We get lots of great landscaping-related questions from the clients we work with. One of the more common ones is this: ‘How do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’
It’s much more than just an aesthetic issue. Pools of standing water reduce the amount of useable yard space you have, can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and in cases where the water is pooling quite close to your home, it can seep into and damage your foundation where it can cause significant damage.
Unfortunately, there are so many different possible causes that there’s no one quick and easy answer. In this piece, we’ll explore the issue more thoroughly, identify some of the more common causes, and fill you in on the solutions in each of those cases.
Before we do that, we’ll start by saying that generally speaking, standing water issues can be divided into two categories: Habit-based and Design-based.
Habit-based issues are issues that arise from things you’re doing or not doing on your property. Answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ in these cases is pretty straightforward. Make some basic changes to how you’re doing certain things and those types of issues go away.
Where habit-based issues are concerned, the two biggest ones we see are:
Simple Overwatering
This is one of the most common issues we see. If you’re giving your plants more water than they need, and more than the topsoil around the plants can absorb, the water is going to pool and collect until it has time to percolate down through the soil. In this case, the solution is to simply water less and the problem will go away on its own.
Decorative Planting Beds
Lots of people like to build decorative beds to plant their favorite herbs and flowers in. Unfortunately, many of these homemade designs don’t incorporate a sufficiently large drainage channel that will allow any excess water to escape the bed.
The problem is made worse in cases where the decorative beds are built right next to your house, and the downspouts connected to your rain gutters empty straight into the bed.
Here, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves creating a more robust drainage channel so excess water has an easier route out of the bed, and to extend and redirect your downspouts to ensure that they’re not emptying into the bed itself.
Those are the easy issues. The design-based issues we’ll talk about next tend to be a bit trickier, but in every case, are still solvable problems. These issues arise because of characteristics that are specific to your piece of property. What you’re doing or not doing has no real bearing on them. Here are the most common things you’re likely to run into:
Hardpan
Hardpan can be either manmade, by the presence of heavy equipment passing over a given area, or it can be naturally occurring. It’s a condition where the layer of soil just beneath your topsoil becomes so compacted that it’s virtually impossible for water to filter through it.
In this case, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves bringing in specialized equipment to break up the hardpan. It’s a big job, and something that all but the most committed do it yourselfers will probably want help with. If that sounds a bit daunting to you, we’ll be happy to take care of your hardpan issue for you!
Thatch
Thatch problems are similar to hardpan issues, but generally easier to resolve. Thatch is the layer of organic material that’s under your grass and resting atop the topsoil. Over time, the thatch layer can become highly compacted and so tightly interwoven that water has difficulty filtering down past it and into the soil.
Answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves removing the thatch layer and aerating the soil beneath it. While this requires the use of some specialized equipment, it’s generally easier to deal with than hardpan issues, and serious DIYers should be able to handle it on their own.
If, for whatever reason, you’d like to delegate the task, again, we’re more than happy to assist. As the top-rated landscape design company in the area, we’ve got the skills and experience to make short work of your drainage issue, whatever the root cause might be.
Don’t let standing water ruin the aesthetic of your lawn, reduce the amount of useable space you’ve got, and potentially cause serious, much more damaging problems. Help is just a phone call away.
We’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of each and every client we serve, and we’d love to add you to our growing family of satisfied clients.
Whether you simply want to solve this one issue, or you’ve decided to start making your landscaping dreams come true, we can help. If you know you want to do some additional landscaping, but you’re struggling to come up with specific ideas, be sure to spend some time browsing the photos on our website.
Not only will this give you an opportunity to see the quality of the work we do for yourself, but you’ll also come away with tons of great landscaping ideas for your own property. When you’re ready to get started, just give us a call.
