Garden of the Day: Gardening Through Weather Woes
[nggallery id=”23437″ template=galleryview] Another entry from Carroll Gardens… When we bought our two-family home in Carroll Gardens in 2005, we had so much work to do inside that the garden felt like an afterthought. For over a year, we were so excited to have a place to grill that we didn’t really care about the…
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Another entry from Carroll Gardens… When we bought our two-family home in Carroll Gardens in 2005, we had so much work to do inside that the garden felt like an afterthought. For over a year, we were so excited to have a place to grill that we didn’t really care about the appearance of the backyard. The original backyard was terraced allowing the lower level (next to the house) to flood. Inevitably, what we now refer to as the Great Flood of July 5th hit, and our basement flooded due to heavy rains and poor drainage in the backyard. After this happened a few times we realized we needed to address the core problem or it would continue to haunt us. Although we wanted a comfortable and beautiful space, we needed a design that forced all water to the storm drain as opposed to letting it saturate the backyard and foundation through old brick.
We fortunately had the help of Luis Delgado at LMD Design to GC and coordinate the overall project. After removing countless truck loads of brick and dirt as well as oyster shells and old newspapers, we quickly realized that both neighbors were unknowingly draining their water into the middle of our backyard through old clay pipes that were never connected to their storm sewers. The old clay pipes originally looked unused. We plugged them in the afternoon and fortunately it rained that evening. The neighbors backyard flooded heavily that night, and we realized we had yet another problem; if it had not rained that night we probably wouldn’t have caught this.
After getting that problem addressed with the neighbors, we went to work on forming additional concrete to help keep water away from the foundation. We pitched the backyard away from the house so that we could utilize a 20 ft trough to capture any runoff. The trough delivers the runoff back towards the house and into the storm sewer. After the plumbing was set, we poured 6 inches of concrete. I think we ended up using close to 300 bags of concrete in a 20 x 22 backyard. We may have gone a little overboard but it got the job done. It ended up coming out better than we ever imagined.
Cosmetically, we chose Saltillo tile and painted the back wall a deep red to warm things up. Plenty of perennials keep it green, and we make a point of planting annuals once a year to give it color. All in all, we love it and can think of few better places in all of Brooklyn to be!
mr. joist, if you are looking to do a modern backyard you should call Luis at LMD Design http://www.lmddesign.com/
they did the garden at Apt 138 on smith street and a number of others in the city. worth the call.
One neighbor simply snaked their drain to find a few old beer bottles that were causing the water to back up. the second neighbor simply connected their gutter drain to their storm drain. basically, they never knew that they had a storm drain. fortunately both were quick to fix.
great looking job, and great color on the wall. if you don’t mind me asking, how did you resolve the issue of the water coming from the adjacent back yards?
Without knowing the details, it seems to me that concreting the yard as a means of flood control and forcing the runoff to the sewer is exactly the wrong way to go (MM, note.) If you use 6-12″ gravel underlay and something on top like flagstones set in sand, you’ll have a pervious cache basin of almost 400 sq ft, which will probably take care of a 50-yr rain. A lip of concrete near the foundation, and grading away from it, would ensure no flooding into the basement. Our garden has something similar, so I know it works at least for us.
And that’s a greener solution…less paved surface.
That said, the space looks gorgeous and inviting.
Hey Mr. Joist, if you don’t find a garden designer who specializes in modern gardens, maybe hire an architect or interior designer and have that person partner with a garden contractor who can execute the hard landscaping (cement, walls, etc) and the plant choices and planting. The W Hotels have their interior designers and/or architects design the outdoor spaces.
Mr. Joist – Maybe ask the folks at Oshima (sushi place on Berkeley and 7th) who just recently redid theirs. It’s more of the asian sleek look…obviously…
It looks really slick though.
Needed: Modern Landscape Architect
Does anyone have recommendations for a modern landscape architect for an extensive back garden brownstone project?
Looking for a sleek, modern look. Think Dwell / W Hotel kind of vibe.
Thanks! (I know this should have been a forum post btw.)
This is great. I agree, it’s really inviting to hang out in. It’s also such a good example of how a mostly all container garden can still totally feel like a regular garden. Just because a backyard is mostly tile or concrete doesn’t mean it can’t be green and pretty. I saw a garden in a magazine recently that was very lush with lots of plants and speciman trees in groupings, and it turned out to be all containers, the whole thing. Your plants hanging on the wall and your taller shrubs are key. When a garden is walled in all around something interesting needs to be going on at eye level.
I love the tile and the red wall … it does indeed give it a very Mexican feel. And those “before” pictures are scary. Great job!