How To Dry Up A Wet Yard Fast [8 Expert Tips]

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Several reasons can result in a wet and muddy yard after experiencing heavy rainfall.

It could be due to a landscape feature that impedes water drainage, a blocked drainage line, or a low-lying area that absorbs much rainwater.

It’s frustrating when your yard is all squishy and muddy. Your pet might run around in your yard and end up staining the house with its wet and muddy feet.

Have you grown tired of having a messy yard? This article will serve as a guideline for the solution to your troubles.

Before I go into details about the questions above, I will share some tips on how to dry up a wet yard;

Tips On How To Dry Up A Wet Yard

Trenching: Dig a Trench to reroute water in your yard to a nearby sewer drain, you could make use of a French drain, it is relatively a quick and inexpensive way to dry up your wet yard.

Sand solution: This method requires time and patience to dry up your yard. Buy loads of sand, place the sand in a spreader and crisscross over your yard until the sand builds up against the water.

Introduce plants: Some plants are water-loving, growing plants like elephants’ ears can go a long way in solving a wet yard issue. This method can be employed in a smaller area.

Aeration: This by far has been the quickest solution for wet yards. You can make use of an aeration tool to poke holes into the surface of your yard, this helps water drain through compacted topsoil.

If you are handling a larger area you might want to rent a commercial-grade power aeration tool to make it easier and faster.

Mix up the sand in your yard: soils that are heavy with organic matter do a good job of retaining moisture even long after heavy rainfall, but this is not always advantageous.

Soil like clay or loamy can retain water. In this case, if the soil in your yard is mostly clay, silty, or loamy then you might be combating this issue of a muddy and messy yard.

The quickest way to deal with this is to fill up your yard and mix sand into the top six or eight inches of the existing soil.

Deal with the low areas in your yard: Build up the lower areas in your yard with a dirt and gravel combination, this combination will allow proper drainage, pack the soil firmly, and will stop the collection of water.

Unclog your drain: As water seeps through the soil, it carries along soil particles that end up on your French drain. This builds up over time making it nearly impossible for water to flow easily, this could result in a wet and muddy yard. Here are the steps on how to unclog your drain:

First, locate the upper opening of the drain. To do this, check for a hole in the ground surface where the drain starts.

In case you’re not certain about where it starts, then start investigating from the elevated points of your yard since the drain works by aiding water to run downward.

Upon locating where the drain advents, run some water down it. You can use a garden hose to send water through the drainage.

If you notice that water is backing up instead of rushing through the drainage, then it’s a certain sign that you’re dealing with a clog. You’ll need to extract the clog to make the drain active again.

You can use a water pressure washer to unclog a French drain. The washer works by sending water down the drainage at extremely high pressure.

It’s advisable to stand at the side of the drainage opening while sending water down the drain since it may back up upon reaching the clog.

You should aim the water towards the bottom section of the drainage. Doing so will make it easier to get rid of the clog. Remember to move the pressure washer around to clean the pipe on the sides.

If the clogs are extremely adamant, then try to remove them with a plumber’s snake. If you’re using a water pressure washer but it doesn’t dislodge the clog, water will still back up from the drainage.

A plumber’s snake refers to lengthy piping that is inserted into blocked drainage. It stops moving further down the drainage upon reaching the clog. Once it stops moving, push it gently onto the clog.

Doing so will loosen up or break up the clog. You can break up the clog further and push it down the drainage by using the water pressure washer.

Use both the water pressure washer and the plumber’s snake to completely get rid of the clog. This way, water will freely flow down the drainage.

Change landscape feature: Observe your yard and mark the areas that get soggy long after rainfall. Remove the shed directing the water to those areas or dig a trench below it to wick the water away from the area.

Read Also:

How do you Dry the Ground fast?

Make use of lime: Buy one or more bags of quick lime or hydrated lime, this serves the purpose of drying out saturated soil. Avoid using standard agricultural lime, It is simply a pulverized limestone.

You can get these products at most major gardening stores and home improvement centers.

Steps on how to apply quick lime:

Before starting on this method, make sure to wear a gardening glove, a strap on a face mask, and long-sleeved work clothes to generally protect yourself.

Spread a minimum of 2 inches of lime over the surface of the soil, Try to even out the lime over your entire yard. If necessary, you can pile on additional lime in spots with standing water or particularly muddy soil.

Allow the lime to sit for 1-2 hours before continuing. During this time, the lime will begin to evaporate surplus surface water. This gives it a major edge over slower drying methods like aeration and amendment.

Use a shovel, or hoe to work the lime into the soil. Chop, turn, and dig into the damp ground to break it up and incorporate the particles of lime still sitting on top. Try to mix the lime to a depth of at least 6 inches. The deeper you can get it, the faster and more thoroughly it will dry out your soil.

Note that lime will increase the pH level of your soil thereby making it more alkaline, this could affect your soil negatively if you plan on using it to grow plants.

How do you drain water from your yard fast?

Aeration: It is important to aerate the soil in your yard because it helps to alleviate soil compaction. When the soils are compacted, they have a dense particle population, and this prevents water in the soil from properly circulating.

Soil aeration is the process of puncturing the soil with small holes that assist vital elements, such as air and water, to pass into the grassroots. This process does not only help in draining out water but also helps grass roots to grow deeply, which in turn produces a stronger and livelier lawn.

The main purpose of lawn aeration is to provide air and breathability to your lawn and the soil underneath it.

There are different types of aeration; spike aeration, liquid aeration, and core aeration.

The coring method of aeration is the standard and most popular option. During core aeration, a powered aerator machine is pushed across the yard, similar to a lawnmower. As the machine moves, it pulls up small cores of soil and grass. These cores are then left on the surface and break down over time, providing nutrients to the yard.

The holes that are opened in the ground allow for more soil space, better oxygen absorption, and increased retention capacity. This all creates a healthy yard by breaking down thatch and resolving soil compaction issues.

What do you put down on the wet ground?

You can put compost on top of your wet soil, this is known as a top dressing, you could also do this with sand. To get an even better result, topdress the soil after sweating your yard.

This does not only solve the issue of having wet ground, it also covers tree roots, improves the level of the ground, and improves drainage and soil structure.

How to Topdress:

Manual topdressing is hard work, requiring shoveling, moving, and spreading piles of compost or other topdressing materials. The results make the hard work well worthwhile,

Traditionally, topdressing is spread over the lawn by shoveling, using a motion that resembles a hockey player swinging at a puck.

Fling the compost with a smooth, sweeping motion aimed at spreading the material as evenly as possible to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Follow this by lightly raking the lawn to ensure that the topdressing is evenly distributed.

Conclusion

I hope this article helps you to understand more about drying your yard.

Please I would like to know the method you used and how effective it was for you.

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How To Dry Up A Wet Yard Fast [8 expert tips]