As mentioned in other posts, we have a large fenced in backyard. The west side of the yard was plagued with Buckthorn and there were some drainage issues. So it was time for a West Side Landscaping project to fix multiple issues.
Before
In the following picture you can see multiple Buckthorn trees growing through the fence. What you can’t see is a corrugated drain pipe for the pool that is partially buried.
The fence at that point is only 5 feet tall. The trees have grown through the fabric and there is no way to salvage it. In the following picture you can see the difference in the fence heights and the stumps that remained after the tops were cut down.
Execution
As I was clearing out the Buckthorn I discovered that not only was the pool drain right there but there were also several other drain tiles that had been buried, making them effectively useless. So my next step was to dig a trench down the hill so that I could bury the pool drain way down the hill. In the course of the trenching I discovered another drain tile from up near the pool that dead ended underground. So I extended that drain down the hill with the pool drain.
Once I had the trench, then I connected the drain lines for the pool and the drain tile from by the pool. The other drain tiles were just going to be left open to drain freely.
Once the connections were made I backfilled the trench down to where the two drain lines could be terminated.
The next step was to build an area were the drain tiles could drain without washing out the dirt. The landscape fabric was covered with rock. It worked okay until we got Willow. Willow decided that the drain tiles were fun to dig up and play tug of war with.
Plan ‘B’ involved rebuilding the outlet using left over chainlink fencing and flagstones.
This has proved to be pretty effective. While the dogs may move the flagstones they stop when they hit the chainlink fencing. By this time I had also dug out all of the stumps and replaced the 5 foot tall fence with new 6 foot fencing.
Next, I added landscape edging and prepared for landscape rock.
I added rock and a shrub. You can also see the taller fence that extended another 50 feet down the hill. Since the following picture was taken I have added some Red Twig dogwoods and a Western Red Cedar.
Summary
The West Side Landscaping project was a good start. There is still more work to be done. The bed needs to be cleaned up and the new shrubs need to be mulched. The area down the hill is usually weed filled so that needs some attention as well. All in good time.
