Viewing post #659414 by jvdubb

Frillylily said:The question then is why does it get soppy? Does the soil there stay wet or does it get wet because of a drainage issue? If you build it up, where will the water run off to? I put a large bed in my back yard once only to discover that the water then had no where to run out of the yard and it pooled on my lawn. So I had to take it out. The other thing is, if you do have an area for the water to run off to, simply laying the stones around it may be enough to detour the water away from the area. 7 yrds of dirt is not that much, but I guess it depends on what your idea of "much" is. That is another reason that stripping the topsoil away (which will happen if the grass is stripped) is a bad idea, you will lose dirt that way. Every inch is precious and expensive. By layering straw over the area, over the span of 3 or 4 years your soil will be improved a lot. You may also consider having the area tilled after you spray it with round up. This will loosen the soil so it will be easier for the plants to use it.

We live near the bottom of a long slow hill. Every spring that area of lawn gets soppy. Just in the spring from spring thaw. I want to raise it so when I plant it my perennials overwinter ok. I don't plant to build a solid rock wall. I expect water will still be able to flow through. I had a similar situation at my last house and I built a raised bed in that area and it worked perfectly.

Thank you for mentioning the tilling. I had forgotten about that. I will do this. Now that I have a visual of what seven yards looks like, AND a very special someone has offered to help pay, I am getting 14 yards. I have a rough idea of what that will cover now so I can prepare the area before the dirt comes. But I still plant to put the rocks around after the dirt. I've done that before and I liked how it worked out. I hope I like it again