This thread spiraled more into a drainage thread instead of landscape, which is alright with me. I really like the my latest design (listed below).. yeah it has pathways and may not be for everyone... but I like it. I have a few other completed beds with the same pathways and I really like the look. pls8 - The land all kind of slopes towards this "wet area" I have listed below. It rained 3" last week. Today just 3 days later and all the water has soaked in. The ground is still squishy in spots, but no standing water. I mowed yesterday... in the "Wet Area" I had marked below, the mower made a mess. In the other areas it didn't. You can stand in this wet area and see the land slightly slope towards it. After I mowed, you could actually see where this wet area was because of the mud streaks. I spent a few hours after I mowed yesterday studying the land and where everything sloped. I cut it short just so I can see exactly where this land slopes and now it looks more clear. Below is an image of what I found. You can see the two wet areas. The one at the top of the image is an empty field that always has standing water. Here are my thoughts after I evaluated it: 1. The bed I have that's almost flat on the left. After I raise & slope this entire bed, it'll not only prevent the neighbors runoff onto my land, but give them some of my run off. 2. When I raise the other beds, It'll just allow the runoff to accumulate faster in the two wet areas. Preferably that brush/field behind my lot that always has standing water and is more like a swamp. 3. I only have a few pathways in this design that water may accumulate, which I don't think it will. If for some reason it does, I don't see why I couldn't just create a few small swales like I mentioned above. Just a small indent maybe an inch deep x a foot wide or something to carry the water away into the wet/wooded area. After I get the 300 yards of dirt out here, I plan on getting prices to have it spread... perhaps I could also get a price on regrading. Just by looking at my current yard, I don't think regrading will solve the problem. It's to large and you would essentially need to create a pond or deep hole at one end to get enough slope. That would equal $$,$$$. By just adding soil and sloping it, I'm just recreating what's already in parts of my yard. My front yard, side yard, and half of my back yard is built up... you can see it slightly arch in the center and slope off to lower points where it gets a little soggy. My field is "Flat", it does slope some, but it doesn't have that arch if you know what I'm talking about. I do have a few places in my field that slightly arch and it's as dry as can be. I think building my beds higher than the surrounding soil, slope them away from my property, will solve my problem without the need to regrade. This post was...

If you have a yard out back that slopes away from the patio, consider installing dry well(s) to carry the water away and dump it in the back yard at an elevation that is lower than the patio. Scout you problem area and decide where you want to place the collection well(s). You could create a minor depression that is lower than the surroundings. What I propose does require some digging. Basically, a dry well will be buried flush to the ground, water will run into it, and near the bottom of this well, a drainage tube will be attached, laid in a ditch which has some pitch toward the back. Carry this ditch back until it is exits at lawn level. I used a plastic sump well. It is easily cut with hand tools and is low cost. Near the bottom of the well, cut a hole to receive the drain pipe (tubing). This should be a snug fit, but does not have to be water tight. I used standard thin wall drain tubing, but a littlier heavier wall is recommended to guard against collasping. However, I have a 25 yr success with my thin wall. Various fittings are available for the tubing, for example, a Y connector. I plumbed 2 wells together using a Y-connector and then drained both wells out a single pipe. Its ok to let the drain tubing extend a bit into the dry well, say 2 to 3 inches. Once everything is in place a test made to insure that it will drain properly, back fill the ditch and around the dry well. Fill the dry well with fist sized stone for the first 2/3 of depth. We want to create a permeable filter that will support your weight if you step on it, and to keep debris out of the drainage system. Full the top layer with smaller stones until flush with the top of the well. Over time, leaves, sticks, and other stuff may collect on top of the stone fill. Periodically, brush this stuff away. Any small particles that get through the filter will flush on out the tubing. This well will accept a good flow rate and remain clog free for many years. You will need to pay attention to the exit end of the drain tube. Here, it is desireable to spread the stream to slow it down and to counter errosion. If you can establish a good sod layer for the exit, that may be all you need to do. Otherwise, you may need to provide a gravel bed to spread the streasm. If the slope is steep at the exit end of the drain, install some flat rocks to create a tumbling water fall and stream spreader. The hardest part of this project is digging the ditch in which to lay the drain pipe. My soil contained 30% glacial till and that was tough - keep finding stones. To cut down the labor, I used a garden roto-tiller to cut the ditch. I unbolted the outer tines so the the cut width was no wider than the machine. I used the tiller to loosen the soil and I periodically shoveled the loosed soil to one side of the ditch. I carefully piled the dirt in a compact ridge near the edge of the ditch because it was going back into the ditch and it was desired to minimize effort. Mine was an old fashioned tiller with the tines running at slow speed. If one of the tines hit a rock, it merely lifted the machine without breaking any thing. My ditch was 3 ft deep at the dry well. Your installation can be more shallow if you are in a low frost depth zone. You can adjust the well depth by cutting off its top. having the drain pipe buried at least 12 to 18 inches deep tends to hide it presence in very dry weather. In dry weather, grass may brown out sooner above the pipe where it is shallow.

A groundcover is chosen based on knowledge of the yard's overall needs, as part of an overall plan. We can't know that based only on seeing a small section of the side yard and having no knowledge of your goals and objectives (outside of this one problem.) I could guess that you would need a groundcover that doesn't get too tall as a main groundcover. If your plan extends into the woods we see at the background, maybe you'd want a taller groundcover there. This is just something to be worked out in a plan. Ferns can make a great groundcover. They're used a lot down here in Florida. But they tend to be on the tall side (3' - 4'.) Some might work that are shorter. In order to do its job, a groundcover must be slightly aggressive, which means that one must come up with techniques for managing it. In most cases it's not difficult, but neither is it something that can be ignored. To begin with, I would look around your neighborhood/town and see what others are using for groundcover in similar situations. That way you could get an idea of what grows well and how it looks and performs.

Thanks for the answers. Yes, the water does flow naturally downhill, but since it comes from one specific part of my northern neighbor's yard it has created/eroded a large section going down the hill. I'm trying to keep the hill intact and limit the flow and erosion as much as possible. I added the tile pipe to control the flow of water as it enters the yard from my fence line. It has done of a good job of catching water and keeping it moving more narrowly through a couple of heavy rains, but the initial moving of the dirt caused problems a the low spot. I thought I could eventually cover the pipe with dirt over time even if I can't grow anything on the pipeline (ie grass) the hill will stay together and look even, which is really my only goal. The creekbed at the bottom of the hill will be a natural barrier between the rest of my yard (flat) and the hill up top. I see what both suggestions mean by finding some larger, more suitable plants for ground cover. The hill pipe flows naturally into the dry creek bed that is now covered in rock. It sounds like the pipe down the hill may not be answer and I may be planting something with deeper roots along the hill where water flow. Thanks again for the responses.