Burners' Backyards: Veggies, Gardening, Landscape & Design

[beeb]

AG pipe for drainage? I'm not keen.
3500mm of rain a year, block drops 400mm rear to front, I'm thinking creek bed.... anyone done this?

French drain? (It think that's what they're called... Gravel over a perforated drain pipe)

 

[indica]

French drain?

Not keen on that idea, I want to go dry creek bed thing.

 

[Dales Cannon]

AG pipe for drainage? I'm not keen.
3500mm of rain a year, block drops 400mm rear to front, I'm thinking creek bed.... anyone done this?

Neighbours did this around their house. Width varied according to the lay of the land. I think there is agpipe in geotextile under a bed of sand covered by more geo fabric then river rocks and gravel on top. Looks really cool except for weeds.

 

[indica]

Looks really cool except for weeds.

cheers

 

[Dales Cannon]

cheers

I will see if I can sneak a pic.

 

[Cyclomaniac]

AG pipe for drainage? I'm not keen.
3500mm of rain a year, block drops 400mm rear to front, I'm thinking creek bed.... anyone done this?

We have one at our place. Looks rubbish at the moment. They work well for moving lots of water but they are high maintenance. As you can see it is full of leaves and silts up. Was originally much shallower with rocks at the bottom. It was silted up as a lot of bare ground and driveway drains on to it. I dug it out and placed all the rocks up the sides to make it easier to clean out.
At work I have done a few with large sized river pebble, they look great and are worth the effort. Put a few bends in if you can, mine is only straight because there is another 150mm drain underneath it.

 

[indica]

They work well for moving lots of water but they are high maintenance.

Ridiculous amounts of water here - thanks for the pic, looks good.
I have two drains dug already and they flow like rivers, just want something betterer

 

[ozzybmx]

high maintenance. As you can see it is full of leaves and silts up.

Is there anything out there than can stop this ? All run in carries dirt and the pit is useless after a few deluges.

Maybe an overflow pit that then just requires the silt dug out of the inlet pit ?

The silt and muds sinks to the bottom and leaves are stopped by the weir.

I have the same issue with run off stormwater, it all goes down the driveway and makes a shit mess of ruts (gravel driveway on crown land). I built a water bar similar to what you see on firetracks but its only solved the issue partially.

Similar to this. These can be bought as precast.

EDIT: outlet then flows to the soaker pit without dirt and leaves. The weir trap can then be dug out occasionally without destroying the soaker pit.

 

[Cyclomaniac]

That would work as long as it doesn't fill up too quickly. Looks like a neat solution. Water over a dirt road never works out. Also water speed is a factor. Too slow and silt builds up, too fast and you get erosion. I have seen builders use silt fencing, rocks and straw bales to slow the water down enough to drop the larger solids in a hole they dug, similar to the precast pit you found, but might be easier to dig out.
In my case I have given the drain a bit more fall so hopefully there will be just enough speed to flush out the leaves and silt in the bigger flows to keep it clear for longer. Time will tell.

 

[Flow-Rider]

If you have a large amount of overland water flow you could add water pits to slow some of the water down.

 

[indica]

My channel runs clear, it seems the only dirt is from the channel, the water coming from the sky is obviously clear and the run off from the grass is clean

 

[Dales Cannon]

I try to leave the trees unmolested and happily let limbs and branches ride up over the canopy but if a branch hangs down and snags the tractor or impedes progress it is time for a trim. Spent about an hour this morning with the chainsaw walking around tackling offending bits. Three trailer loads to the fireplace pile later. Not worth mulching so ambience improving oxidation it is.

 

[cammas]

So a little more work on the front yard over the last couple of days, with one side of the front fence line garden bed done with sleepers then levelled and smoothed all the way across, just by shovel as I was keen to get it done.
Next weekend I will finish up the other end as I needed to think about it and how to do where the front fence line garden bed, the side fence garden bed and the walkway sleepers all intersect. The front garden bed is lower than the walkway and the side garden bed is higher than both, so I need to put 3 C channels in the one hole, as the corner is not at 90 degrees either, just to complicate things even further.

As for the Ryobi battery operated post hole digger or dirt auger, it has been worth its weight in gold, I dug two holes by hand just because of their positioning, then did three with the auger in less time of one of the others. I still sweat and it’s heavy but it’s still better than digging.

Getting closer to the end of this project but as with the changes I have had to make so far, I shouldn’t count my chickens before the hatch. We have also decided we need to reposition the water meter and the front tap, as it’s now on an angle compared to the new garden bed, hopefully the eldest boy will do it if not his mate, as I just need it turned so it’s more asymmetrical to the changes I have made.

 

[cammas]

A couple of snap shots from the work done over the last couple of days, the standard treated pine sleepers are jut for mock up.

This is where I need to get creative with the sleeper posts but it should work out fine, I hope, hopefully better than my drawing

A shot from the back side which now needs to be back filled to slow down the water run off, currently too much drop which is washing the top soil away and exposing the rocks. So looking at hiring a machine to knock this bit out and take a day off work, as a local guy does drop off and pick up of his small digger.

 

[pink poodle]

I'm not seeing many bike jumps @cammas

 

[cammas]

I'm not seeing many bike jumps @cammas

I told my daughter once I finish this, I will be going to her place to build a mini track for my grandson, she has better elevation and should be able to get a nice run along the back and side fences for his balance bike.

 

[slowmick]

Mr @cammas - would you consider starting making the new wall (where the temporary treat pine sleepers are) out of 3 equal length sleepers? that way the angled join woudl be mid boad do less going on at a single point? depending on the angle you could get a wider "C" channel to accept the sleeper on a angle. You could fancy with cutting the end of the sleeper if you felt so inclined. Might look nicer from the street (3 equal).

 

[cammas]

Mr @cammas - would you consider starting making the new wall (where the temporary treat pine sleepers are) out of 3 equal length sleepers? that way the angled join woudl be mid boad do less going on at a single point? depending on the angle you could get a wider "C" channel to accept the sleeper on a angle. You could fancy with cutting the end of the sleeper if you felt so inclined. Might look nicer from the street (3 equal).

View attachment 409035

Mmmm I can get a right angled C channel as used on the other bed and I could get daughters boyfriend to get fancy with saw for me, so I don’t fuck it up.

Not a bad idea I have some already for the other end so could trail it with some off cuts to see how it looks.

Where the temporary sleepers are will be done in 4 shorter sleepers, to help with the load bearing plus look neater and similar to the other end, which is what I did there, could of done it with two 3 metre sleepers but split them up to help give it more strength.