Please help my ugly driveway!

[ninjapoodles]

It sounds and looks to me like the 'paddocks' are being severely overgrazed --

Honestly, if there are animals in these paddocks, I would say you've just got about 2-3x as many animals as the land can support, sorry.

There aren't any animals there--my horses are on the backside of the property, where more sun gets through and there is grass. The people before us kept horses on one side, and a bull on the other. Before that (I'm guessing, because there are creep-feeders and bark eaten off low to the ground on some trees), I think there were goats--this is a goat-heavy neighborhood. We kind of hoped that simply resting the area would help it recover, but it's been a couple of years now, with no improvement. I have put in a request for an extension agent to come out and evaluate that situation for me, but it feels awfully hopeless.

My horses are out back:

 

[Purple Strawberry]

It sounds and looks to me like the 'paddocks' are being severely overgrazed --

Honestly, if there are animals in these paddocks, I would say you've just got about 2-3x as many animals as the land can support, sorry.

There aren't any animals there--my horses are on the backside of the property, where more sun gets through and there is grass. The people before us kept horses on one side, and a bull on the other. Before that (I'm guessing, because there are creep-feeders and bark eaten off low to the ground on some trees), I think there were goats--this is a goat-heavy neighborhood. We kind of hoped that simply resting the area would help it recover, but it's been a couple of years now, with no improvement. I have put in a request for an extension agent to come out and evaluate that situation for me, but it feels awfully hopeless.

My horses are out back:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/215/505354820_a383d9638f.jpg

So why can't the fence be taken down? That might help the grass grow further and make the niew a little prettier.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Nice pond!

Just to clarify, a rain garden is not a pond. A rain garden is sunken (dug down) and can collect extra water when it rains, but the rest of the year it is dry like the rest of the landscape. Rain gardens are just ways to put runoff to use.

I guess I am mostly suggesting that you move some earth around to solve your runoff problem, which may or may not appeal.

I think pretty much anything shrubby you plant would make the fence less obvious.

It's the area behind the pond in the picture that is naturally where water collects. I don't have any place to stop the water anywhere else, because it runs off into the asphalted driveway and parking area.

If we move earth, we will have to build extensive RR-tie terracing, like a previous owner did around the house. An attractive option, but too expensive for us right now!

 

[ninjapoodles]

The suggestion of adding rock riprap to control runoff and erosion along the driveway is a good one. If you install it with a number of 'pool' sections along the driveway, interspersed with shallower sections, instead of the way people usually do (one homogeneous sweep from top to bottom), you will slow the water down and increase its penetration into the soil. Again, plant with whatever does best in your area. (For difficult sites, especially ones that are really hardcore serious difficult growing conditions, I think it is better to make plant selections based on what you SEE being can't-kill-it-with-a-stick hardy in similar conditions in your exact area, rather than guessing based on plants' usual preferences).

What is riprap? I'm trying to envision what you're talking about with the sections, and it does sound do-able. I wish anyone around here planted anything that I could get ideas from, but they don't. Maybe if I take some pictures of some of the stuff that grows wild along the roadside, someone here could identify it?

Here's the road that my driveway turns off of...obviously there ARE things that grow up on "Goat Mountain."

 

[ninjapoodles]

So why can't the fence be taken down? That might help the grass grow further and make the niew a little prettier.

It's just not a good option--it's an extensive amount of fencing, and we *would* like to be able to use those "paddock" areas in the future, maybe for turkeys or even just a play area for our dogs. It would be expensive, too, as the hundreds of posts are set well-down into the rocky ground. Someone spent a TON of money setting that fence in place originally.

I don't really have a problem with the fence itself...I'd just like the approach to the house to be a little more welcoming, not so sterile and stark. You know?

 

[Purple Strawberry]

I am not sure of the soil condition needed but what about some type of berry for the fence. That way you can get fruit at the same time?

 

[ninjapoodles]

I am not sure of the soil condition needed but what about some type of berry for the fence. That way you can get fruit at the same time?

I would LOVE berries. I have 3 grapevines that I haven't planted yet, and I'm going to try them down at the bottom, but between the fence and the house. My vegetables and herbs do well there, so I'm hopeful. If they really take off, I'd love to keep spreading them. Blackberries are another native plant that go NUTS in this area, but I'm unsure of what variety to get. The places where we go to forage for wild blackberries look exactly like where I live.

I wonder if I could just dig up wild blackberry brambles and relocate them?

 

[Purple Strawberry]

I am not sure of the soil condition needed but what about some type of berry for the fence. That way you can get fruit at the same time?

I would LOVE berries. I have 3 grapevines that I haven't planted yet, and I'm going to try them down at the bottom, but between the fence and the house. My vegetables and herbs do well there, so I'm hopeful. If they really take off, I'd love to keep spreading them. Blackberries are another native plant that go NUTS in this area, but I'm unsure of what variety to get. The places where we go to forage for wild blackberries look exactly like where I live.

I wonder if I could just dig up wild blackberry brambles and relocate them?

That sounds like a good idea to me. My mouth is watering thinking back to childhood picking blackberries and eating them right there.

 

[vfem]

My husband suggests digging a long the fence and installing a french drain system to control in what direction the run off goes. It will give you a chance to absorb more water under the top soil causing less top soil erosion. It quite a simple system to do... we are putting one under our lavender bed so no water sits until the plants. '

Its an underground ditch lined with gravel and then run PVC pipe through it with openings to let water in. I suggest screening the openings. You can find ready made drain systems... but they are kinda pricey when you need a lot!

The gravel and pvc pipe with joints is much cheaper.

I also wanna suggest some rain garden plants! I know Creepy Jenny and several other ground cover vines that LOVE the moisture. I think Native plants for your area are the best way to go. I'm also going to throw in that there are WONDERFUL and TONS of hostas out there that should thrive well along the fence line.

 

[Purple Strawberry]

Good Luck !!!