... what to do about it?
After a couple of days with light night frost and full sun at day, the weather has again made a turn.
We are getting a new sewage system next year in our cul-de-sac. Our current system is old, rotting and can't handle the vast amounts of water from both sewage surface - roofs, mainly. We have chosen not to have our surface water connected to the new system and will have dry well installed instead.
But can you avoid the digging work? The dry wells themselves are inexpensive, but the digging and rearranging drain pipes is time consuming and expensive.
Thirsty plants
Let's make one thing straight. Before we had sewage systems, we did not see the massive floodings as we do today. How come?
Mainly because we did not settle where nature will periodically flood. After installing sewage systems - which has many advantages, e.g. a lot of sickness is avoided due to better hygiene - we can build and live where ever we want to. For many years this has not been a problem, however the sewages are old and rotting away and we humans have decided to live near rivers, streams, lakes and the sea.
More extreme weather, with heavy rain combined with the above will eventually lead to flooding.
However, there's a lot we can do ourselves, e.g. by planting more perennials, bushes and trees in our gardens. Below I have listed some of the thirsty plants which both provide life, shelter for insects, birds and others creatures and look nice too. A well-planned garden does not give much work during the year, expect 25-30 hours work, depending the size of your garden. Do your gardening whenever you have spare time - an hour here and there keeps the garden tidy and is good excersise too. The first years are most work demanding, as you'll have to fertilize, remove weed and water in dry periods until the plants are fully grown.
Perennials
- Hellebore (Chrismas roses)
- Bugbanes
- Turtleheads
- Globeflower
- Primula
- Iris
- Ligularia
- Corydalis
- Garden lady's-mantle
- Astilbes
- Meadowsweet
- Ferns
Bushes and shrubs
- Enkianthus
- Shadbush
- Ninebark
- Cornus - Dogwood
- Myrrica Gale
- Honeysuckle
- Common spindle
- Elder
- Summersweet
- Guelder-rose
- Blackcurrant
- Aronia
- Blueberry
- Gooseberry
Trees
- Mayday tree
- Elder
- Swamp oak
- Cornus
- Poplar
- Birch
- Maple
- Red elderberry
- Alder
- Guelder-rose
- Willow
- Tupelo
- Alder buckthorn
- Empress tree
- Swamp cypress
- White cedar
- White spruce
- Sitka spruce
- Fir
- Noble fir
- Dawn redwood
Please note
Some of the above perennials, bushes and trees are poisonous and dangerous to digest. Sea Soil Sky does not take any responsibility for you use of these plants in your garden.
I recommend you to contact your preferred plant nursery for further advice.
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