French(?) Drain Questions

[Wolf mom]

I'm digging up an area along the side of my house to plant shrubs to shade it & thought since I'm digging out a lot of clay, I might as well put a drain (gravel, pipe & landscape fabric) in as I live on the side of a hill & the ground slopes toward the house. No cellar, block stem wall.

I do plan on recontouring the ground so it slopes away from the house & put in a walkway of gravel & stepping stones parallel to the shrubs. I already have a bermed swale about 50 feet up further from the house. It doesn't rain too often, but when it does, the water just pours down the hillside!

My questions:

Is it OK to put shrubs growing on top of/near the drain?
Will the roots grow into the drain? What about watering the garden?
Will the drain draw too much water from the shrubs?
What about walking on the drain if part of it is under the walkway?
Do I really need this drain with the bermed swale?

I hope this is clear & understandable.

[glazed]

I don't know, Wolf Mom, but I sure do love your signature quote!

(Will check back later to read the responses as I find your questions interesting.)

[where I want to]

Well- I have many french drains- it rains alot (more than most can stand) here. Walking on the drains has never been a problem - the gravel in it is fairly large and has not packed down in 10 years of foot traffic. But you need to keep dirt and weeds off the top of it because enough of this will fill the spaces between the pieces of gravel and no more french drain.
I certainly would not plant anything on top of the drains and would be cautious about the kind of plants next to it as I would not want roots filling the drain. Many plant ofptions with less aggressive roots would be available I would think.
Re: watering- you would have to super-saturate the soil for the water to flow into the drain- the drains do not seem to make the surround soil less damp- just catch the flowing water- and I would supect you are not interesting in waste water by overwatering the plants.
I have no idea about your last question- around here a swale just diverts surface run off- a lot of water flows through the soil for months at a time in my area so drain are the only way beside ditches to keep things drier.

[ronbre]

we have french drain and it works good but you wont' want to plant the shrubs ON it..as they will just die from lack of water !!

plant them about a foot or two away at least..so that they'll have some decent soil and moisture around them..and mulch them good..put the drain on the house sode of the plants..

[fordy]

..............You might consider using some treated 2x6's too build a wall say 8 inches out from the foundation and maybe 12 to 16 inches tall\deep too hold back the soil , lay the landscape fabric in a "U" shape where the outside edge of the fabric is on the Outside of the 2x6's then bring it down and under the bottom edge of the 2x6 wall then it will lay flat on top of the soil and then come back UP against the foundation . Now you're ready to lay the PVC on top of the landscape fabric then fill the remaining space with gravel . Since the landscape fabric is porus you'll get some migration of moisture betwixt and between the boards , but the fabric will dissuade any significant root growth penetration and the 2x6's will keep the soil from washing back into the space occupied by the rock . Tposts , properly driven will be more than stong enough too hold the wall in place . Just something for you too consider . , fordy