Landscaping a drainage ditch

[Mattmo]

I am looking for some ideas on landscaping this drainage ditch. Currently I push mow the whole thing every week and it's right in our front yard so I'd like it to look good. I'd rather not fill it in with a culvert because that would be cost prohibitive. I'm looking for some ideas on what to do to make it less maintenance and look better.

 

[MaryMary]

It runs through the yard, and perpendicular to the road/driveway?

 

[Mattmo]

Yes, it runs right through the front yard under the driveway with a two foot culvert. The ditch has a steady small stream of water pretty much all year.

 

[Mrsclem]

Do you ever get a large amount of water thru it when it rains? We have these ditches in our neighborhood and some can become small rivers with storms.

 

[Vanessa]

We look for neighborhoods with good drainage. Not all can take a flash down pour!

 

[DrCase]

It’s not a bad looking ditch .
The grass makes it look nice , if anything a tractor with a grader blade trying to straighten and smooth it out .
Would look good

 

[Mrsclem]

We have had several homes have their driveways wash out because culvert got blocked!

 

[Silentrunning]

A nice little ornamental bridge / walkway over it might take away some of the utility look. Also a little fishing statue could add some levity. Neither of these options would affect the function of the stream.

I found this bridge on Craigslist. It took 4 of us to get it loaded on the trailer but it added a nice touch to the drainage ditch.

 

[MaryMary]

I'd rather not fill it in with a culvert because that would be cost prohibitive.

I think this is the first time I've ever wanted to tell someone - "I wish your yard wasn't so big!"


What if you built a fake river using rocks? It would still let the water flow, and you could take advantage of those curves I see in the first picture. Something like this -

Now, the cost prohibitive part. You're going to have to go rock collecting. (Wish I knew what part of the country you live in!!) Where I live, it's mostly farmland. I drive 18 miles to work, and I pass four large piles of rocks that the farmers have removed from their fields. (Two of those piles are as big as my car!!) I have friends that have permission to walk some of the fields looking for arrowheads; I'm sure you could get permission to collect rocks! They want rid of those rocks!!

You could look for free rocks on Craigslist or Freecycle. Or put out your own ad asking for free rocks!

Anytime you see new buildings going up, you can ask if they have rocks they want hauled away. (It might be beneficial to call construction companies and ask beforehand.) You could also place calls to whatever government department handles road construction.