"...should I have the men doing the backfill work, try to find the weep holes to make sure they are there?" Yes. If they're there and buried, that may be a simple fix to the problem. "Would it be ok to use a double layer of burlap or would that be too porous? will the regular weed-blocker landscaping cloth be ok?" That depends on how you would be using the fabric. Generally, jute mesh (or sometimes burlap) is used in conditions where slopes that are to be planted with grass are extreme, and the likelyhood of any rain eroding the slope is high. The fabric is normally rolled out on the ground and held in place with long hand installed staples. The rolling is done down the slope, not across the slope. The open weave nature of the fabric and it being biodegradable allows for grass to germinate and under the fabric and grow up through it. In places where the grass will not be mowed, the biodegradable fabric can be left in place to rot. In areas where the grass will be mowed, leaving the fabric in place presents the likelyhood of the fabric being lifted by the mower and causing all sorts of problems. Jute mesh will degrabe faster than burlap, and it's weave is quite a bit more open...and it's usually less expensive. If your lot slopes 2 feet over a very short distance and the slope is steep, then using the natural fabric can help keep the topsoil and seed in place. If the slope is not steep, the fabric is probably not necessary. The black fabric should not be used at all on top of the soil if you're intent is to grow grass. Either way, mowing with the fabric in place will be near impossible, and pulling the fabric up after the grass has begun to grow will probably pull the grass up with it. The black weed fabric is used on the surface of the ground so that nothing will grow through it. It can be used to halt erosion, but if it's woven and has a tight weave, water will tend to run off faster than if it was a more open non-woven fabric. Again, if the slope isn't ateep, it may be a waste of money to use the fabric there. Erosion control fabrics, woven and non-woven, are usually used in a vertical fashion, stapled to stakes (essentially the same things as tomato stakes) with the bottom hem buried in the ground so as to catch and slow surface runoff. Normally, that sort of installation is used where required either by local or state code, or by site conditions such as steep slopes and open ground exposed to the elements without benefit and protection of turf or groundcover. On a quarter acre lot with shallow slopes, I'm not sure it would be beneficial, but then again, I can't see the lot, so local opinion and expertise may be a better option for you. Just get more than one opinion. Another use for fabrics is actually in the ground, separating different soil types. In the case of a wall like yours, it might be that the designer will call for such a fabric to be installed prior to placing the clean free draining gravel behind the wall. The fabric in this case would keep the gravel open and free draining by keeping the fine particles from adjacent native clayey or silty soils from infiltrating and blocking the voids in the gravel.In this case, burlap would not be used as it would degrade over time. There are many specialty fabrics for this use, and most are not available at your local nursery or big box vendor. Some weed block fabrics may be similar in weave and nature, some are not. Can't say whether yours is or not. If the soils behind the wal are removed and atrench prepared for gravel backfill, the fabric would normally be placed along the bottom of the excavation with 3-6 inches rising up agains the back of the wall. The rest would run up the excavation and be laid on theground away from the wall until the trench was filled with gravel and compacted. Then the remaining edge of the fabric would be pulled over the top of the gravel, back towartds the wall, covering the gravel before the topsoil or planting mix was replaced. This more or less creates an envelope around the gravel. I wouldn't bother putting anything against your neighbor, especially if they still have the timber wall. Understand that a fabric envelope like this isn't always part of the design. It really depends on the nature of the existing soils, groundwater, and the wall design. Your situation may not require it at all. Only local inspection can insure that you're not throwing money needlessly in a hole. I don't think I said anything about using fabric at all. What I did say was that each 'weep' hole in the wall should be covered by a 'screen'. That screen would only cover the hole and extend a few inches beyond the hole in each direction, on the back side of the wall. The gravel would lie up agains that screen, and groundwater would find it's way to the hole and through the screen. If the erosion is most visible where your wall meets your neighbors, remember that your wall may be acting as a dam, and any water building up behind it is seeking a way out. The junction of your wall with yuour neighbors would be that point, and the flow may be significant. Weeps through your wall would likely provide the necessary outlet to reduce the pressure forcing groundwater to find that junction and causing it to erode. I would stay away from constructing anything that looked like a berm on the creek-side of the wall. It wouldn't serve the purpose you think it might. It may only make flooding problems worse. And, you may be running afoul of local regulations having to do with wetlands. Good luck. And remember, this is only an internet forum. We can't see what you see, we can only read your words. Even pictures would serve as limited assistance. Your very best bet is to inquire locally, and get as many second opinions as you think necessary.

