De-mucking land....can it be done?

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When we bought this place and took a stroll around the property, it was dry and, well, walkable! Now as snow and rain come on a more regular basis, we have found that the land does not absorb the water, and we are frequently walking in ankle deep muck. While I can make raised beds for our garden, I was hoping to be able to use a few acres for animal pasture and crop food. Is there anyway to "build up" the soil so it isn't all muck when it rains? Don't wanna raise rice!!

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), January 16, 2002

Answers

When our yard gets like that, we tillit up. It's usually the first couple inches that prevent the water from draining or being absorbed.

-- Wendy A (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), January 16, 2002.

just an idea,, make a LARGE raised bed,, and call it a pasture?, same idea,, just on a larger scale. Or,, how about drainage ditches,, another,, find out how far down is the clay pan, or whatever is holding the water,, and "drill" some tap wells, a post hole digger will work,, to allow it a place to go

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 16, 2002.

Sue, if you can describe the soil type I am sure there is a lot of knowledge available here. For instance, if it is hard clay you can add dolomite lime and plenty of humus, if it is just thick boggy peat there are many ways to improve the drainage.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), January 16, 2002.

Well Sue, I'd call the county extention agent, get a soil test kit and have it tested. "De-mucking" can be done, but you need to find out why it's a mire to begin with.

-- matt johnson (wyo_cowboy_us@yahoo.com), January 16, 2002.

You could get it tile drained. Not cheap but a pretty common practice to solve exactly that problem in fields. It will increase your land's value as well, and it might draw added taxes so check out the details locally.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), January 16, 2002.


Our place is the same. During the summer months it's not a problem. During the winter with colder temperatures the moisture just doesn't evaporate unless you have an extended period of no precipitation.

If you're concerned about the area around the house a french drain can intercept the water and remove it. You need to look at the area from a point of how it slopes and what existing drainage you have. I wouldn't be overly concerned about the muck.

This time of year the ground can freeze and block moisture from sinking in. When it warms only the top layers thaw and with a lot of moisture you have a wet condition that gets very muddy with traffic.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 16, 2002.


Here's a resource for you: http://www.rangemagazine.com/

-- Kevin (kevinmail@earthlink.net), January 16, 2002.

Sunflowers absorbe large amounts of water, skid steers and back blades remove these layers.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 16, 2002.

The land is actually quite good as far as type is concerned. It's not too sandy not too much clay. It was overgrown with golden rod, which we hacked down with our DR trimmer, and since then, it seems the water took over.

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), January 16, 2002.

Just a thought, put out a sign for folks to dump their leaves in the fall? I noticed this on one homestead, and it seem to fill in the boggy place very well.

-- Sandie in Maine (peqbear@maine.rr.com), January 16, 2002.


Introduce leave and worms. i used some from my bins to eliminate a 10 x 20 ft bog at the back of my property last season.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 16, 2002.

How much land do you have? We had a similar problem and dug a small pond. It did wonders.

-- Tana Mc (mcfarm@totelcsi.net), January 17, 2002.

Try a perk test, such as done to evaluate proposed septic fields. Dig a hole with a PHD (posthole digger) 18" deep. Fill to top with water and see how long it takes for the water to drain from the hole. Your county health department can tell you what the standard is for a septic perk test. If it drains quickly, it would indicate you have a layer of compacted soil (known as a hardpan) stopping surface water from draining. Here you may be able to subsoil it. This basically uses a tractor with a long, single tine which digs down 12-18". Have the area done in 3' grids. After that putting piles of organic material and introducing earthworms will help break- up the rest of the hardpan.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 17, 2002.

Here where I live the ground is often frozen solid to 4 feet, sometimes more, this time of year. So, I'm curious what the weather is like where you are? Spring & fall the ground is often smeary just from frozen ground & the water has no where to go. Are you in a low boggy type area, or is this just a seasonal thing in your climate?

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), January 17, 2002.


Plant some willows.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), January 17, 2002.


It's a parvel of 6.6 acres in NE CT. So we are zone 5/6. We are in a frost pocket (I think) and we're almost an island. A river surrounds us on 2 sides, and there is a lake about 300 yards behind us. But the river and lake are not flowing over, so that's not it....

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), January 17, 2002.

I don't know if you have neighbors, but if you raise the level of your land to where it changes the natural drainage of the property and causes water to flow onto someone else's property (a friend had a pig get drowned that way), they can sue for damages. I don't know if this would apply to your situation, but is something to think about.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 17, 2002.

Sue, how high is your land above the river and lake. Sounds to me like you may have an extremely high watertable...perhaps just a foot or two below the ground surface. If this is the case, the only thing you can do is lower the watertable with a tile drainage system. --Happy trails, Cabin Fever

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), January 17, 2002.

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