A new problem. Drainage

Installing ANOTHER french drain. 

Now that I have the mow strip installed, I've found a new problem, drainage. This area that looks so cute is also trapping water. It's had several inches of standing water. Looks like I'm not quite done installing french drains... 

Every time the sprinklers run, this is a swamp. The good thing about it is that it turns this clay dirt which is normally like concrete into a sticky mud. But at least I can dig in it. Here I've starting making the trench for the french drain. It will head towards the large drain and take the excess from the flower bed to the storm drain. 

Connecting it to the area in the flower box. 

I laid down a weed barrier and a gravel base. 

If you're wondering why it's so dark is because I have to do this before work. I'm one of those crazy neighbors that gets up early and even if it's dark, I still get outside to do stuff. Nothing a head lamp can't take care of. 

You can see what the pipe looks like, it's laying on the lawn. 

Time for the pipe! 

Making sure it's got a slope to it so the water drains in the right direction. 

A 3' level to confirm it's all heading in the right direction. 

Time to cover the pipe! 

All bundled up and ready for dirt! This took place over the course of a week or so before work. I could only do a little at a time because of time constraints. Darn work. 

All installed and ready for plants!

Here's how it looks 7-8 months later. It was one of the wettest winters we've had in a long time and the drain did a great job of keeping standing water out of this area.