Need help.I want to make a rain garden in the yard.

[Crazy4cochins]

I have a terrible drainage problem !!!!
Water flows right in front of my coop and out the gate area and settles in the yard under a tree, we have our septic above ground so there is a big mound so the water drains off it too. all of this selltles in the same area alomst.
I am thinking if I put a rain garden there it will help channel all extra water to it?
I have seen on all the dumb DIY shows about them but no one ever has to deal with chickens and now I have goats.
How could I design it to hold water when needed but keep the rocks in place?
I guess I can always enter a DIY contest about yard problems. If I won I would totally wear a BYC T-shirt.!!!!

 

[LuvinMyPeeps]

I'd of course draw a picture of where I want everything. I bet you could make it really nice! How about placing some heavy rocks (1-2 foot) like a path where you want the water to be directed, kind of like a dry creek? You may need to install a spout to the gully to drain at the start of it, in between where the rocks would be, and keep it going to drain into a farther part of the yard?

You could put a bridge over the dry creek and make it really pretty, and plants on the outside edges of the rocks. You could fill in the rocks with some sand maybe, or pebbles just to make it look nicer.

Hope this helps - sometimes brainstorming is all you need

 

[Crazy4cochins]

yep thats what I do imagine all the things I could do, but then I change my mind alot, I see it all pretty in my head but then I see the kids I have and the dogs and goats all running towards it and I see all the rocks being thrown all over and goats eating all my flowers and then I think well I can always have a mud hole instead ,hahaha.
This is a project to draw up over the winter I think.

If I get it done someday I will post the pic.

 

[Mattemma]

I have read of dry river beds that will run the water to a lowest point where rain garden plants are. Some just place the rocks,and some have set the rocks in a cemented channel. You could run some pipes under ground with gravel,dirt,and grass on top.

For my rain run off I ended up digging a ditch following the path the water flowed across the yard.The dirt I dug out I piled on one side to keep the water from spreading over the entire yard. The ditch is not as deep now due to me throwing yard waste and seeds in it,but it still guides the water well.
I think I have a few pictures on my photo page here:http://picasaweb.google.com/mattemma06

I wanted to do the pipes and/or rocks,but there was never any money for that project.The ditch worked out well enough.And to boot the kids have mini boat races in our *river*.