Preserving Your Yard: Techniques To Help Prevent Soil Erosion

If you are concerned with soil erosion in your yard, there are a number of steps you can take to help preserve the existing top soil throughout your land. You have to understand what erodes soil, and how to protect this valuable resource. When you have bare spots in your backyard, or you are losing soil down a slope, careful landscaping can help rectify the problem. When you help control where the water flows in your yard and you grow plants in strategic areas, your yard will be much less susceptible to soil erosion.

Slopes Lose Soil When it Rains

When you have a number of slopes in your backyard, it's important to know that any slope covered with simple grass is at risk for soil erosion. Grass alone does not prevent soil erosion, and you must plant hardier vegetation to prevent soil from eroding down your slope when it rains. You can also help prevent soil loss on slopes if you cover the slope in mulch. Most people use a combination of thick vegetation and mulch to prevent losing their soil on a hilly area.

Collect Rain for Your Garden 

When you use rain barrels or another form of rain catching system, you do more than collect fresh water for your garden. The rain collected in the barrels is prevented from running off into your yard, which will help with soil erosion prevention. You can use the rain to water your garden, saving both your soil and money at the same time.

Bald Spots in Your Yard Need Repair

Bald spots in your yard can occur for many reasons, but a spot that is left without vegetation is going to have problems in the near future. To avoid soil erosion in this area, get something planted there right away. If planting is not possible, cover the area with mulching materials to protect the soil from the elements. Just a little mulch in a bare spot will help protect the area until you are ready to plant it with something more hardy.

Build a Retaining Wall

Retaining walls are great structures to prevent soil from leaving your yard. Built correctly, retaining walls can be a beautiful and useful addition to any yard landscape. A retaining wall will prevent soil from escaping, and can provide a flat surface for you to create a flower or vegetable garden on. Retaining walls can change the structure of your landscape, giving you more growing area in which to garden.