DRY WELLS VS. FRENCH DRAINS—WORTH IT?
- I’m with you on French drains feeling like overkill, especially if you’re not dealing with a full-on swamp.
- Tried a dry well last fall—honestly, it helped more than I expected. Didn’t have to dig up half the yard, just a decent-sized hole and some gravel.
- Rain gardens look cool but I’m not convinced they actually solve the puddle problem unless you get the plants just right.
- Compost is tricky. If your soil’s already soggy, adding more organic stuff can make it worse... learned that the hard way after my “mulch experiment” turned into a mud pit.
- Sometimes I wonder if it’s just the way my lot sits. Not sure there’s a perfect fix for every yard.
WHEN YOUR LAWN TURNS INTO A SWAMP AFTER EVERY RAINSTORM
I keep hearing about French drains too, but honestly, the idea of trenching up my whole yard just to maybe fix a puddle feels like a lot. Dry wells sound way less intense—might actually try that if things get worse. I did the compost thing last spring and yeah, it just made everything mushy. Sometimes I think my backyard just wants to be a pond no matter what I do... Maybe it’s just the price of homeownership?
Honestly, I thought about dry wells too, but my neighbor swears by French drains. He did it last fall and now his yard’s like a golf course while mine’s still squishy. Trenching sounds scary, but maybe it’s not as bad as it looks? I dunno, just tired of losing shoes to the mud every spring...
