We bit the bullet.

We've had a flooding problem in our backyard since we moved in two years ago.  To give you an idea of our problem, I'll give you a brief description.  Directly behind our home is forest.  The forest behind us is on a significantly higher grade than our backyard, thus all of the water runs into our yard from the forest.  Also, our two neighbors yards also drain into our backyard.  And, finally to compound the problem even further, a good 90% of our backyard is shaded 24/7.  The only spot in our yard that gets any sun at any time is where I put the veggie garden late year.

So, for the last two years we've had 1/2 of our backyard flooded from the first thaw until around August.  It's so swampy and bad back there that we cannot even cut the grass.  We have mushrooms and moss and the mosquitoes, oh the mosquitoes!  Plus, every year I fight the stupid forest trying to take over my backyard.  I am so sick of pulling hundreds of weeds every weekend that I finally got fed up.

We had a landscaper come out today to give us a quote to fix our flooding problem.  Originally, I thought we'd put in a french drain, but the landscaper said that a french drain wouldn't do anything because a) the drain had absolutely nowhere to drain to (since our neighbors' yards are both higher) and b) we get no sun to dry anything up.  So, instead we're going with an entirely different idea and I'm totally psyched about it!

We're going to put up a retaining wall in the back and backfill it with dirt to make a sort of giant flower bed.  The bed is going to have 2 Rosebud Trees on either end and a beautiful 7' Spruce tree in the middle.  Then we'll have hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and ornamental grass to fill everything in.  The backfilled garden will help keep the forest from taking over that area and also help soak up some of the water.  And finally, to finished up dealing with the flooding problem, they're going to lay river rock from the retaining wall and out 6-8' in a scalloping pattern.  Under the river rock will be a weed barricade and sand to help soak up the rest of the water.

The landscaper drew us a picture and I am soooo excited to see it when it's done.  It looks like it will be absolutely amazing.  I will definitely post some before and after pictures once it is done.  The rains and flooding we've had recently have gotten him behind (he's still not done with my parents' backyard), so he'll probably be out here in the next couple week.

Can't wait!!!  It will be amazing to have a yard that a) isn't flooded and b) is beautiful to look at!!!