Dealing with water run off in garden

[steady]

We are losing earth from the garden during the wet season when the rain causes water to run over the surface taking earth with it. It has now started to leave holes underneath the perimeter wall. My thoughts are either dig a long trench about a metre in from the wall and fill it with rough gravel or stones and let it act like a sump and (hopefully) slow the water down and stop the garden disappearing under the wall or dig a similar trench and run 8 inch concrete pipes with connecting boxes every couple of metres with holes in their lids allowing water to flow into the pipe. Then let the pipe run onto the roadside drain.

Has anyone any comments or better ideas? Thanks.

[phetphet]

Your trench full of gravel sounds like a good idea.

Another idea might be laying rows of 2"or 3" plastic pipe with holes holes drilled along the top, to allow the water to drain into the pipe and then into the roadside drain. Whether it would be good enough for the torrential downpours in Thailand is another matter.

[bankruatsteve]

We plant a row of hedge and the roots prevent erosion. The breeches in your wall might be the more serious problem though.

[ThaiKneeTim]

I had the same problem, with a new wall in danger of collapse. In the first instance I made it easy for the water to escape, the locals idea of trying to stop the water isn't an option, the water will find it's own way out,better to control it than fight it.

I put a pipe under the wall and built a gully from blocks, then filled it with gravel, the rain is quickly moved to thedrainage channel outside the property, without taking any soil. The addition of plants and grass has helped considerably, now there are no holes appearing where soil has been erroded.

The othe side of the house was also a problem, the water ran to the gate and erroded the ground outside the gate, my solution was again to make it easy for the water to eascape, I laid a pipe from just inside the gate, about 4 metres, to the drainage channel and laid the concrete drive so that it channeled the water to the gully across the gateway, down the pipe and away!

If I'd left it to my girlfriend and her family the wall would have ended up in the drainage channel. What amazes me is that a lifetime of watching storms wash soil away hasn't taught them anything, and building on imported soil too soon is a recipie for disaster, but I've watched so many walls and buildins being put up on freshly built up ground, and I've seen the settlement of soil on my own land land nine months earlier, they're just crazy!

[maswov]

Not sure what type of garden you have, flowers or vegetable, but you could try planting something with a root system that minimizes erosion. Ice plant is used along the highways in California to help prevent mudslides.

[callaway]

Yes dig a 100 mm trech from offending area to where you want the water to go. Fill with blue metal (hin) and make sure you ave a gradient on the trench. This will allow the water to enter and flow away with out the possibility of twisted ankle.

[pizzachang]

I just had the plastic pipe & boxes installed on one side of my driveway and it seemed to work very well. The workers dug under the garden wall and connected to the street sump box. They used 4 inch pipe and I hope it is large enough but the hard rain the other day did disappear in about 3 or 4 minutes; before the installation, water would have stood for several hours. Good luck.

[Batboy]

I am not sure if your roof has or has not but most Thai houses don't have gutters which also create a lot of the problem. The amount of rain off the roof onto the garden after a good down pour is a lot. I put PVC gutters on my roof and connected the down pipes to PVC pipes buried underground to the edge of my property directing the water into the street drain. This cut more than 95% of the problem

[eyecatcher]

I am not sure if your roof has or has not but most Thai houses don't have gutters which also create a lot of the problem. The amount of rain off the roof onto the garden after a good down pour is a lot. I put PVC gutters on my roof and connected the down pipes to PVC pipes buried underground to the edge of my property directing the water into the street drain. This cut more than 95% of the problem

And adding pvc gutters and fallpipes tell us about the noise problem you created for yourself.

The creaks and cracks of the expansion/contraction of the plazzy.

Sorry bud you caught me in my flippant mood!

[steady]

Everyone, thanks for the suggestions and input. The house does have guttering so that issue is addressed. There are also plants and bushes which have helped a bit.

I think that the type of soil is the problem, it's sandy so in the dry season it goes like concrete and when the rains come the water just runs off. Because the garden has a slope it all runs down to the wall before being able to soak in, taking the top layer of the looser sand away every time.

[Batboy]

I am not sure if your roof has or has not but most Thai houses don't have gutters which also create a lot of the problem. The amount of rain off the roof onto the garden after a good down pour is a lot. I put PVC gutters on my roof and connected the down pipes to PVC pipes buried underground to the edge of my property directing the water into the street drain. This cut more than 95% of the problem

And adding pvc gutters and fallpipes tell us about the noise problem you created for yourself.

The creaks and cracks of the expansion/contraction of the plazzy.

Sorry bud you caught me in my flippant mood!

Not sure where you come up with creaks or cracks and noise but to date after 2 years of being installed not seen or heard yet. One things for sure though is still have my garden soil.