Question
I have a small lawn on the back of my Southern CA house. It gets little sun, due to the close buildings next door and a retaining wall.  It is low lying so the neighbors lawn irrigation seeps into our lawn, making it wet all the time.  I don't need to sprinkle it, its basically mud with a few sprouts of grass. I tried drilling 3/4 inch ventilation holes about 6 inches deep and filing them with small gravel, waiting to see if that works.  Is there a grass that needs a lot of water that will soak up all run off water I get?  I don't want to go to the expense of pulling up the lawn and whatever is under there to let the water run of yet. Thanks & Rgds.

Answer
I'm not so sure your problem is the neighbor's Water, Bob.  What kind of Grass are you growing that thrives in Full Shade, which is what you seem to have?

Your setup sounds very much like what we used to have in our little Brooklyn Brownstone postage stamp backyard.  Trees formed a Shady canopy blocking any Sun we would have in areas where shadows were not cast by all the buildings.  With your high moisture situation, you have the perfect conditions to grow a Moss Lawn, with flagstones forming the path through it.  Any number of focal points can be added, my favorite always being a Birdbath, but running water features and sculpture are equally enjoyable.

If you'd like the recipe for planting a Moss Lawn, let me know, I'm a fountain of info when it comes to this stuff.

Shade loving, moisture drinking groundcovers are also on your selections list.  Need some choices?

Alternately, you can go to a great deal of trouble to dry out your so-called Lawn, but why bother?

Do I understand you correctly?  rsvp,

L.I.G.