willows for water control???

[canesisters]

Does anyone know anything about "Virgina Willow"?
I've got a really wet back yard. When it rains hard, I'll have a little bit of standing water for a while and 'suck-your-shoes-off" mud for days. And this is where my garden is (

). I've heard that planting willows will help to 'dry up' wet areas - but of course I don't want a couple of huge willow trees shading my garden.
This morning I was doing some poking around and found a mention of Virginia Willow. But I can't seem to find much info on them.

"Virginia Willow
A variety of willow tree, the Virginia willow, has medium texture and a moderate growth rate. These trees have an erect form with clustered branches that are rounded and arching. Virginia willows grow 3 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide. The medium to dark green leaves on the Virginia willow grow up to 4 inches long and have fiery fall colors of yellow, orange, red and mahogany. The drooping white, fragrant flowers on the Virginia willow grow 3 to 6 inches long and emerge in early summer. The Virginia willow prefers full sun to part shade and moist to wet soils. The USDA Hardiness Zone is 5 to 9."

The fence line between the padock and the yard is several feet away from the garden. I'm thinking about planting a row of these along the fence... maybe even on the padock side.
Could it be that they will help move some of the water up and out of the soil??
This is from last spring - you can see the fence behind the garden area. It's about 5' or so away (and when I took this I was facing almost directly west).

I'm thinking about putting a line of them behind the fence....

 

[digitS']

They probably would, Cane', but then you may have to be thinking about tree roots in your garden. Others should comment on the species of trees.

We had a weeping willow at the corner of the pasture when I was a kid. It was just on the other side of the fence from the rose garden. Irrigation water would pool under that tree, encouraged by the cows beating down the soil so they could stand in the shade. During several months each year, there would be a permanent pond there. That was during the winter & spring when the tree wasn't pulling water out of the soil.

Have you thought about putting in what is called a "French Drain?" (link)

I don't know that it is any more French than any place else. Actually, I was reading and looking at pictures of part of Nova Scotia the other day (funny how the spell checker doesn't know how to spell "Scotia" :/.) There were "French drains" near much of the gardens and in the farmlands there. Maybe since this was once a part of "New France" (spell checker okay with that) the idea came from there.

Anyway, I had a "construction guy" visiting my backyard a couple of years ago. Young fellow. He sees my line of bricks on the ground near the house and I show him that I have a roof gutter under them. They run along about 30' to a "dry well" that is all of about 3' deep & filled with about 3 boulders. The guy says, "Oh, you put in a French drain!"

I was just moving surface water where it would invade thru the basement wall - works. The bricks are the kind with holes in them. The dry well may not be legal but it is a very minor sort of thing. The whole thing is just tiny. The surface water is all destined for the aquifer.

My first job away from home, that didn't involve working in delivery for Alpha's Pies where Mom paid my wage , was digging a French drain. The neighbor just wanted water to drain better across his lawn. Yes, I got my start as a ditch digger.

The job was finished by replacing the sod over the soil that now covered gravel, below that was roofing felt and with concrete pipe about 2' down. I imagine that plastic drain field pipe would be used nowadays. The pipe sloped downhill. There was no ditch to interfere with mowing.

Steve

 

[canesisters]

I always count on Digits for good advise! Thanks.

I actually started a french drain behind the barn years ago. Sort of did it backwards though. On the uphill-ish side I dug a pit and filled it with gravel - the idea was to catch water running down & across the pasture. Then from the bottom of the pit I dug a trench and burried that black plastic drain pipe across the back of the barn to the dowhhill-est side where it drains out onto the pasture. It doesn't seem to have made any difference in the mud back there (see the high-jacked thread about pannel greenhouses/pasture shelters).

I don't know if this will come out, but here's my yard. The back of the paddock is the highest point - the yard & gardens are in the middle - and the bottom of the north pasture is a creek. When it rains really hard (like it has for almost all of December) water literally flows across the yard and down the driveway.

I think that a fench drain would be great - but to install one across the entire yard is way outside my single-handed ability.

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh! I know that plant! I had to look it up, but it's Itea virginica, never heard it called Virginia willow, but I'm on the wrong side of the Rockies for that I guess.
It's a pretty shrub, nice fall color, interesting blooms in the spring.
It's not actually a willow, not even related, but it does do well in wetlands.
As far as it's effectiveness in drying your soil I don't know, but it's nice to look at so in my opinion you have nothing to lose.
Around here it doesn't seem to have invasive roots. It's used a lot in landscaping, and not just in wet soils, it seems to do well in ordinary garden beds too.
What would it take to make your gardens raised Cane? Not the raised as in framed with wood beds, but to actually have your growing soil above the grade by 6-12 inches?

 

[canesisters]

I'm aiming for raised Thistle, but it's going to be a long, long process of composting/adding soil/composting/adding soil.
You can't really tell from the first picture, but when the compost pile is spread out, the planting surface is actually about 6" above the yard.
If I can find 8 or 10 of those Itea Virginicas this spring, I think I'll give them a try. Like you said, nothing to loose. They shouldn't get tall enough to shade the garden. If they spread a bit, they might keep the horse off of the fence.
Or if they turn out to be a huge mistake... they'll add some nice ash to the garden... LOL

Digits, any chance of a pict of your 'french drain' system?

 

[bobm]

I always count on Digits for good advise! Thanks.

I actually started a french drain behind the barn years ago. Sort of did it backwards though. On the uphill-ish side I dug a pit and filled it with gravel - the idea was to catch water running down & across the pasture. Then from the bottom of the pit I dug a trench and burried that black plastic drain pipe across the back of the barn to the dowhhill-est side where it drains out onto the pasture. It doesn't seem to have made any difference in the mud back there (see the high-jacked thread about pannel greenhouses/pasture shelters).

I don't know if this will come out, but here's my yard. The back of the paddock is the highest point - the yard & gardens are in the middle - and the bottom of the north pasture is a creek. When it rains really hard (like it has for almost all of December) water literally flows across the yard and down the driveway.
View attachment 556
I think that a fench drain would be great - but to install one across the entire yard is way outside my single-handed ability.

When you dig a pit / trench, one should line them first with a fabric that doesn't allow any dirt to pass, but lets the water to flow through before placing the gravel inside them. This will prevent the soil from entering the in between spaces created between the rocks as well as the drain lines from becoming silted in. Then back fill about the top 6" with soil. This is akin to building a base for a retaining wall for a cut in a hill. Too, one can then use the excess soil to raise the garden beds.

 

[Nyboy]

How about a bog garden?

 

[canesisters]

LOL - I HAVE a bog garden...
I'm trying to end up one day with a dirt garden.

 

[Lavender2]

Possibly Nyboy was thinking more on the order of a "rain garden". It is all the hype here, gardens that are designed for runoff water to drain into. They are dug like a depression, backfilled with some drainage material and soil, then planted with native plants to take up and cleanse rainwater from roads, driveways, lawns... instead of having it run into the street sewer system.

That would be cool, but a big undertaking, and not sure if it would work for the large area you are having trouble with.

 

[canesisters]

Oh, now that's something to look into....
Sort of like a pond? I'm gonna have to do some googling. How deep does it go, I wonder???