Start Here: Every Guide We Have Written, Sorted by the Problem in Your Yard

• The ten-minute drainage check to do while it is actually raining

• Two inches of rain onto ground that has been dry since spring

• Waxhaw is not in a drought. That is not the good news it sounds like.

This page is the index to everything we have published. It is written by Alex Purdy, owner-operator of Carolina Terrain LLC in Waxhaw, North Carolina, holder of NC Landscape Contractor Licence CL.1872, an NCSU Stormwater Control Measure Inspection & Maintenance Certification (#5970), and an NDS Certified Drainage Contractor credential. Everything below is about the Carolina Piedmont specifically: red clay, zones 7b to 8a, roughly 45 inches of rain a year arriving in bursts.

Two things you should know before you read anything else. First, where a source could not be confirmed, we say so rather than guessing. Second, Alex Purdy is not a Professional Engineer and not a Registered Landscape Architect; nothing here is an engineered design, and work that requires one of those licences should go to somebody who holds it.

Start with the symptom

Find the line that sounds like your yard, then jump to that section.

• Water stands in the yard for more than a day after rain — see Water where you don't want it

• Water against the foundation, or a damp crawlspace — see Water where you don't want it

• The lawn is thin, hard, and puddles when you water it — see Clay soil, compaction, and the lawn on top of it

• Plants keep dying in the same spot — see What actually grows here

• Nothing will grow under the big trees — see What actually grows here

• You do not know when to plant anything — see Timing: frost dates, calendars, and why the seed packet is wrong

• You want to build a raised bed or a wall — see Building things: beds, walls, slopes

• A slope is washing out — see Building things: beds, walls, slopes

• You are about to pay somebody several thousand dollars — see Before you hire anybody

Water where you don't want it

Standing water, a soggy lawn, a wet crawlspace, water against the foundation. This is the largest group of questions we get, and most of it comes down to three things: how much water arrives, where it goes, and whether the soil underneath will take any of it.

• Perforated or solid? The drainage pipe mistake that costs the most

• How much water comes off your roof: the math for North Carolina homes

• Why clay soil fails during late-summer storms

• Waxhaw's red clay drainage crisis: the data behind the damage

• Summer rain damage and lawn problems

• The link between drainage and August mosquito problems

• Vertical mulching: a cost-effective drainage solution

• Thirty landscape drainage solutions, compared

• What a camera inspection finds in a failed drain line

• Drainage maintenance: what actually needs doing, and when

• Can your HOA ban a rain barrel in North Carolina?

Printables for this section:

• The Carolina Piedmont Clay & Drainage Handbook, 146 pages

• Yard Drainage Guide: French drain basics and standing water fixes

• Yard Drainage Diagnostic Worksheet

• NC Roof Runoff Worksheet and gutter sizing calculator

• North Carolina Rain Barrel Guide, legal and technical

Clay soil, compaction, and the lawn on top of it

Piedmont red clay is not bad soil. It holds nutrients well. What it does not do is drain, and it compacts under any traffic at all. Almost every lawn complaint here traces back to one of those two facts.

• If you just seeded fescue, here is what heavy rain does to it

• Compacted clay soil: the root of your lawn problems

• How to read your NC soil test report

• How to take a soil sample that tells you something

• Soil amendment: what helps and what only looks like it helps

• When to plant fescue in North Carolina: the Piedmont seeding window

• Fall mulching in zones 7b to 8a

• How to choose the right mulch

Printables for this section:

• NCDA&CS Soil Test Guide with lime and fertilizer calculator

• Piedmont Lawn Care Calendar for fescue, bermuda and zoysia

What actually grows here

Most plant lists on the internet are written for somewhere else. These are the ones we can point to a documented source for, and the ones we have watched succeed or fail in Union and Mecklenburg County clay.

• Why English cottage garden plants fail in Piedmont clay

• Moist shade or dry shade? The five-minute test

• What actually grows under mature oaks

• Plants for wet spots: a three-tier method

• Deer-resistant NC natives: what the sources agree on

• Deer-resistant and shade-tolerant: the short list

• Which slope plants does NC State actually document for erosion?

