Larsen Landscape | Blog

As we move into the holiday season, in Southern California, it is also the season when we normally expect more rain than we usually get during the rest of the year.

I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a couple of recent projects that specifically address the handling of drainage and mud in the garden.

Hidden Hills Putting Green

Synthetic lawns were used on both projects. One was specifically for use as a putting green. The other was throughout the entire back yard. Handling the rabbit problem as on the the additional issues being tackled. After a rain, synthetic lawns (when properly installed over an adequate sandy base and given a drainage system) are almost immediately dry and there is no potential damage to the surface from foot traffic. This means you can walk on the “lawn” and not have squishing sounds or that sinking experience.

Both projects used mulch to cover all the planting areas as well — redwood bark in on case and black lava rock in the other. This prevents surface mud from being a problem after a rainstorm, particularly when dogs and children are involved. A proper underground drainage system also takes away any excess water before it has a chance to flood the lawn or garden areas.

Water Creeping  Through The Foundation

This project actually began with the need to handle water that had been creeping slowly through the foundation of the house and under the floors in two separate areas.  Our job was to handle any outside water issues so that this would not continue in the future.

New Front Entry

We tackled the problem from several angles, including an underground drain pipe system around much of the house, sealing the side of the foundation and removing any water sources that were right next to the foundation, itself.  Some soil types are more susceptible to holding water and creating moisture problems than others and when the soil doesn’t naturally drain well, this can be an important area to address.

Anyway, the drainage side of the problem was handled.  There are not any

New Patio

photos of that portion of the project since drainage is the sort of project where the better the job is done, the less you see after it is all put back together.  There are, however, photos of the new brick entryway and the patio that was done earlier.

The client decided that since the area needed to be dug up anyway it was a good time to get the entry and the yard done up like they really wanted it.