Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

How to drain your rain-caused 'lake'

Storm revealed drainage problems; tips for how to redirect all that water

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 26, 2021

The easiest way to direct runoff away from a home's foundation is with a downspout extension. But depending on the landscape, the location and the home's footprint, a more permanent drainage solution may be necessary. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

The aftermath of Sunday’s record rainfall was a physical reminder of a basic law of nature: Water tends to accumulate at the lowest spot. If you didn’t know where that was in your yard, you do now

So much rain after years of so little created instant lakes in landscapes that are now taking days to drain.

Where did all this water come from? Often, off your roof.

Rain gutters – in particular, the misdirection of runoff from those gutters – can lead to drainage problems. Typically, downspouts run straight down off the roof to the ground – ending close to the house and foundation. That causes water to pool around the building and potentially leak inside into basements or crawl spaces.

The solution: Extend the downspouts away from the house and foundation. Ideally, the extensions should take rainwater at least 10 feet away from the house.

If that’s not enough, a “perimeter drain” – a gravel-topped trench around the house – can help prevent water from getting into basements or crawl spaces. This drain redirects the water to a safe release point away from the foundation.

A similar technique is a “French drain” – a buried perforated pipe that collects water and directs it away from the low spot.

Despite the name, French drains have nothing to do with France. According to experts, these unusual drains were invented by an American, Henry Flagg French. He popularized them in his book on agricultural drainage, published in 1859 in Massachusetts.

Such drains can be simple to install – dig a trench, put it in – but must be strategic. (Where do you want the water to go?)

The drainage aisle of a local Ace Hardware store was looking picked-

over Tuesday, but these NDS catch-basin drain grates were still in

stock.

Remember: Don’t bury the French drain with the same dirt you dug from the trench to install it, especially if you have clay soil.

Water tends not to drain well through clay; that’s why the backyard “lake” formed in the first place. If you cover the French drain with clay soil, it plugs up the drain and doesn’t give it a chance to work.

Instead, backfill over the drain with sand, gravel, decorative rock or other fast-draining material.

Use that clay dirt to form berms to redirect rainwater away from the house and to that gravel-covered French drain.

Those berms also could form a “rain garden,” catching stormwater and allowing it to soak in where you want it – not next to the house.

Need more help? NDS, which makes a broad range of water-related products, offers tips for how to tackle drainage issues at its online Home Drainage Center. Find it here: https://www.ndspro.com/home-drainage .

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

runoff Sacramento French drain rain garden record weather landscaping weather clay soil gardening soil saturation rainfall drainage

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook