Another Dry Creek Bed

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may recall that in 2016, we had a dry creek bed installed in the backyard. You can read about the first dry creek bed here. The left side yard, as you face the house, had a lot of run-off from the driveway during heavy rains in the winter. After replacing the sod four times, we decided that another dry creek bed was needed.

As you can see in these first two photos, there was no grass, just bare clay/soil and tree roots that were exposed by erosion. Around our BBQ pad the water was cutting away the soil. We were worried that the water would go under the pad and compromise it. 

We hired the same company that did our first dry creek bed. They came and marked the new path of a stone creek bed. 

Equipment arrived, and the already-washed-out area was excavated a little deeper. The work went pretty quickly. It is amazing what the correct tools (or machinery) can do to make the job go smoothly. The yard is narrow, and the property line is pretty close, so there's not much room to work. If you look at the bend in the arm of the excavator there is a ribbon hanging on a tree limb. That is the property line!  

After the trench was dug, landscape fabric was pinned into place. Next step is the rocks.

Dormant sod was placed next to the rocks and stone steps were placed through the new mulch bed. So far, I have planted some peonies in between the steps and the rock creek bed. You can see in the photo below where the grill is, then look at the following photo, where you see a little of the mulch bed along the downhill side of the concrete pad. From the driveway to where this newly installed creek bed meets the existing one is a drop of elevation of about 15 feet in approximately 75 feet. 

I can't wait for the spring for the grass to get green. We are also waiting for some rain to see how well the dry creek bed works. 

Views from downhill and uphill to see how nice it looks. 

The tail end of the new dry creek bed feeds into the existing one. It will be an effort to keep the leaves out of the creek bed, but not having to reinstall sod year after year will be wonderful! 

The view from the deck shows the dry creek bed, the mulch bed, and the gravel path through the garden. Once we have green grass and foliage on the shrubs, I will share a photo that highlights the new addition.

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