Question
Dear Charlotte
I have been trying all morning to get some information from web pages and putting my question in various forms but no luck. Then I got to this website and found your answers to be very well written & precise, frankly you seem to be a real expert.So I decided to put my question to you
Q--We have a large area ( 250 ftX 100 ft), currently having wild grass grown all over it,we would like to transform this land to a lawn.This area gets frequent rainfall therefore we would like to plan it in such a way that the water does not accumulate and the lawn remains usable during rains also. I will appreciate if you could please provide some guideline on how to go about turning it into a green lawn and what slope/gradient should we use so that water drains out into nearby drainage system while the lawn still appears to be level one to onlookers.

Best Regard

Answer
Hi Rizwan;
Thank you for your confidence.
I wil try to help, although degrees of slant for drainahge isn't something I have dealt with in a lawn.
I don't think a gradual slope that would still look pretty level would give you enough drainage.
If yoiu want to use the lawn shortly after a rain, say, the next day, I would consider a raised area, with a seating area, maybe with pave stones, or flag stones for the chairs etc, so it could be used and walked on without getting in the muddy part. a rise of 6 inches t a foot gives you some really interestings to work with.
A rock or brick ( whatever goes with your house color and style) wall, with grass around the seating area larger, or flowers and ground covers planted among the stones, or in stragetically placed beds. evergreen spreaders would be a good choice too. with the rest of the lawn, you could slope it only 3 or 4 inches and you would have some runoff.
There are other alternatives too, like a ditch running the length of the lawn, and larger stones and gravel, in t with small gravel on top, to look like it is deliberate.These ditches need not be straight from the house to the edge of the sidewalk. they could meander in interesting shapes to frame in other shrubs or beds.
The excess water would run into the drains and out, or run into the drains and drain further down into the soil.
The raised area could have trailing plants plasnted so they spill over the little wall.
NOW, while you are thinking of additional information you can give me, I will look for sme sites to send you the webaddresses so you can see pictures of what I am talking about.
where are you?
I live in North Texas, and except for a couple of weeks, a couple of timea a year, we in this area do not understand frequesnt rainfalls.
WE understand no rain for weeks or months at a time.LOL
How deep is the soil on the lawn area? It may work better just to raise the whole l;awn 4 to 6 inches, and put a retaining wall across it all, at the curb.
What type of soil do you have?
If you have hard clay soil, and just a few inches of good soil on top of that, then tilling in some things to loosen up the soil about 10 to 12 inches deep, would create a better drainage.
I like cedar bark mulch to loosen up soil.
It keeps it loose for a couple of years, and by the time it composts and turns into good soil, the micro-organisms have had time to develope a good colony and have much inproved the soil, and they keep improving it continually.
Organics builds rich soil, and weeds will not thrive in rich soil. You attract beneficial critters like toads, lizards etc, and they eat all the undesirable insects, so you don't have to bother with chemical poesticides, weedkillers, or fertilizers.
You can also add sand. Lava sand is full of nutrients, and loosens the soil while it adds nutrients.
I need a little more information before I can help further.
Charlotte