A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Low area problem

I have 3 lots, two of which we received this spring.

In places I have planted, rose of sharons, Crape Myrtle a little less then a month ago.


But in other place I have low ground which will hold water if it rains a lot, the water will stand for a week or two.
Other places I have tracks where a mobile home was brought in while it was still wet) and I can see and feel the tracks from this when I mow.
Most of the ruts are about 1 ft deep.

a few yeas later They dug a sewer line, which now gave us an "ditch line" and a lot of tracks.. some being 2 ft deep.


I cannot afford to bring in dirt or to level off the lots..
and even if we could afford to bring in trucks to level off the ground, we would in turn, lower the ground at the lots of this block we do not own pushing the water onto there lots, and the one I do own next two the two we just got. which would be bad, bad news.

So I was thinking, there has to be a better way, If I cannot raise the ground.. or level it off.. what can I do?


So I was thinking there has to be another way to fill in the holes.. What plants, trees, shurbs or even flowers would live in standing water for up to 2 weeks each time it rained?

Our soil is just reg. black soil, that may have clay when you reach one or two ft into the soil. The two lots have never had a house built on the site or sites.
20 years ago it use to be a land that a few cows ran over.

Sounds like my place. I found the best way to grow stuff was to add roughly seived bush sand and turn it into the existing soil, add plenty of dolomite and it turns into excellent soil.
However, you don't want to do that, right?
You'll need to get trees which can handle the possibility of having their roots underwater for extended periods. I use melaleucas for this. Naturally occurring trees in my area.
Is there a nursery or better still a re-greening society or similar in your area? They will know what types of local natives grow in your locale in these types of conditions.
You could always drain the area with ag drains. (Slotted plastic drains in a trench lined with gravel). It's a big input but well worth the effort if done properly. How much area are we talking about here?