It's been a mucky mess the last 3 springs, including this one, hasn't it? Farmers can't even get tractors into the fields. They sink. What usually is a great spot for roses has turned into mud bogs. I raised the beds, I have a sump pump, and I'm in the process of plotting out some new beds designed for shade plants that will hopefully gobble water in some of the boggiest areas. Right now I'm seriously hoping that this is a short term pattern, but only time will tell. In the meantime, I've traded gardening clogs for those rubber rain boots and invested in a lot of Oxyclean to get the mud out of all my jeans. I refuse to transform to container gardening and I'm determined to ride out this weather pattern. And guess what...more rain forecast today. They've been blowing dams just south of me in the Cairo area this week. So sad.

There is a drainage easement at the front of our property and an easement to the side where we would route the drain pipes. If you were to take a rectangle, our home sits about 25 feet from the Northeast property line. The hill is on this side as well. To the far left of the rectangle there is a 35 foot drainage easement. This is where we would have to route the water. It is a lot of work involved for us, that is why we had hoped our neighbor would do the right thing and just reroute her pipe to flow onto her own property and not ours.

It does sound large and not shaped suited for mud jacking. If rain gathers in just a couple spots and they are clear of furniture, consider getting a commercial grade floor squeege - look in a janitorial supplier or on-line perhaps. They have "wings" on the ends. I've seen them in car dealers to push winter slop toward the drain. Another idea - talk with a landscaper about installing pavers atop the existing concrete. At least you would not have to remove the existing concrete. Good luck.

If you decide to modify the clay with sand, remember you'll be working it roughly 50-50 and it adds up. A thousand square feet of clay to remove and replace, four inches deep, is twelve heavy cubic yards, so it's good to avoid carting stuff away. As a rule of thumb, think of sand for drainage and organics (tons of it!) for growth. Two separate goals. If you do go the French rubble drain route and use an imbedded tube, look into local conditions concerning using weed barrier/landscape fabric to guard against finer materials seeping around the gravel/rubble. It can get in the way of drainage, even at what might seem to be a super slow rate. Here, in our very arid ground, I wrap a perforated three or four inch plastic pile with sunscreen when I bury it in the fill, so if the fabric/pipe clogs the fill might still drain and vice-versa.