Mulch acts as a blanket over your soil that cuts down on erosion and protects plant roots from temperature changes. Adding mulch over top of bare soil and around other plants reduces runoff by absorbing water – helping to cut water costs and keep pollutants out of our waterways!
One of the best ways to fix waterlogged spots is to use grass turf, sod, and grass seeds. Adding these is even better when you have just amended your topsoil with a fresh cover of new topsoil with good draining properties. You can unroll the sod over these bare areas, or spread grass seeds and rake these into the soil.
Generally speaking, clay-rich soils have the largest pore space, hence the greatest total water holding capacity.
Install a French Drain
A French drain is a trench filled with permeable materials such as gravel atop a perforated PVC pipe. Water flows through the gravel and into the PVC pipe. The PVC pipe swiftly whisks the water away.
A combination of sand, silt, and clay particles, this soil absorbs water readily and is able to store it for use by plants. Loam absorbs water at a rate between 1/4 and 2 inches per hour. Sandy Soil, because it has very large spaces, absorbs water at a rate of more than 2 inches per hour.
Install a drainage trench in your yard that collects the excess water and transports it to the lowest part of your land, away from your home and expensive landscaping.
field drain
most effective method of surface drainage. Figure 20.12 shows a typical lay-out. The system is applicable in flat areas with an irregular micro-topography and where farm operations require regular shaped fields.
Pea gravel is one of the best materials for landscape drainage because its small size allows for outstanding drainage. These rocks are only about ¾ inches in size. Pea gravel is available in a variety of shades, including brown, grey, blue, and red, making it a good choice for a number of different landscapes.
Two primary methods of surface drainage are land grading and field ditches. The selection of surface drainage facilities for individual field areas depends largely on the topography, soil characteristics, crops, and availability of suitable outlets.
Build a creek bed to direct water away from a low spot in your yard. Or if the slope of the ground permits it, use a creek bed to drain a low spot. Start by making a swale-essentially a gentle, shallow drainage ditch. Then line it with gravel or stones and add interest with boulders, a bridge or plantings.
To create the best flow of water, the best angle for a drainage ditch is downhill or sloping to create a gravitational pull to flow the water away from the yard. A drainage ditch can be left with a gravel or stone bottom or can be planted with grass to disguise the ditch if desired.
Yes! Sand is good for soaking up water. The large air spaces in the sand will increase excess water drainage. Again, remember that sand absorbs plenty of water.
A few bad things: Since sandy soils are made up of well…sand you will find that it doesn't hold water or nutrients very well. Sand is composed of silica, usually quartz crystals, and these have relatively no ability to hold onto nutrients and little ability to hold on to water.
When an inch of water reaches the ground, it penetrates various depths. In sandy soil, that one inch will soak down to almost 30 inches. In loamy soil, the same rainfall will soak down to approximately 15 inches. In clay soil, it will soak down to 9-10 inches.
The ocean holds about 97 percent of the Earth's water; the remaining three percent is found in glaciers and ice, below the ground, in rivers and lakes. Of the world's total water supply of about 332 million cubic miles of water, about 97 percent is found in the ocean.
Sand allows water to drain through it more easily than silt and clay so more water should have drained through the sandy soil than the potting soil.
Water molecules hold more tightly to the fine particles of a clay soil than to coarser particles of sandy soil, so clays generally hold more water. Sands provide easier passage or transmission of water through the profile.
Salting it up!
Without proper salt intake, your cells aren't so good at keeping water. Ergo, they're not so good at the hydrating. So, if you're consuming salt with your water (even a little pinch will do), you're helping your body absorb water more efficiently.
The organ which absorbs most water eliminated from the body is the small intestine. The small intestine is majorly responsible for water absorption. The small intestine followed by the large intestine absorbs not only water but food particles too which are carried with the blood stream for elimination.
Heating a liquid causes the water molecules to move faster which makes evaporation happen faster. That's why there is more evaporation from the paper on the hot water than on the colder water.