• Planting trees in Piedmont clay

• Will it still fit in ten years? The foundation planting mistake

• The mailbox bed: the harshest few square feet you own

• Your butterfly garden is a filling station. Here is what makes it a habitat.

• The NC pollinator calendar: the two months nothing fills

Printables for this section:

• Eight drawn-to-scale garden plans, native plants, zones 7b-8a

• Shade Garden Plan Bundle, three to-scale plans plus plant guide

• NC Deer-Resistant Native Plants Guide, 40 natives, corroborated

• NC Piedmont Pollinator Bloom Calendar, 40 native plants

• Tree Planting Guide with root flare depth chart for clay

Planting plans, drawn to scale

Each of these is a finished planting plan for one bed, drawn to scale for USDA Zones 7b–8a, with every circle showing the plant at mature size rather than nursery-pot size. Each carries a plant schedule with mature dimensions, light and position, plus hardiness zones and an installation sequence.

• Rain garden, 18 × 14 ft basin — 9 species, 18 plants, placed by how much standing water each will take

• Deer-resistant shade garden, 28 × 16 ft — 8 species, 28 plants, every one documented as browsed last

• Moist shade woodland, 26 × 15 ft — 7 species, 28 plants, four of the seven are ferns

• Dry shade under a mature tree, 24 × 15 ft — 10 species, 29 plants, documented for drought and shade

• Butterfly garden, 52 × 27 ft — 8 species, 56 plants, host plants rather than nectar alone

• Cottage garden border, 24 × 15 ft — 11 species, 32 plants, full sun, the English idea adapted to Carolina heat

• Front yard foundation planting, 30 × 10 ft — 7 species, 14 plants, sized at full grown

• Winter interest border, 42 × 24 ft — 7 species, 21 plants, for what the bed looks like in January

• Mailbox bed, 12 × 10 ft — 4 species, 13 plants, for heat, salt and road grit

• Deer-resistant sunny border, 32 × 15 ft — 6 species, 14 plants, three independent sources per plant

• Erosion control slope, 40 × 22 ft — 7 species, 70 plants, chosen for documented soil-holding

If you would rather work out what is wrong before you plant anything, the yard drainage diagnostic worksheet is the cheapest place to start.

Timing: frost dates, calendars, and why the seed packet is wrong

North Carolina spans 146 days between its earliest and latest average last-spring-frost date. A single printed calendar for the whole state cannot be right for more than a sliver of it.

• North Carolina frost dates: all 107 weather stations

• Why every printed planting calendar is wrong for you

• The NC Piedmont fall vegetable calendar, keyed to your county

• What a Piedmont garden actually looks like in February

• Winter pruning in NC: where Extension contradicts itself

Printables for this section:

• Vegetable Garden Planner, frost-date based, 25 pages

• NC Frost Dates & Planting Calendar by county

• Fall Vegetable Garden Planner, NC State Extension calendar

• NC Piedmont Winter Garden Checklist and pruning calendar

Building things: beds, walls, slopes

Numbers you can check, rather than numbers somebody rounded. Every cut list and soil volume we publish is derived from the dimensions, not estimated.

• The raised bed mistake almost every build plan repeats

• How much soil a raised bed actually needs

• When does a retaining wall need an engineer in North Carolina?

• Do North Carolina's erosion rules apply to my yard? The one-acre myth

• Erosion control techniques that hold on a Piedmont slope

• Creekbank restoration: a natural slope stabilization project

Printables for this section:

• Raised Garden Bed Plans, four sizes with cut lists and soil volumes

• North Carolina Erosion Control Guide, slope and retaining wall basics

• Erosion Control Slope Planting Plan, 40 ft x 22 ft bank design

Writing it down, so next season is not a guess

The single cheapest thing a gardener can do is keep a record specific enough to act on. Most journals fail because they ask for the wrong things.

• What to write in a garden journal, and what is a waste of ink

• Your wilting plant might be drowning

• Understanding your site conditions before you buy a single plant

Printables for this section:

• Gardening Journal Printable, undated garden record book

• Plant Care Tracker Printable, houseplant watering log

• Plant Markers Printable, 64 garden labels and blanks

Before you hire anybody

Including us. A homeowner who knows what to ask gets a better job from whoever they hire, and pays less for it.

