Are you having problems with drainage and erosion control on your Silver Spring MD property? If you are, you’re not alone. It’s a much more common issue than you might think. Before you dive right in and start trying to solve those issues though, it pays to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

In particular, what other landscaping plans do you have in mind for your property? If you’re like most people, you’ve got a long and impressive list of improvements you’d like to make. Have you built a Master Landscape Design Document yet? If not, now’s the time to do so!

Don’t let the name intimidate you, basically it’s just a list of all the landscaping initiatives you’d like to undertake. Capturing all your goals and ambitions in a single document gives you a couple of important advantages.

First and foremost, it allows you to zero in on your most important landscaping projects and prioritize them in a way that makes sense. It also allows you to recognize projects that have dependencies and break bigger projects down into smaller components that are more budget friendly.

Finally, it allows you to strategically plan your landscaping work, which enables you to know how best to implement drainage and erosion control strategies on your Silver Spring MD property, and that’s huge.

Now, let’s talk about implementation. Here are the Big Three in terms of dealing with those types of issues:

Shrubs and Grasses

The simplest way to handle erosion problems is to plant shrubs and grasses. These will serve to create a dense network of roots that will keep your soil firmly in place and where you want it.

A Diversion Channel

This is simply another way of saying ‘an open drainage ditch’ and is the most cost-effective way of dealing with drainage issues. Since water always seeks the lowest point, it will naturally gravitate to the ditch and go where you want it to. There are lots of options on this front, including a nearby stream, a drainage ditch on the edge of your property, a dry well, or even a decorative pond.

A System Of Terraces

This is a more robust and expensive option, ideal for dealing with just about any drainage and erosion control issues on your Silver Spring MD property. It’s an especially good fit for areas of steep slopes on your property because it turns those slopes into usable yard space.

Terraces are formed by building retaining walls which incorporate drainage systems, neatly solving both issues at once.

So which option is best for you and your property? If you’re still undecided, give our office a call and let’s talk about it further!

If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve probably got a long wish list of landscaping you’d like to do. High on most people’s lists is dealing with any drainage and erosion control issues they may have on their Potomac MD properties.

In this article, we’ll outline the three most common strategies for doing just that, but before you jump into solving for those problems, it’s important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to build a Master Landscape Design Document. It’s actually not as complicated as it sounds. In a nutshell, it’s a document that captures all your landscaping ambitions under a single umbrella. The big advantage in doing so is that it enables you to prioritize your projects and break the larger ones down into bite-sized chunks that are easier on your monthly budget.

The other big advantage is the fact that it enables you to better plan how best to deal with whatever drainage and erosion control issues you’re having on your Potomac MD property so that solving those problems doesn’t get in the way of your other initiatives.

Once you’ve got a clear picture of what you want to do, you can turn your attention to the specifics of how. Here are the three easiest and best ways of dealing with whatever drainage and erosion control problems in Potomac MD you might be having:

Plant Grasses And Shrubs

This is the simplest way to combat erosion. By planting robust grasses and a variety of small shrubs, you create a tight network of roots just beneath the surface of the ground that keeps your soil firmly in place, even after hard rains.

A Diversion

The simplest form a diversion takes is an open drainage ditch. Where grasses and shrubs are designed to deal specifically with erosion issues, a drainage ditch is designed specifically to counter the issue of drainage.

Since water always seeks the lowest available point, it naturally flows into the ditch and will go wherever you direct it. There are lots of options here, with the most common being:

•  A drainage ditch on the edge of your property
•  A nearby stream, if you have one on or adjacent to your property
•  A dry well
•  Or a decorative pond

Building Terraces

This is a more expensive solution, but also more robust. Terraces are built using retaining walls and are the optimal solution if you have a steep slope somewhere on your property. Not only will the construction of terraces give you more usable yard space, but a properly built retaining wall incorporates high quality drainage systems, solving both problems at once and giving you the option to incorporate the terraced spaces into your other landscaping initiatives.

Which of these options sounds like the best fit for you and your property? 

 If you’re not sure, give us a call and let’s talk about it further!

Drainage and erosion control in Olney MD can be a significant challenge, depending on your property. Challenges, however, were meant to be overcome, and we can help with that! Whatever your landscaping goals are, proper drainage and erosion control are the logical things to begin with. Everything else stems from and can be planned around those twin pillars.

Even if you have fairly modest landscaping ambitions, the first, best thing you can do is to create a Master Landscape Design Document. That sounds more complicated than it is. In truth, it’s just an organized list of all the landscaping you want to do on your property.

The beautiful part about creating such a document though, is the fact that it allows you to sort, organize, prioritize, and break big projects into smaller, more manageable chunks that won’t wreck your budget when you try to tackle them.

Of course, at or near the top of your list should be any and everything you want to do in the areas of drainage and erosion control on your Olney MD property. If you’re scratching your head wondering how, precisely you go about doing those things, here are a few of the more common strategies we typically employ:

Plant Grasses And Shrubs – This is the first and simplest thing you can do to control erosion. Grasses and shrubs create a dense network of roots that help keep your soil where it is, which neatly solves your erosion problem.

Create A Diversion – This is another simple, cost-effective strategy that can be employed. In their simplest forms, diversions are nothing more than open ditches that control the flow of water. Since water collects at the lowest point, it will naturally gravitate to your diversionary ditch, and then flow downhill to wherever you’d like to put it.

There are a number of options where this is concerned, ranging from depositing it into a drainage ditch where it will flow to away from your property, a dry well, or even a decorative pond.

Terraces For Steep Slopes – Unfortunately, grasses and shrubs will only get you so far. Drainage and erosion control on your Olney MD property can be significantly more difficult if you’re dealing with steep slopes, which are all too common. In that case, creating a system of terraces is your best bet.

Once the terraces are in place, you can plant foliage as appropriate to help keep the soil where you want it.

Terraces require the construction of retaining walls and that’s going to mean building out a proper drainage system, usually in the form of a French drain. This is more elaborate and expensive than the other two solutions we mentioned but the end result is beautiful, and opens up a world of possibilities.

However you’d like to proceed, it starts with a phone call to our office. Give us a call today.