Juliann, I'll post a site from the UK that has pictures of various types of gardens. This link goes to their Cottage Garden which they say is "contrived to look uncontrived". There are many other types of gardens there that might provide inspiration. Which plants you choose depends on which climate zone you are in. I'm in zone 3 so am somewhat limited in what I can grow. I'll post a pic of what I call my wild bird garden. It's an area in my large garden that has the birdfeeder and birdbath. I allow the flowers to go to seed for the birds so they self-seed. This area has changed over many years altho I initially seeded shasta daisies (the butterflies love them) and yarrow and planted a few established perennials. The yarrow seeds I planted were a mix of red, pink, and white, but the white resembles the wild yarrow we have so we pull it out and it's mostly now only tones of pinks and red. There are also Lamb's Ears because they seed all over my garden but I leave them in this wild area (the bees love them). There are a few other plants, a pink mallow that's 'weedy' but it fills the space and is quite pretty and we also have several lilacs here. Near that area there is also a drift of common old irises which we've allowed to spread. They are in the lower part of the rockery and I will eventually weed some of them out as the bloom time is not very long. If I were deliberately planting a wildflower garden I would not buy a wildflower mix as there could be invasive plants in it. I planted a mix about 14 years ago and still have Dame Hesperis (Dame's Rocket) altho pull out many every year and try to dead-head them ASAP before they seed. It's quite a weed in warmer climates. I would choose seeds of plants I like that are hardy but not invasive and mix them together. Another option is to plant in swaths with various plants and grasses hardy to your area. Keep in mind the moisture requirements of the plants as you decide. The area where I have shastas, mallow, and yarrow needs little watering and only a spring weeding so is easy care. Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden House

Weeds are a fact, that's a fact. Tom makes a good point that some weeds here and there are nothing to worry about. Those who say (over and over) that all weeds can be controlled by enough mulch are correct, but a constant heavy layer of mulch is plenty of work to maintain and really is only practical for quite small gardens. In my case, where I want to grow enough crops to provide all my pulse and some grain, maintaining a foot of mulch on over a half-acre is not going to happen. Other ways to keep weeds controlled must be utilized, and fortunately the lore to do so exists and it works. IME, grassy weeds are the main problem, and a heavy continual presence of those despite periodic tillage indicates a mineral balance in the soil that is not close to optimum for crop production. What you want to see is the "fertility" weeds, which are easier to control be mechanical means and are much less onerous for the crops. This is achieved mainly by raising calcium.

Hey guys I'm back! I added a picture showing a fairly to-scale layout of my lawn. Sorry, but the directions are with West on top! I realized this at the end because I guess that's the way I mentally view my lawn. I tried doing a very ghetto surveying job, but I'm not sure how accurate the info was or how useful it is, haha. But anyhow, the lowest point is the northwest corner, with the highest point is in the southwest corner of my lawn which is 6 feet above that. The slopes meet a few feet in front of the deck going down to the front of the cement area, then draining back down to the northwest corner (pretty much on top of the underground drain). The water pools on top of the cement, and all areas adjacent to the building are very muddy. This is a link to me dropbox folder with pictures (taken Saturday 5/17/14) of my lawn: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lsv5az5r4qek70w/AACyXCMI_ZfuxwcgqC8TZFE4a I tried naming the photos in useful ways, and any help identifying the Mystery Grass (MG#) photos would be appreciated! I particularly like the strain growing near my drain outlet (MG4), and am now thinking I might just try to overseed with whatever that is once I get my drainage problem fixed! Update on progress: Since those photos have been taken, all I've done is remove the trees along the South fence, mow through part of the weeds growing along the treeline, sprayed some Roundup on areas where nothing but weeds were growing, and try to remove all the excess thatch that has been flattened into the soil in some areas. I had forgotten about this drain I found in the Northwest corner of the yard. My father told me that it's a plastic PVC pipe that is connected to a storm gutter, as pictured in the layout. There's a sewer drain along the north fence on the neighbors side, manhole being right along the middle of my "yard" area, which drains out into a ditch area behind my property line to the northwest. The pipe is not perforated and i'm guessing it goes to about 2 feet deep. It appears as if nothing is surrounding the pipe but the soil, but i'm not sure. After coming back and cleaning up a bit, I realize my yard isn't in as bad a shape as I had remembered from the weekend before, but the drainage problem is still very bad. We had some heavy rains on Thursday, but the ground is still very muddy in the areas noted on the layout today (Sunday). The area along the south fence is now bare because of the removed trees, and everything along the tree line is bare. Any ideas on what I should do? If you need more clarification on any of the pictures, please ask and I will try to clear it up. Thanks guys! This post was edited by Oneiric on Sun, May 18, 14 at 19:34