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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The River O'Shea

I'm not sure I mentioned this or not, but the backyard of my new house was not completely sodded. Approximately the back one third of the yard is dirt. At first, I didn't think this would be a huge problem. All the trees are in that part of the yard and this meant no need to rake and no lawn to cut in that area.

The problem came when it rained. My house isn't that far from the retention pond, and because of that, the yard is sloped to send the water toward the pond. When it rains, the water flows like a river through the dirt, taking soil with it away from my house.

The erosion is bad enough that the tree roots are becoming exposed. Some of the trees are pretty far along. During a rainstorm in January, not only did I have the main river going through this dirt part to the retention pond, I also had tributaries winding their way around the dirt.

So I'm having landscaper come out to take a look at the yard. I'm hoping there's something we can do to prevent the erosion that doesn't involve sod. Not only is it expensive, but then I have the upkeep that comes with it. Plus I do not believe that I have my in-ground sprinkler system in that area. If I recall correctly, only the part that sodded is in the sprinkler's path.

However if my choice is between sod and some kind of ground cover that will attract snakes, I am all in on the sod.