Enjoying the variety of videos in different “series”…don’t listen to the naysayers. (There are plenty of homey, folksy channels, scroll on!)Your channel, to me, is all about educating all things gardening! How fortunate to learn from experts something new! Your networking ability, plant knowledge and open personality combine perfectly! Thank you ❣️
This was one of your best videos! Especially the different budget drainage solutions! Please keep these up! They are great! We can watch people plant flowers everywhere now
Thank you for this very informative series of videos. Ignore the naysayers. All of these subjects are part of gardening. If they don't like them, they don't have to watch.
As a homeowner, I have come to recognize this as the most important issue with my property. Kudos for delving into the details, even though it's obviously annoyed some viewers. Climate change has real life impacts and this topic is critical. Michael's understanding of it shows he's a true professional and really cares about his clients.
I agree that this series is critical. Especially for those establishing new gardens, such as yours Janey. It makes no sense to spend $$$ on plants and materials and invest hours of time and energy, then to go back and address these areas. This is the groundwork or foundation. Keep up the good work.
Great subject to cover. Living in Kingwood Tx where it rains a lot loved hearing these options. Fun to see even small bits of solutions that Michael has used in projects.
Great information, thank you Janey and Micheal. Contractors and developers should be on the hook when these issues occur. If they were, there would be more attention paid to this very important issue. Zone 3 Manitoba 🇨🇦👏🌸
Addressing drainage was the first step I took when starting my garden. It was so hard to put off planting while I installed a French drain, regraded my beds away from my house and put stone borders around my foundation but it was necessary! This was a great video and I hope people use it as a resource!
This was a very informative video. People don't understand how devastating the damage can be EVEN IN DRY CLIMATES! Drainage and erosion is a major part of the bones of the landscape. As far as plants go, they can add up to a major expense, so grow them yourself and add to them every year. You don't need 20 plants. More often it's 200 or more (gasp). It adds up.
Very interesting and informative! I would love to see this projects before and after (love the white stucco fence/wall that was created) so please come back and show it!!
Drainage is the first thing to consider before you install any garden or hardscape. I would never use any landscape cloth. It deteriorates and is a huge mess. We had a 1.25 mile long entry road that had a fairly steep decline. The contractor that originally built the road and V-ditch used concrete the entire length for the V-ditch. We had cattle grazing on the ranch below that would step into this V-ditch that was poorly constructed, and broke up the concrete. As the rains came, the water flowed under the concrete and started to undermine the road. We finally bit the bullet and had the concrete removed and had large and small rock installed. Drainage problem solved! My then husband and I were owner/builders of our second home. Our long driveway sloped down into our garage and the front of our house. For 2/3 of our driveway we used (absorbable) road base. 1/3 was finished rockface concrete. We sloped the driveway in such a way that it diverted the water into our 30’ x 50’ fern garden. We also built a retaining wall on the uphill side and planted large tree ferns. Our 5 1/2 acres were naturally forested with redwoods, oaks and bays, so the downhill side at the back of the property, was not an issue. We also installed French drains along the entire front of the house. We built an additional 8’ high red concrete retaining wall alongside the front of the house. I filled this area with native herbaceous perennials. Our home was the perfect model for what could be done if you did drainage right. We lived on the hill with only a handful of homes around us and they all had drainage issues because they didn’t address slope and drainage. This is a critical issue in building and landscape installation. I rarely hear this addressed in gardening/landscape/building videos. Invaluable information!❤
So so hard to move into a home that has been owned before . Inspections I don’t think are up to standards of a older home ❤ I loved that she took drinks out to her landscapers Kind heart
This series has been incredible! So many really important things that we don't often consider when we're thinking about our yards. Michael Glassman has such a generous spirit to be willing to share all his knowledge about these different, very important facets of home ownership that add value to our property and help to avoid major costly repairs if our homes are vulnerable to the elements. Thank you Janey and Michael for this valuable information, brought to us in such a friendly, nonjudgmental way.
