If there is one thing that homeowners love, it is to have a beautiful-looking yard. That’s why they spend a lot of time and resources designing it to their liking so they can impress their visitors and enhance their home’s curb appeal.

Unfortunately, no matter how much you care for your garden, there may be a time when you will have to deal with a drainage problem. Not only will this make your yard look swampy and bad, but it will also lead to more serious issues which you must fix immediately.

Generally, yard drainage problems can be caused due to a number of reasons. Some of the most prominent ones include an inadequate pitch or slope, improperly installed gutter system, improper grading, soil issues and erosion.

The good thing is there is a solution for each of these causes which will instantly improve your yard’s condition and make it beautiful again.

Extend your downspouts

Having a good gutter and downspout system is crucial for protecting your yard as its main purpose is to catch the rainwater and direct it away from your foundation. If your gutters fail to do this, then runoff water will instantly swamp your yard.

Extending your downspouts is an easy solution to this problem. Doing so will allow water to drain in a controlled manner without splashing around and causing serious damages to your yard.

Also, don’t forget to unclog your gutters because blocked or faulty gutters can also cause water to overflow into your yard.

Dig a creek bed

In case your downspout extensions can’t fix your drainage problem, your next option would be to dig a creek bed. This project involves digging the soil into a shallow trench and filling it with gravel and other decorative rocks to draw water away from low spots. This comes especially in handy if your yard has a right downward slope, so the installation will serve as a slide for runoff water to escape through.

An added bonus you will get with this project is that your creek bed can be an attractive addition to your landscape and instantly enhance your home’s curb appeal.

Install a dry well

If your drainage problem cannot be fixed with a surface-level adjustment, then it may be time to go deeper. This refers to installing a dry well which is a large hole filled with gravel or other aggregate material that catches excess water and holds it while it soaks into the ground. The worse the drainage issue your yard is dealing with, the larger the hole needs to be.

Generally, the dry well systems are installed as an alternative to extended downspouts or to avoid drainage issues in flooded walkways.

Improve your clay soil

Although impacted soil conditions are a minor drainage problem, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your best to improve your soil. This is especially important to do if you have clay soil which can retain water for a very long time and even take a year or more to dry out.

Fortunately, there are several precautions you can take to improve your clay soil and avoid potential drainage problems. Some of these include avoiding working the soil while its vet, covering the clay soil areas with composting materials such as bark, sawdust or ground wood chips and planting cover crops.

Build a rain garden

If you have low spots in your garden that tend to collect and retain water, then you should consider building a rain garden. Although this may not really solve your soggy yard problem, it is a much better solution than having muddy holes full of soaking grass.

The thing is rain gardens are designed to catch rainfall as they are filled with water-loving plants which can continue to thrive under such conditions. Plants that are most commonly used for rain gardens are perennials and ferns, shrubs such as swamp rose and winterberry and trees like pin oak and birch.

Final thoughts

If you are worried about your yard every time it rains, then you should probably start thinking about possible solutions to your drainage problems. Not only will this protect your garden from dealing with serious water damages and issues, but it will also help enhance the curb appeal of your home.

The most important thing is to identify the cause of the drainage problem and find the most suitable way to fix it.

For more information on how to do this, use our post as a guide and keep your lawn from getting soggy.