I also have a large German Shepherd 90lbs and a large lab about 80 lbs. The water and mud = heaven for them. I am trying to get away from the muddy backyard. :)

astronomer25, Your photos are nice, but as an aid to plan any remedial action for drainage, they are useless. What is needed is a detailed site plan with elevations. You can hire this done or do it yourself. You said "1 neighbor has put an asphalt curb down the length of his poperty on the street which forces the water down my yard." If I understand correctly, your neighbor has built a curb such that it blocks the water from the street that before naturally flowed across his land. The result being that the water flow has been diverted so that it now flows onto your property. Law differs from state to state, but the most common application is the civil law doctrine of drainage. Unless you live in one of the few states that use the common enemy doctrine, your neighbor has made an unlawful obstruction to the flow of water. A good overview can be found at: http://http://www.co.marion.or.us/PW/Engineering/drainage.htm "The lower owner must accept water which naturally comes to his land from above, ..." In Arizona: https://www.coconino.az.gov/uploadedFiles/Public_Works/Homeowner_Guide_To_Drainage.pdf "A second drainage law is "The Civil Law Rule of Natural rainage". This rule states that a landowner has the burden of receiving onto his/her land the surface water naturally falling onto and freely flowing onto it from land above it. The rule further states that a landowner has the right to have the surface water falling upon his/her land and naturally flowing onto it to flow freely from it onto lower parcels as it would flow under natural conditions. The key words are "naturally flowing". Any modifications to the surface topography or the drainage ways that cause natural flow to enter or leave a property differently (different peak flow elevations, frequencies and flow locations) can create a liability and put you at risk regarding litigation." Or from: http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/pdf_pubs/DRAINAGE98.PDF "A landowner has no right to obstruct the flow of surface water. The owner of lower land obviously has no right to build a dam, levee, or other artificial structure that will interfere with the drainage of higher land, according to the CIVIL LAW as it is applied in Illinois." If you have already suffered damage as a result of the water diversion (you will need expert testimony at trial to prove this), inform your neighbor of the damage and ask to make a claim on his homeowner's insurance. You may not get any money, but it's likely that the insurance company will tell their policy holder to remove the flow blockage or they will cancel the insurance.

Hi Lori: I feel bad for you! Over-watering plants - one of the signs is yellow leaves (when they should be green). The roots of plants not tolerant of waterlogged soil won't be able to 'breathe,' and they die of a lack of oxygen. Ironically, after the roots 'drown' in this manner, you'll see the 'drying up' that you mentioned -- because the now debilitated roots won't be able to make use of all that water. So rip them up and start them over, I don't know how big the "dead" patch is but I would fluff up the soil and let it dry then lightly water - let dry - re-fluff and repeat several times to try to remove and pool chemicals. If you could find out when and chlorine was last added that would help - proper dosage of chlorine burns off in pool water fairly quickly esp. it it is sunny outside, so you may luck out and just have old dirty pool water instead of old chemical laden pool water.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to run a chain, or a cable from the roof to your window box. This will make the water from the roof flow down the chain / cable to the window box. You may have to use mutiples depending on the size of the planter.