As mentioned by max, it does depend upon what you are growing, the potting mix you use, how much water actually gets into the pots and whether or not your pots are "breathable" terracotta clay or "unbreathable" glazed or plastic pots. I am also not sure whether or not getting 5-7 minutes of water a night would be enough to thoroughly water the plants. To be honest, I really can't imagine that such a short watering cycle would do much for the grass the complex is trying to maintain, either, but then I seem to believe in watering an area deeply and a lot less frequently to encourage deep root growth, so what do I know? (My sprinkler system consists of my arms, hands and legs, hoses and hose-end watering devices, lol.) "Is there such a thing as "watering too much" in Colorado? I can't picture it. I sometimes have to water my containers twice a day." Sometimes it does indeed seem as if there is never enough water during those hot, dry days of summer, but.... Are you perhaps using small containers, popmama? Otherwise, it doesn't seem right that you should have to water every day, let alone twice a day. Most of the containers I use are relatively large (20 gallons or more) and I use them for herbs, some veggies (peppers mostly,) and annuals. I think it would drive me nuts (nuttier?!?) if I had to water my containers twice a day. I don't normally even have to water them once a day, just a few times a week, depending upon whether or not Mama has given us some rain or just lots of sun and heat. Holly

And without you defining what it is exactly you want to achieve other than the proposed hardscaping, we are clueless as how to help you. We can't read your mind.........:-)

Show a picture of the overall space and also one that illustrates the defect. I feel for you. I am believer in minimal pitch of a patio surface simply for the reason you bring up. You might also brief us on any response about this by the designer or contractor.

I had a client that owned a farm (mooo!) house that I did some remodeling and an addition for. They threw lavish parties and had a second floor door that lead to a roof area above part of the first floor. Part of the parties too place on that roof, but my client and his guests kept falling off the roof (which did not inhibit them from partying on the roof), but my client came to the conclusion that a deck built in place of the roof was in everybody's best interest, and that was part of my scope of work.