I considered not responding to this thread. What I have to say is not an answer to the question or what the OP wants to hear. Still, he may benefit and other readers can learn from the mistakes made. When building a new home, it's best to complete a grading and drainage plan before starting construction. There is a minor potential for flooding for this lot (flood zone X) that should be assessed and a height of foundation selected to ensure protection. If it was my house the grade at the foundation would be a few inches higher than the highest point in James Drive to the south. With luck, that is the case. When doing grading, it's a good idea to make a base property drawing that documents the grading before construction begins. Drainage law varies from state to state. Most states follow some modified version of the Civil Law of Drainage. It is a violation to block the natural flow of water from a higher property from entering your property, and carries liability for all damage for doing so. In this case, after construction started, water pooled on Lot 7, submerging newly planted trees. Whether the pooling was caused by construction or an insufficient capacity of the county's road ditch may be in question, but without a documentation of the original grades the poster is not in a good position to defend against a claim from the Lot 7 owner. The poster may have to regrade to accommodate the drainage of Lot 7 and pay for the replacement of any of the trees that die. While I think it was right of the county to tell poster to regrade such that Lot 7 drainage was not blocked from getting to the road ditch, I fail to see how the county has authority to require the swale MTguy constructed across his property. Moreover, the swale also violates the Civil Law of Drainage by diverting water to flow onto a lower property (Lot 5) in a place different from historical flows. The lower owner has a legal cause of action that the flows be stopped and all damage be compensated. A consolation with an attorney might be in order. I'm sorry you didn't find your way to this forum earlier.

Given that your land (how big is the property?) and the neighbour above you’s land slopes, where does the water naturally drain to? We only have a suburban 1/4 acre but the neighbour to the north of us is on higher ground and directs their downspout at the back corner of their house to drain into our north alley. Our lot slopes both N to S and also E to W so all the water drains eventually to what we call ‘the wet corner’. While that area never has standing water, in spring any hole dug there immediately fills with water! By mid-summer the area has completely dried out.... An important element of this garden in the backyard is the path network. The paths, in addition to being functional for garden maintenance, are key to directing water towards the wet corner. The path in the north alley has log edging but most of the rest do not. Over time the paths have developed a slight scoop in the bottom that helps direct water. During heavy rain, the north alley path can be under water for a few hours but the water soaks into the ground (clay soil with a topping of pine bark mulch - that has degraded over the years - and some coarse sand.) In steeper areas where running water can erode the path or areas where water can lay for longer periods in spring, we added ‘crusher run’ gravel to the path material to aid in drainage and also make it easier to ‘erase’ any erosion on the paths. Given how dry it can get here in summer, I actually value the neighbour’s ‘gift’ of water! By the looks of your pictures, the scale of your issues is much larger than ours :-) When we bought the house here, there was evidence (scale deposits on the concrete block basement wall along the north alley) that there had been drainage issues in the past. We had that wall dug out and found that the tile drain at the foundation footer was clogged with clay silt. So all the drainage tile along there was replaced with new plastic piping with a filter cloth on top. There is also a sump pump in that corner of the basement that pumps water out to a ditch in the front. All the houses along this street have sump pumps and the streets in this neighbourhood have ditches. Hopefully you can find a way to manage the water to make it a valuable/functional force in the garden....!

I don't know about the humus/compost issue. However the problem with compost is that there's never enough and then you want to start a new project and there's nothing at all in the compost pile. If your property has nothing but raw clay this is an indication that nothing organic is being added to the soil and hasn't for many years. The portion of my property with a lawn has maybe +/- a half inch of sod. Under that is raw clay. When I add garden space from the lawn I add 3 inches of horse or mushroom manure, hopefully in the fall before I want to grow in it. I add the manure to the entire garden area, except that recently. i've been .ignoring the paths because of my age. The soil is totally different after digging in manure the depth of spade and with additions the following years the soil starts to look more like loam than clay. The garden areas i've been working for 15 or so years is starting to like a nice rich loam.

@porkchop_z5b_MI This is the best post & discussion I’ve read on this forum in just ages! Thanks for asking the question to the audience in general! I’ve read every single response and enjoyed every single one of them. There is at least one point in every post that I can totally empathize with having at some time felt the same as the poster is describing. Interesting, given that there seems to be @ a 20 year age range here. That seems to prove the point @docmommich made that ”…no one should compare themselves to anyone else…”. I know that but it made me feel better to read it! We are in our retirement home, almost 11 years now, with a smaller house & larger yard but less plant area & more hardscape than our last home. Over the past 3 years or so I have changed things to be less labor intensive such as more evergreens in large pots placed out in landscape with drip watering instead of annuals in those containers on patio. I’ve replaced shrubs that required pruning more than once a year, things like that. I am a person who still can work all day in my yard, only coming in when I realize I’m starving or it’s getting dark. I laughed at the suggestion to vary tasks to avoid repetitive use injuries to muscles as I seem to do that naturally. I either am bored quickly or am easily distracted by another task I see needs doing while working on the first one. Drives my DH nuts - he often asks ”are you working on this or that?” if he’s outside with me. He’s not much interested in yard work but loves the result & cheerfully helps or does the heavy lifting at my request & direction. His outdoor task which he loves is to maintain the lawn scapes - with minimal chemicals I must add. I do note that I have more stiffness & less flexibility each year but I also note that the more active I am the less stiff & more flexible I am. Proving I guess the ’use it or lose it’ adage. I do exercise at a gym during our long wet winters but feel less need to do so when I’m reaching, stretching, carrying, bending all day outside so I don’t use gym as often in spring / summer. I did spend most of yesterday outside as we had a rare dry day. I slept well & long last night & almost lept out of bed this morning - to rain. Drat! But 70’s + are in our weekly forecast! Finally! @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) I’m so happy for you that you have a new companion to share your days with! I wondered about that for you. Congratulations!