it rains. Would like to keep it natural as possible as deer and turkey come to feed.
Looks as if your yard slopes from a few different directions and unless you plan on spending lots of money to level it out it's going to continue to flood.
Wetlands are very desirable to wildlife. Also they filter the ground water. If its not impacting your house you could just leave it alone. If you want more dry land close to your house you could make a dry creek bed at the lowest point to collect excess water. Looks like theres a good spot back there in the trees. Make sure you check with Fish and Wildlife first though. If you have an existing wetland you might not be able to change anything.
It is hard to tell from a picture, but it looks like the ground needs to be higher in the area right below the markers. If that where it puddles? I think you need to build the ground up in that area to make sure the water flows down naturally. It will be a lot of work to fix it. Good luck!
Thank you. Hoping one of the backyard gardeners would use this for a project! Not having much luck.
From what I can see in the pics I'm afraid you are going to have to do alot of regrading to stop the flooding and probably make a dry creek bed as another answer suggested. Also though, if you have deer keep in mind they eat lots of stuff so be careful what you plant. I have a pretty "natural" yard myself and think visiting deer are beautiful. And I love watching the tiny spotted fawns in late spring but I'm not such a happy camper when all my daylily blooms get bitten off right before they open!
Thanks, don’t want to ruin it for the animals. Thinking about planting some apple trees for the deer.