The Hole

Our backyard has had drainage problems since we moved in. Really, really annoying drainage problems. The first couple years we were here, we couldn't mow like the back 6-8 feet closest to our fence because the grass would have standing water on it. Then, the last couple years, in an effort to not have standing water, the rest of our grass was brown and crunchy because we only watered like 2 minutes a day. Oh, and not to mention the fact that didn't fix our water problems and our trees started dying because of all the water. You would think with all that water that we had been watering like crazy, but I think we only watered like 7 minutes a day, so that definitely wasn't it! I think we are just a low point for all our neighbors and the clay soil here is just so so bad.

After playing with sprinklers and how long they run for the last few years, we decided we needed to do something permanently this year. We originally planned to dig several holes throughout the yard to make drains. We thought if we could use the auger to get about 6 feet deep that the water would drain (we had done this near our raspberries last year and it worked great!). Unfortunately, the auger couldn't get through all the rocks in our dirt. Matt was having to pull the auger out after every half inch of digging so that we could dig out giant rocks. It was sooooo frustrating and so much work, that we just bagged it.

At this point, we had the start of a hole, maybe a couple feet deep, and nowhere near draining. It sat like that for quite a while, and then we started digging by hand. We dug and dug and dug and dug. And this was HARD work! It wasn't just digging dirt, it was using a rock breaker to break up hard clay and help loosen and break up giant rocks. The hole was about 4 feet wide and we dug to 6 feet... then 7 feet... then 8 feet before it FINALLY started draining. Hallelujah! We then dug a trench across the back yard to drain to the hole, made it into a french drain, and we are hopeful our water issues are finally fixed! Our grass this year is still beyond repair where we didn't water it enough, but I am super hopeful for next year that we can keep our grass looking nice all year!