Geology Lesson for Calvert County

The first visit to our soon-to-be home and garden in 2000 made it very clear that the area has a distinctive and challenging geology.  While the house sits on a flat bit of land, directly behind it to the East and South were steep slopes averaging 45 degrees.  Before buying it, the realtor scheduled a person from Calvert County who explained that the slope was prone to erosion if water runs over the surface, and that the best way to protect it was to have drains take the water off before it reaches the edge, and pipe the water down to the bottom.

In 2001, a local nursery installed drains at the driveway and the natural entrance to the ravine, to take away the water as the county person recommended.  They also cleaned-out the trash plants of sumac, wild grape vines, honeysuckle vines, and wild roses.  They planted in a variety of different plants such as ink berry, Henry's Garnet Itea, Clethra, and hollies to hold the soil in place.  It all looked very good and was watered carefully through the drought of the summer of 2002. 

Then in the spring of 2003, when Spring rains came, part of the section graded and planted by the nursery collapsed.  So, a number of seedlings were ordered from Musser Forests to plant into raw soil.  The neighbor next door took a photo of me planting them into the steep, exposed soil.  Even the dog did not want to climb down into the treacherous slope!

We learned from a bore sample done by our neighbors that from the surface there is about 20 feet of sand until there is a layer of clay that is a few feet think.  The clay acts as a water barrier, so the water runs down to the clay, then moves sideways.   It is easy to see where the clay layer is, because there are a number of tree that start growing at that level.

So, this is one of the ongoing challenges of trying to provide good stewardship to the site and its environmental needs.