Will this drainage idea work?

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GardenSox Sacramento, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 21, 2008

Hello,

I garden in Sacramento, California and for most of the year it is very dry. However, in the winter months we tend to have at least a handful of pretty big rain storms.

I would like to create a raised bed in a corner of my backyard that can get a little bit soggy during those months. Drainage in this area has never been a big problem for me though because the grass that currently inhabits this area does a decent job at soaking up the rain water and the grass seems to like it. But if I put in this raised bed, the water from my down spout will have a barrier between the spout and the majority of my lawn and I think it might just travel right into the raised bed and cause my plants to drown.

So my idea was to dig a deep trench in the grass where the downspout opens up and then fill the trench with gravel. It would be like a french drain but without a pipe taking the water away.

It seems like a good idea to me, but I wonder if I would just be giving water a place to pool without the advantage of having soil to soak it up? Has anyone tried this or have a guess on how this would work? I'd really like to avoid digging a trench long enough to extend all the way to the street. Thank you.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 21, 2008

I don't understand how water is going to climb up into a raised bed, what will happen is you'll get a big puddle right in front of the bed and it'll drown the grass that's planted there. If you haven't had problems with water collecting there before and you want to make a bed, just make your bed at the level your lawn is currently at, and you should be fine. If water tends to drain slightly in that direction you might not want to put in lavender or things like that which will really resent wet feet, but if your grass did OK in that area I suspect most typical garden plants would be fine.

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