The Elephant in the Yard

Discussion in 'Water Gardening' started by CrisGzr, Jul 1, 2012.

  1. CrisGzr

    CrisGzr In Flower

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    I love sharing photos of my garden and property but I am not being fair. We have a big elephant in the room and we will soon start attempt #3 to deal with it.

    It is the pond, one of the main reasons we bought the house. It had a minor leak and needed some dredging. We talked to some "Pond Experts" and before we got our estimate, our neighbor killed the pond with a big error involving erosion. The experts come back and say "no problem" added additional dredging to our estimate. Then they showed up to repair the pond and we realized we had hired the 3 stooges! They obviously studied enough about running their own business to meet and write up an estimate. They basically did nothing and made it worse, which was in itsself quite a feat!

    Anyway, here's the elephant in the room:
    http://relocategarden.wordpress.com/201 ... nd-repair/
    just so you know in a month or so I will be whining and crying again!
     
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  3. Jerry Sullivan

    Jerry Sullivan Garden Experimenter Plants Contributor

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    Wow! This looks to be a problem that requires a lot of thinking and a solid solution. I don't know how much of the hillside you have access to but I would imagine the further away you are able to keep runoff the better off you will be. Hillside terracing comes to mind. Until the hillside erosion is addressed solutions for the pond will only be a band-aid. It would seem that your attempts to obtain a solution found people with an eye for money and little else. Perhaps a local extension service may help with some answers, as they are people who give advice and have no monitory interest.
    Judging from the water color there is a fair amount of clay in the soil. Small clay particulates can remain in suspension indefinitely. The closest I have come to soil erosion is a chipmunk that dumped his excavations in one of my ponds. His former home is now covered with rock.

    Good luck with solution #3 I would be interested in the next solution if only to see how they address the various issues.

    Jerry
     
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  4. CrisGzr

    CrisGzr In Flower

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    Jerry, the owner has no intention of spending money on his hillside. He feels he was pressured into doing it and blah blah blah. The amount of erosion we get now is minimal and a catch hole would catch most and would be easier to clean out.

    A chipmunk! We've had a few lessons in erosion and water'd willful ways. First, we had a 40' run put in connecting the dog yard to the house, it included a little bridge over what we thought was a dry stream bed... to keep the dogs from escaping (siberian huskies are houdinis) we piled rocks under the fence and at midnight on December 20th, 15º -pouring rain, we flooded the yard! We had to get into the freezing water and remove the obstruction! Laughing the whole time!

    The second time, the dogs dug a sleeping hole under the backdoor deck and it filled with water and leaked through the basement wall!

    We are a little tired of learning thing the hard way LOL

    Your terrace idea actually will work for where we need to dump this stuff. There are two or three places that might work if we put up terraces, it would allow the muck to dry better and in the interim be planted with that which likes muddy feet! Thank you, you've sparked an idea!
     
  5. Netty

    Netty Chaotic Gardener Plants Contributor

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    Wow! I see I'm not the only one who has a neighbor who doesn't think about consequences when he does something in his yard!! My neighbor ripped out hundreds of trees and regraded his land without any thoughts of water and runoff. Every spring (or after every good rain) I have water from acres and acres of his land now running along my driveway trying to get through a culvert that is WAY too small for that quantity of water. The result is a lake that forms on my lawn and undercutting my driveway. The town doesn't seem too concerned about it all, or the fact that he did all that work without a permit. I guess they will care when all that water takes out the bridge ... it will cost thousands to replace!!!
    It's all so overwhelming at times. I can't wait to see what happens with your pond. I think Jerry is right ... this is going to take a lot of thinking!
     



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  6. CrisGzr

    CrisGzr In Flower

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    I hate these drama games in the neighborhood! I occasionally walk up the road after a rain and take lots of pictures of the erosion... keeps them wondering LOL

    This is one possibility we came up with:
    we talk to our plumber about temporarily diverting the stream and water from culvert past the pond, straight to the outgoing stream, to allow the pond to dry. (not sure if we can do this ourselves or how to do it...)

    Torture our neighbors with the sight of a mud hole. One told me they consider the pond a neighborhood asset and the covenant requires we keep our property up to their vague standards.

    While the pond dries, we work on creating terraces to hold the 750 cubic feet of mud. There are three or four places we could do this.

    Then we'll hire someone to dredge the pond and dig out my catch hole. We'll plant something that likes wet feet in the terraces to hold the soil in place with their roots. We were told it takes a year or two for the soil to dry if it's put into a hole dug for it. But I am sure it would drain & dry faster if it were in terraces (gravity) and since it is a mixture of our neighbors topsoil and some clay, it will be good growing soil!

    Also, while the pond is dry we can rebuild the stone walls...

    We wouldn't want to stretch this out too long but revoking view access to our pond would be an enjoyable punishment.

    I keep threatening to force them into a homeowner's association, every time I hear the self appointed mayoress is suing someone over a perceived infraction
     
  7. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    Cris, if we lived close enough I would send my trusty and trusted and trustworthy husband over to take a looksee, evaluate and estimate the fix. This is such a difficult project to work with. My advice is to look up your state "land improvement contractors of america" and see if there is a contractor close to you that would come do the same thing. I can't guarantee that there will be anyone close to you or the quality of their work, but all the ones we know here in Ohio are reputable contractors to work with. You might also want to look into the soil and water conservation district in you area and ask if they have a list of contractors who do pond work.
     
  8. CrisGzr

    CrisGzr In Flower

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    thank you that is good advice!

    I looked on the map, you are a good 7 hours away, we have a friend in Columbus and he is 6 hours away. We are on the Ohio to Florida route.

    I call contractors but I can not get anyone to come out! I asked a builder who turned our carport into a garage. He said: too many people are shopping around and they only want an estimate. I was kind of stunned, I have a web design business and I know tire-kickers do take up time but I see them as training fodder for perfecting my sales skills -which, need help since I am a better geek than a salesperson.

    Aw, I went to the site: http://www.licanational.com/ and no one in NC, we are near the VA border but the closest one in VA is as far away as you... The NC Association of Consulting Foresters were one of my Clients, I'll call them for advice too.
     

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