The timing of this is amazing! With such a wet summer, this is on my mind! Thank you! Love this series so much!!!!!! Can’t say enough good things about the both of you.
Hi Janey, watching from NZ, this is such a great video ! I'm in the throes of sorting drainage around my house where i was having issues and was planning a dry river. Michael is so great I have picked up tips from him when you toured other gardens. Love this series thank you.
I had lots of drainage issues in my coastal North Carolina homes. First, I started with attaching pipes to the down spouts to direct the rain away from the foundation. Second, I added rain barrels to two corners of the house. I am still figuring out the flow of water off the pool patio.
Fire safety is such a big topic. My brother is a Forester and his son is a wildfire firefighter, and his yard is designed to consider wildfire (no wood mulch, no trees near the house, removed large trees that could burn and fall on the house). His neighbours thought they were over the top. Until a couple of weeks ago when the town of Jasper near them burned, then they had an evacuation alert because of a fire just 5 kilometres from them. Luckily the fire was brought under control, but it was a reality check for everyone.
Great topic. We had terrible soil, so we amended our beds and added mulch, which raised the ground level so much that water no longer drained away from the house and during major rains, our basement flooded. To fix it, we had to remove the new soil level, dig off some of the hard pan layer, add drainage structures (that the contractor had neglected), then add back the compost and mulch.
Love this series. Well done. We have had this exact problem as we are on a rock shelf so no drainage. We installed a dry riverbed with a pit filled with stones at the end of the bed and covered this over to look part of the riverbed. It works so well and looks amazing. I wish this video had been around five years ago, it would have helped tremendously.
Janey while We were under contract for a house in Texas, there was heavy rain. A dining room table sized hole appeared and sadly the neighbor was inundated with dirt. We wisely backed out of the contract. Thank you for addressing this matter.
So MUCH great information. I'm definitely saving this video to watch again and share with friends. Thank you both for this AMAZING VIDEO. Love Michael Glassman and all his knowledge. He's right, DRAINAGE is so important, to get right from the start. I'm dealing with a few issues now....not fun!!
How did this builder ever pass inspection? I am old enough to remember the mud slides that Michael is talking about. I live in the Midwest, and every time I see a house built into the side of a hill, I wonder if the builder knew what he was doing or will this house slide down the hill.
I don't know if Michael reads the comments but if you do, you mentioned that you grew up in the San Fernando valley, by any chance was your dad a doctor at the VA hospital?
This is along the same lines I would love to have info regarding planting along a foundation, especially for slab foundations on heavy clay soil (central Texas, limestone bedrock with soil depth 1-2'). In Texas clay soil, we have to water our foundations spring through early fall when there is no rainfall. I would love to know what to plant/place along foundations to help keep soils evenly moist through general garden watering.
We had our house built in 1995 in the suburbs of Paris. The builders sunk a large type of what I now know is a dry well in a corner of the front yard. It's concrete with holes all around. All our gutters empty into it, underground. We have 6 gutters. All our electric and water to the house are also under our driveway, so no wires overhead. Of course, we'd have to dig up the asphalt driveway if anything weren to happen. But as of this writing, no probs!🤞
As soon as I saw your plans for this series I asked for a video on drainage and water management. You guys nailed it!! My zone 10a garden in Tampa Bay deals with heat and humidity for much of the year, but each summer we have tropical level storms dump massive amounts of rain (a town near me got a foot of rain in two days when hurricane Debby passed us this month). I'm thankful my home isn't in a flood zone, but flooding is still an issue I have to prepare for and these tips are going to make a difference for me!
This happens a lot - it is utmost importance to look for water infrastructure when purchasing a house and if not budget for it. This is a very big ticket item…
We bought a brand new house years ago and the backyard was lower than the front. We moved in in November and immediately the backyard flooded and it came up to the house. I put a hose into the flood and ran the hose out to the street , which was lower, and sucked on it to get a vacuum. It drained most of the water. Then over the next few days we dug a ditch. The next spring I put in pipe and covered catch pipes, which is now under a sidewalk and a patio in the back yard. It still works forty years later, but I wish I had known more so I could have put in a swale or a dry creek bed.
