You could make a French drain along side the concrete. Dig a trench and fill it with gravel.

Lydia I would get an extension to the pipe, and dig a trench, and bury it.

I just put something in, but it isn't finished. You can see the pictures at the link.

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful: Moni's French drain project

The problem can be solved by creating a rain garden. Move the downspout 90 degrees so it does not run along the cement creating a mud track. Dig out the rain garden and fill with water loving indigenous plants which will do well for your area. Water from the down spout and the hill will enter the rain garden and return to the water table. The plants will thrive beatifully. The problem with mud run-off will be gone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Garden How-To

Great idea, dilly, I wish I had thought of it.

Moni

Never heard of either of those things! Took a quick look at the links and both look very interesting. I'll have to do a little more research on them later.

Moni you said Lydia I would get an extension to the pipe, and dig a trench, and bury it. I don't know what it looks like in the picture, but the pipe there is already buried and goes way out into the yard. Not sure I understand.

Any more ideas are welcome! Thanks for the ones so far. Yardwork isn't my expertise. lol

I ran open-top plastic gutters on the ground along the side of the house. The backyard gutter was dumping water against the foundation (the OLD underground drainage system has long collapsed). The gutters end at the front porch where the water joins the run off from the front downspout. Not the most beautiful solution but only cost me about $20 for the three gutters.

I've seen a thing that I call the Anaconda, but I don't know what its proper name is- it's similar to perforated pipe (which looks just like your black tube in the photo but has thousands of little holes in it) but is packed or wrapped with straw and a netting, best as I recall. It's placed on slopes to divert or channel water and stop erosion, too. If you could stop the run off from getting to your patio, that would be ideal, yes?

(I was going to start this off by berating you for being so mean and selfish as to want to keep the horrible water out of your house, just to get that out of the way for the rest of the post, but I was sure someone would get upset by that. lolol)

Good luck, Lyd!

LOL, Flamingo, I was going to ask her if she REALLY wanted to ask another question here.

Thanks Janie and Flamingo for those other ideas.

Yes, I read my post like 20 times before I actually posted it. Surely nobody was going to attack me for 'meddling' in my own yard? But... who knows? lol

*smacking Flamingo*

Unfortunatly there is not a Rain Garden Forum here. There is a Bog Garden Forum, but a rain garden and a bog are NOT the same thing. You still may get some good ideas there though.

I checked your profile for your planting zone and it is not listed. Since you say you are in the Midwest like I am, I'll post a few rain garden planting suggestions that may work for you. Check your planting zone. You can find planting suggestions by contacting your university extension or master gardeners association in your area.

___ Sweet-Flag (Acorus calamus)
___ Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
___ Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
___ Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
___ Porcupine sedge (Carex hystericina )
___ Joe-pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum)
___ Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
___ Giant St. Johns Wort* (Hypericum pyrami- datum)
___ Crested Iris (Iris lucustris)
___ Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor)
___ Virginia Flag Iris (Iris virginica)
___ TorreyÂs Rush (Juncus torreyi)
___ Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum)
___ Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
___ Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
___ Monkey Flower* (Mimulus ringens)
___ Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata)
___ Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
___ Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)

I don't know how large your property is or how far from the cement your property line is, but also consider planting a water loving tree like a willow along with the other plantings in the rain garden if you have the room. (You will need lots of room.)

Not only will a rain garden solve the run-off problem you have but you will be helping to protect the waterways from run-off pollution. The area you show in your photo does not look like it favors grass anyway. A rain garden will help beautify the area. Rain garden plantings will not spread into your lawn either and will be very low maintenace.

Also consider getting a rain barrel for the downspout if you do not go the whole rain garden route. You can use it for watering plants or just empty it with an attached hose onto the lawn during dry spells.

http://search.gardenweb.com/search/nph-ind.cgi?term=rain+garden&forum=bog&forum_name=Bog+Garden

Thanks Dilly. I am in zone 6. Problems with the area are that we are almost 100% clay (the subdivision that I live in used to be a rock and clay quarry years ago), the area is shaded and full of rocks. We just got some new grass to start growing in that spot... but you are correct in guessing that grass does not grow well there.