• Eight questions to ask before you hire a drainage contractor

• Why the cheapest drainage bid usually costs the most

• How to research a local landscape company

Printables for this section:

• Landscape Contractor Forms Bundle, 16 fillable PDFs with pricing calculator

If you work in this trade rather than hiring one

A separate audience, and worth separating. These are for people who run crews and quote jobs, not for homeowners.

• What to check on a job site before a two-inch rain

• When does a retaining wall need an engineer in North Carolina?

• Do North Carolina's erosion rules apply to my yard? The one-acre myth

Questions we get asked most

Why does water stand in a Piedmont clay yard for days?

Because the infiltration rate of compacted red clay is far lower than the rate rain arrives. Water does not disappear into the soil; it has to be routed somewhere. Until it has somewhere to go, it sits.

Should a French drain use perforated or solid pipe?

Perforated pipe is for collecting water that is already in the ground. Solid pipe is for carrying water you have already collected. Running a downspout into perforated pipe leaks roof water back into the soil you are trying to drain — a common and self-defeating error.

What size drain pipe does a residential yard need?

Four inches handles almost every residential yard. Six inches needs a reason you can write down, not a hunch. What matters far more than diameter is continuous fall of at least one percent.

How much water actually comes off a roof?

A 2,000 square foot roof sheds roughly 1,240 gallons in a one-inch rain, and it all arrives at a handful of downspouts within the hour. That concentration, not the total, is what damages a yard.

How many bags of soil does a 4 ft x 8 ft raised bed need?

A 4 ft by 8 ft bed two 2x6 boards high holds about 0.90 cubic yards, which is roughly seventeen 1.5 cubic foot bags. Most people buy about half what they need.

When is the last spring frost in North Carolina?

It depends on the county, and the spread is 146 days between the earliest and latest average last-frost date across the state's weather stations. Use your own county's date, not a state-wide calendar.

Does North Carolina's erosion control rule apply to my yard?

The commonly repeated one-acre threshold is a state minimum, not the whole answer. Local governments may set stricter thresholds, so the acreage figure alone does not tell you whether a permit is required.

Around the house, not just the yard

Five newer guides that sit slightly outside drainage and planting, written for the same reason as everything else here: they are the things I see going wrong most often, from the side of the fence that turns up to fix them.

• The home maintenance page everyone leaves blank — why maintenance runs on intervals rather than dates, what belongs on a home record, and how much water a roof actually sheds.

• The first week in a new house, before you unpack — find the shut-offs, open the crawl space, walk all four sides, and be outside during the first storm.

• How many plants do you actually need? — the spacing formula, the triangular adjustment, and the 324 rule for mulch and compost in cubic yards.

• Five cleaning jobs that are actually maintenance — downspouts, the dryer vent, the condenser coil, yard drains, and the mulch line against the siding.

• Write the scope before you ask for the price — why three bids come back at three different numbers, and the one page that makes them comparable.

If the problem is water on your land

These are written for Union County and the eastern edge of Mecklenburg, where the clay, the buffers and the county rules all behave in particular ways.

• What a French drain actually costs, and the six things that move the number

• Standing water after every rain: what Union County clay is doing

• Why new construction in Union County floods

• Weddington, Marvin and Wesley Chapel: the problem the new subdivisions share

• Water in the crawl space: what it means and what it does not

• Driveway culverts: the rules, the sizes, and who pays

• The Goose Creek buffer: what you can and cannot do near water

• Erosion on a Piedmont slope: the four stages and the cost of waiting

• Do you need a permit for drainage work in North Carolina?

• Where to put downspout water: the cheapest fix in home ownership

• When your neighbour's water drains into your yard

• How to compare three drainage quotes that do not match

If you are in Union or Mecklenburg County

Reading is cheaper than digging, and most of what is on this page is free. If after reading you would rather have somebody look at it in person, Carolina Terrain works in Waxhaw, Weddington, Marvin, Wesley Chapel, Matthews, Indian Trail, Monroe and south Charlotte. Request a consultation or call 980-280-7638.

Last reviewed 18 September 2026. This page is updated as new guides are published.