Sorry, I originally posted this in the landscape discussion forum last fall, but am uncertain about how to include pics, so found my way to this gallery landscape forum.

Hi. I have a huge lot with massive lawn area. The lawn grades ever so slightly from the side yard towards the front yard. But I also have a neighbor on that side whose lawn area slopes down towards mine. So the natural flow of rain and sprinkler water goes along this path. My soil is pretty lousy. Clayish, I'm told. the water doesn't absorb all that well. Anyway, I built a large mulch bed in the front yard off towards that problematic side, just in an effort to prevent further soil run-off and to replace this rocky and poor grass growing section of yard. The island looks very nice. Now the problem is that all of the water run-off goes into the island. I cut deep edges 4-5-6" below grade and mounded the island up with about 4" of loam above grade and 3 " of mulch on top. So the island looks just like an island during rain storms. The water flows down and into the edge and then works its way along the edge to the front side of the island, where it pools up and flows over onto the grass. Mulch spills over onto the grass. I have to get a picture on here to present a better visual. But my question is is there anything I can do within the edging of the mulch bed to minimize the run-off of the water and puddling on the front side of the island? Would pea stones or crushed gravel in the gully of the edged island help in any way? What about drainage piping of some sort? Or concentrate on the slope of the lawn that is feeding the water into the island? Short of an expensive regrading project, I can't figure out what to do.

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