Not sure what we will do yet... I hate to dig up what I already have planted there (a hosta, coral bells and a rhododendron as well as a lily which the rabbit has destroyed). I'll mull over all the ideas before deciding. I do like the rain garden idea though.

You can get a nice rain barrel from Lowes or Home Depot to catch the water off the house in, and use to water your plants. That would help some. A lot more water comes off your roof than you would think.

Ok, Lydia, I didn't look at the picture right I guess. I can't quite see, where the pipe ends, and supposed, the water drained right out of it there.

Is there a slope, going up, behind your flower border area, with your hosta?

Then you might be able to put a French drain in there? With a drainpipe with the holes, that the water can seep in to, and then be channeled away?

Moni

Yes Moni, there is a major slope that goes along the house there up to the front yard. That is where the water comes from. The water that comes from the gutters isn't a problem at all cause it is all channeled out into the yard.

French drain sounds like it might work.

I was going to suggest that a rain barrel is the simplest, cheapest, least labor-intensive solution. AND you get free water to water your plants, rinse your hair, etc. Before you buy a commercial one, check around--many towns are selling them at cost these days, for a fraction of what you'd pay at HD, Lowe's or even the ones I've seen at WM. It's THE garden accessory this year, from what I'm seeing around my area. And would totally solve your problem.

A rain barrel won't solve the problem. I don't have an issue with water draining off the house (that is all channeled into pipes away from the house). The problem is with rain water running down a slope/hill over the plant area and onto my patio.

Lyd, you can catch a glimpse of the thing I was talking about in this link...

To me, it sounds like you need erosion/run-off control, to stop it at the source.

And I'm telling Mom you hit me. Meanie. :)

Clay soil eh? You will have to amend the rain garden area with some sand, compost, and topsoil mixed in with the clay. This task sounds daunting but will be soooo worth it when you see the blooming flowers and don't have to deal with the mud run-off anymore. Remember you only have to build your rain garden once. It will take care of itself.

For your spot next to the patio you may need to put in a berm with your rain garden. One trick is to fill cardboard boxes with dirt and set them in place, then cover them with more dirt until they are hidden. This way the berm does not wash away like it would by just piling a lot of loose dirt up to try to build a berm. Eventually the boxes decompose and the soild berm remains firmly placed.

Since you mention the area in question is shady woodland plants that love both moist soil and shade may work for your rain garden:

___ White Baneberry (Actea pachypoda)
___ Red Baneberry (Actea rubra)
___ Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)
___ Purple hyssop* (Agastache foeniculum)
___ Prairie Onion* (Allium stellatum)
___ Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
___ Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
___ Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
___ Forked Aster (Aster divaricatus)
___ Lady Fern (Athyrium felix-femina)
___ Pensylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
___ Burr Sedge((Carex grayi)
___ Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)
___ American bittersweet** (Celastrus scandens)
___ Virgins Bower* (Clematis virginiana)
___ Rock Harlequin (Corydalis sempervirens)
___ Wood Fern* (Dryopteris goldiana)
___ Fancy Wood Fern* (Dryopteris intermedia)
___ Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
___ Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
___ Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
___ Bottlebrush Grass (Hystrix patula)
___ Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
___ Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
___ Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea
___ Interrupted Fern (Osmunda claytoniana)
___ Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis)
___ Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata amphamii)
___ Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
___ Jacobs Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
___ Zigzag Goldenrod* (Solidago flexicaulis)

Ephemeral type planting will work well for shade with slow drainage:

___ Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides)
___ Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
___ Dutchmans Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
___ Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
___ Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
___ Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
___ Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis)
___ White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
___ Yellow Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)

Hope this helps to inspire..............

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.