This is such an important topic. Living in Oregon where we get lots of rain, I know how destructive water can be. We had a pond form every year our backyard during the winter. We installed a dry well and the problem was solved. We also had standing water under our house. We sent cameras into our foundation drains and discovered they were badly broken. Once the repairs were made, that problem, too, was solved.
Question….. I get a lot of water flow in my back yard that causes me to lose top soil in places. The water comes from the neighbor behind me. If I just lined the fence between us with sandbags (it wouldn’t be seen), would that solve my problem? Love this series. Thank you both.
I'm wondering why it is not mandatory for builders to understand what Michael understands I think it's highway robbery that she is having to finance that this should go back on the builder and I believe that builders should understand how to create a subdivision that saves a person's life this is a Life investment and to have to do this I'm sure has cost her thousands of dollars and I think it's awful where in a similar situation we're having to redo all windows siding everything because of damage from sorry builders that don't know how to build houses and do landscaping I think it's terrible and I hope that people who buy houses pay attention to that more than the actual beauty of the home and the size of the home it is so important and I'm telling you Michael you need to pass your wisdom on to these people that build houses people should pay you a lot of money for your wisdom!!!!!!! Thank you Jenny for having this program!!?
I agree with you! I think sometimes some builders want to hurry and finish a neighborhood and don't let mother nature the time to really compact the soil they're building on. When we had our house built, they said wait a few years before putting any kind of a patio in because all the displaced soil had to compact and go thru at least 2 years of freeze, thaw. Well, as it ended up😮, I didn't put in a patio until 20 years later😊!
@@alcg3981 I'm predicting that this will be her most watched video he is impeccable I just absolutely love him he is so thoughtful and so knowledgeable and I just absolutely think he hung the moon it's just wonderful we just don't have that in the world today and I just pray he has a school and his passing his knowledge on to other people we so need that in the United States!!!!!
What an incredible discussion and Mr. Glassman's experience is such a tragic one that it really makes me want to double check these things around our home because it is one of those things that can turn into tragedies very quickly, could not imagine waking up and seeing something like that, or worse, being a part of it. Thank you for discussing such an excellent, thoughtful topic.
I’ve live in my house 30 years & I’m lower than the road. You can imagine the flooding I’ve endured. Climate change continues to bring heavier rains. I’ve got 2 sump pumps & a submersible pump. In 2020 I had 200’ trenched and put in big O. My neighbors helped & we tied it into a catch basin at the front corner of my property. I brought in 34 yards of dirt with my little trailer to bring up the grade on one side (took me months). The next year I flooded twice in a week from storms. Got the township out & the found a culvert down the road had collapsed & was backing me up. Last summer we had a crazy rain storm & I got 4 feet of water in my basement. It’s a constant battle against water. Great video.
I really appreciate the two of you covering these topics so thoroughly. I’m interested in hearing Michael’s suggestions for dealing with pesky deer! 😊🇨🇦
This is VERY important stuff , I agree. I’m a British gardener living in goddamn Louisiana. My ditch may as well be called a bayou. It always has the regular water snakes and other scary things . With the heavy rains we get my back garden is now washing away
Living in Louisiana the parish doesn’t care about the ditches being maintained. Both my neighbors have filled theirs . I have all the water from both of the. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore and we are not rich . New divisions are being built against our division and so water is being pushed and pushed and nowhere to go . I can’t get a water pump because i would be pumping up a big hill which would then have to run down a long hill into the road . It’s very very depressing. All the neighbors on the road fight over it .
