Erosion is an ever-present danger for any property. However, some yards are more vulnerable than others. Fortunately, a great landscape design can control erosion and protect your home and property. According to the American Society of Landscape Architects, about 10% of your home's value should be invested in landscaping. Here are some ways that a professional landscape design service could control erosion and make your landscaping investment more worthwhile.

1. Grade the Land

In our experience, you'll need a properly-graded property that encourages water to flow away from your home. This will help protect your yard from erosion that might destabilize your foundation or cause flooding. A gently-graded property can encourage water to slowly flow in an optimal direction, where it can drain naturally without carrying away soil. Planting a lawn afterward will help hold the soil together and will guide the water away from your home. Our experts are very happy to explain more about how we grade lawns!

2. Build Retaining Walls

The steeper a hill or slope is, the more likely it will suffer from water erosion. Our great landscape design company can use retaining walls to capture water and channel it through the soil instead of letting it flow across the top of your property. In our experience, the terraces on top of the retaining walls should include plants that hold them together. Retaining walls can additionally block the wind, which also causes erosion to residential and commercial properties. Retaining walls protect structures and help control erosion that otherwise might occur due to heavy rain or high winds.

3. Add French Drains

Water needs to have a place to go. This is especially true when the soil is saturated and it can't hold any more rainwater or snow melt. A landscaping crew can add French drains and line them with stone to make them attractive as well as functional. The graded property and retaining walls can help send excess rainfall and other water to these drains, where it can stay until it either evaporates or leaches into the soil.

Have any questions about erosion? Call or visit 4-Seasons Landscape to learn more about landscape design and how it can help control erosion on your property. We look forward to hearing from you!