Our side yard sloped towards the house and rainwater entered into the foundation.  My husband Carl came up with an idea to try and divert the water away from the house.

Below are pictures:

Side Yard - The beginning

This sidewalk is obsolete.  I suppose originally the steps into the front side door must have run the direction of the sidewalk.

Carl took pressure treated lumber to make a frame. Then we stapled plastic (4ml) to the back of the frame against the house and began adding dirt (clay) to hold it in place.  The plastic was rolled out and dug into the highest point so the water would drain into the driveway and away from the house.

work progresses

Almost finished

Unfortunately Carl did not take progressive pictures during the project.  So these photos show pretty much the finished project.

planted chameleon plants

After the intial dirt was put into the space I did put a layer of composted manure onto the nasty clay soil we used for fill.

We figured there would be settling, so I waited until after a rain and added a bit more manure.  I had some Chameleon plants struggling in the sun so decided to put them in the shade – this side of the house is facing north.  It gets some sun earlier in the spring.  I know a lot of people don’t like this plant because if given good moist soil  it will go crazy but it is after all edible.  Here it can’t really go crazy because its contained.  If  it decides to try and take over the bed I can eat it!  Actually I needed something to grow in this soil to stop erosion.  I figured with it’s reputation maybe it would help with that.

Carl made a nice entry platform also using pressure treated boards.

Now I have more area for edible landscaping. Yippee!

Ta-Dah!

Have questions about edible landscaping?  Need to find a plants, seeds, supplies?  No time to research what you are looking for?  Ask me and I’ll search for you.  I  love to research and solve dilemmas.     Thank you.   Cat