Like most rural yards I have a shallow runoff ditch between the road and my main yard. Over the whole 40 ft span the ground seems to slope in a consistent direction towards a larger common ditch/creek. But there are a few 1-2 ft spans of it that flatten and hold ~1 inch of water occasionally, causing the entire span to stay saturated.
The soil in the runoff ditch is clay so it's prone to saturation anyway. I wouldn't care much except for the fact that I need to mow the grass along this area, and 2 inches of clay mud isn't conducive to that. The soil does occasionally dry, but it can also go weeks as mud, especially in the spring.
Would a smooth-piped french drain with a fabric pipe sock & gravel help this situation? The saturated area is about 40 ft long and 3 ft wide.
I'd also like to get some thicker grass to grow there to help with evaporation, but not sure how much that will help the situation.
Best Answer
It sounds like the grading of your ditch and/or yard degraded (pun not intended) or was never perfectly graded.
even a a berm of a few inches is enough to trap water in a puddle and saturate the soil. Especially clay.
Some time with a shovel and a laser level to grade the yard and ditch better would be more effective.
If you lack a laser level or the eye to find the high spots, you can instead mark where the puddles end and dig there to lower the soil to provide a runoff path for the water. Repeat until you have no more standing puddles after rain. Put the excess soil into the puddle itself. (pull up the grass sods first as needed)