Located in Southeast Michigan. We bought the house in 2020, had grass back then. Flooding/puddling has always been an issue though. The second winter we were here it was constant rain, freeze, thaw which killed all of the grass.
- I had a French drain going to a basin in the back right corner of the yard installed two years ago. When the flooding is real bad I’ll pump water out of the basin to the street for a full day sometimes. When it rains really bad the front of the garage will flood as well.
- Removing the tree is too expensive (15-20 quotes, all ranged from $10k-$22k).
- I regraded the yard and installed sod last spring but as you can see it’s dead now. I over watered it and the garage and trees kept the yard too shady to dry it out.
- I have two female dogs and the mud is a real pain especially with how wet the winters have been.
Looking for solutions to get me through this winter. And then hopefully come up with another solution to fix the yard this spring. Happy to answer any questions.
by fishing123
9 Comments
Nothing you can do. Yards are too flat and houses too close together. Not having dogs and cutting down the tree would help get sun and air into the yard which would support grass growth and drying out.
Fellow SE MI gang checking in!
Nothing you can do now till spring. This was our backyard last winter and with our dog, it was loads of fun. We made a huge effort to grow the yard this spring – fall and left it longer in the fall after aerating and overseeding in September. If you can’t get seed or sod to grow, there are other turfs you can try but you’re going to have to keep the dogs off of it this spring.
Through this winter? Buy a bale of straw and spread it all over the yard. Maybe buy 2 or 3 bales for this.
For in the future I would maybe try planting some kind of a perennial rye grass, or any fescue that will hold the ground a little stronger. Of those, fescue is the most shade tolerant
I don’t know if you’re really into it being uniform or if you’re okay with your lawn being a bit more interesting but allowing it to be more diverse should also help with this. If you did a mix of the rye grass and several fescue plus white clover it might stand up a little better to pressure.
And if you want to go a little beyond that you may need to just let it grow with natives and perennials and not have that perfect uniform grass lawn. If your choice is between mud and a lawn that’s full of shade tolerant “weeds” I know which one I would pick.
Think of it like this, you bought some sod and placed it under a tree in a spot that was too damp for it and it all died. I bet you sprayed weed killer too Make sure nothing but your sod was going to grow. Well if something’s growing naturally in your yard it’s because it does well in that environment. Stop fighting the things that grow well in your yard. You need roots in the soil. Roots in the soil is the only thing that will prevent it from becoming a muddy mess like this. Deep roots in the soil will also help with water penetration to limit flooding issues
So you have a big tree over top of it but I don’t see any leaves I’m assuming that you raked them all up and took them away? Leaves are another way to armor the soil and help to keep it in place.
And you need to find some way to keep it from being disturbed for a while. You’ll never fix this if you don’t leave it alone (limit the dogs time outside running on it). Like in the spring whenever you plant something to rehabilitate this it needs to just be allowed to sit
Mow high. Especially late in the summer into fall you need to leave it long and strong. And if you’re having an issue with flooding and it looks like you’re in a pretty flat tightly packed neighborhood I think you’re only option is to dedicate some spot to be the low point dig it out and have a rain garden that the water has somewhere to go other than sitting on the middle of your lawn.
The water’s going to go somewhere if you can’t get it off your property you need to create a space on your property for the water to just hang out that you’re cool with. Look up good natives and perennials that can be planted into a rain garden. The rain garden will have to be managed to keep it from becoming weedy and and spreading. That shouldn’t take too much. just sort of paying attention to it
Winter seed and cover with hay.
My $.02 worth – those trees not a worry? Each leaning toward a building
Dome!!!
add more gravel or create a walkway between the shed and house with pavers with gravel in between.
How often are the dogs back there? I’d keep them completely away tbh, it will just stay muddy.
You may need to add sand and straw until you can figure out a plan in the spring.
I’d get a few truckloads of gravel and be done with it.