Raising a Bed

I'm thinking of trying to raise my flower bed that borders the neighbor's fence. His yard slopes down toward mine, and his sump pump hose pumps water into his yard, which then runs into mine, under his fence and sits in my flower beds. I have lost some of my Iris that just rotted from the standing water. He periodically moves the hose, so sometimes my backyard floods, sometimes my beds in front. The hose ends maybe 10' from the lot line, but the water just runs over the grass. I don't want to call the city and complain, because I am over our limit on dogs, and don't want him to complain about them to get even. I would just like to quietly do something that will save my flower beds. I was thinking that something like the rubber lawn edging, but I would need something higher that will stick up maybe 6" once it is pressed into the ground, or would I be better off just digging everything up and making a raised bed there? Any suggestions??
Deb

I'm thinking if you raise one flower bed, that would just channel the water to go to the next lowest area. Here's a thought: could you dig a small trench along the edge of your fence and fill it with some gravel or small rocks? You could channel the water out to the street to run off (or your back border) and at the same time it would look like you just created a nice border along the edge of the fence? You didn't say what kind of fence it is, but I don't think that will make any difference. The rock/trench will work like a French drain to move the water without flooding any of your yard.

I hadn't even thought of that. He has a 6' high stockade type fence. Both of our yards slope down toward the sidewalk and parkway, so maybe a trench that goes alongside the fence right to the sidewalk. Thanks for the idea!! That sounds like it would work!!

how about digging a 6 inch deep trench the length of your flower garden and filling the trench with decorative stone. when the water comes it will go into the trench and not go into the bed. just make the top of the trench higher than the bottom so water runs down. when you dig the trench its good to pack down on the dirt so it gets hard before adding the stones.

I had a situation like yours but it was because my neighbors thought the rain run off ditch would be a super place to dig a veggie garden. All the rain from about six houses now goes through MY yard! I did two things, which I have talked about several times on here (hate to bore anyone LOL). One thing I did was build my beds up six inches. It required digging up all the plants, putting in the border, backfilling with a ton of dirt then replanting. The other thing I did was did a trench and fill it with granite about the the size of baseballs, on top of landscape fabric. I did also put in drain tile but that may not be necessary for you.

That water channel sounds like a GREAT idea! You could float little toy boats in it!

What's the city limit on how many dogs you can have anyways?

Thank you all for your ideas. I think I may try raising the bed, with a trench behind it. I was planning on extending that bed anyway. I have about 20' between my driveway and the neighbor's fence. The bed there is only about 3' deep, so maybe if I can move it forward just enough to dig the trench, and raise it, at least at the back, maybe I can slope it forward a bit to normal ground level at the front and extend it farther forward. Eventually I wouldn't mind having that whole area one big bed.

Capt, our city has a limit of 3 pets. Currently we have 5 dogs at the house, plus a few inside cats. The dog number varies, depending on who is being shown, who is staying with my friend who also shows, who's in training. The dogs spend most of their time lounging on the furniture, and are only outside for short periods for running and playing, and come inside if anyone barks, and I really don't think most of the neighbors even know how many we have. The entire backyard is fenced with 6' privacy fence, but I always worry anyway.
Deb

I didn't even know they had animal limit laws... unless you're one of those crazy cat ladies with a hundred cats and the ascpa busts in and charges you with neglect.

It sounds like you're taking good care of your bunch!