you have to improve your rate of infiltration. A good clay soil, if it is deep, should infiltrate 8 inches of rain, no prob. Either grow deep rooted cover crops, or dig deep and place organic matter through the soil. you can also use a combination of the two.

HI, Glib

thanks for your comments. I think i'll do a combo of both your suggestions. As it doesn't rain much here in CA I'm not prepared for such rainfall.

I think I'll plant some nice ground cover there, which will absorb water and add nice color to the whole effect of the garden.

I'll need something thats drought tolerant too. But this plant looks promising. Its called blue-green sedge. Do you know if its ok for CA?

A lot of people put in a cistern, or above-ground tanks. The water from rainy times of year can be stored and used for irrigation during dry periods. You'll be able to water your landscape while other's can't. It isn't very expensive, and the tanks, (if you can't afford to bury them) are easily hidden behind lattice.

The simplest method? First, put the tank it a spot where at least some of gutter runoff can be channeled directly into the tank (with screens to filter out debris.) Second, use your sump idea to pump the water into the tank(s). You could probably do the entire job yourself for less than $1000 and it will be a low maintenance investment. You could even channel grey water to the tank if you wished, and... if you started to collect too much, you could use the water for flushing toilets and other grey water tasks. There is lots of information available, and this is more common than many people realize.

wow, very nice water recovery system. I'm doing some conservation and recycling and are actually rated one of the top water savers on our street. right now my concern is about the water pooling in my garden. i was hoping to have it done soon, but its got two areas with about 1-2.5'' deeepp water pocket

Probably would have been best to till in that lawn instead of chucking it, but you probably already figured that out. If water is pooling, you might want to work on the grade a bit to help it drain. Amending the soil is the best way to increase infiltration. If it won't make the grade too high, bring in loads of compost - up to several inches - and till it in. If it will be fairly permanent beds - not annuals - the more the merrier as this is your best chance. Till first, then add the compost and till that in.

If fluffing the soil is going to be a problem with grades or draining from the house, you can scrape off more clay before you start.