Can you post just a video of your fertilizer routine and how often you do it? I’m shocked at the silver falls in the zig zag planter! Keep up the good work
Super great ideas!! I know here in Texas we deal with runoff and people don’t seat and how a French drain works and so many people have had problems with them draining back on their home or leaving water standing in - and I don’t have to tell you about the mosquitoes! Hugs and love y’all!
Great video! My neighbor is going to put in a drain system under ground for my family and I so the water is not sitting by the foundation. I love these videos you and Michael are doing. Thank you so much!
I love this video series, and this is the best video yet!!! Drainage and erosion control are crucial (coming from someone who lives on a very sloped lot and just had 144 Blue Rug Juniper installed for one of the roughest parts (it will make upkeep easier / no regular mowing - two for one solution!).
0:09 Thank you for this content! I have a new property and the land has been manipulated for drainage but is mostly sand which can fill in the low areas during heavy rains. Boulders, dry creek beds and plantings will go a long way to stabilize the soil. And, of course, mulch, mulch, mulch!😊
Wow. I am blown away at the different kinds of videos you put out. This one wasn’t just about what erosion is it’s also about how to fix it using different approaches 🤩
Can you share what trees/shrubs you can plant in a rain garden or swale for 4 season privacy-- without an aggressive root systems that will take over the yard? Thanks
Ok, you asked for it! I have a different kind of issue with my garden space. I’m not sure you’ll want to address it but here goes: I recently made a huge yard, two acres. So much space. I have three main issues, my yard has to be dog friendly, I have to have paths all the way around it due to snake issues and I don’t want to obstruct my incredible view! It’s rolling hills and oak trees front and back. But I need shade of course and greenery in the Summer, not like most who need it in the Winter. Ok, I think that was four issues. Thanks for reading Janey, love your channel. Zone 9b Clements
Very informative series! Thank you! How about doing one regarding ways to hide/screen utility boxes in the yard ? What plants are good to plant around it?
An absolutely needed informative video. Michael and you are an absolute treasure trove of information! Thank you so much for sharing in an educational detailed format. 😊🌷🌱
So timely! We are getting ready to tackle a small slope. Could we use the jute mesh and plant grass in it to help with erosion? Thank you both for this series! We will tackle the dry wells and French drains next year ❤️
Good morning Janey and Michael! Another great topic! Thank you for sharing all your professional information with us. I do have a question please? About the Jute Mesh, would that also do double duty on killing weeds and grass as well? 🤔 ( as well as the no till method?) Thank you
My girlfriend has a dry well under a patio. The builder decided to dig out a flat lot to have access to a basement. Of course, all water drains into this dug out area. The dry well has kept her basement dry for 40 years.
Here’s my biggest issue: hard bedrock clay soil that grows nothing but relentless, terrifying amounts of weeds & also water drainage. I live about a half block away from a huge lake (in Lakeport CA) so my water table is quite high. Picture a river bed, if it were to dry up and bake in the sun for 20 years at the same temps you get in Davis-and that’s how hard the ground is. Birds dropping weed seeds are non-negotiable because…I live by a lake. Our backyard is sloped and luckily I’m almost at the top of the street so don’t have EVERYONE’S water draining through my property, but we hold on to quite a bit of water. Our house sits lower than street level and as Michael mentioned, a sump pump may be in order at some point to ensure we don’t have standing water under the house. We do have about an at least 15 maybe 20ft well on our property (this is .24 acres) that is not used. It fills with water to the top in the winter. Where on earth can we put all the water from our yard? Our back fence has a long driveway on the other side with rows of trees that are actually helping knock down our fence and I’m sure they could use water but that’s probably illegal. Is that hose to the street from a sump pump the only option? I’m struggling with my sanity between weeds being a nightmare and water being a potential nightmare. And I don’t use poison for weeds because I’m trying to eat the food we grow without poisoning myself in the process.
My husband is a contractor and he is always telling people not to put flower beds right up next to the house. People don’t understand how water can get into your house from having beds and sprinklers right up next to the house. He has replaced many floors and mold due to this issue.
