Let me run this by the misses first...

Nah it's fine. It looks worse than usual but I did confirm it works as it usually does which is meh

I am very thankful not all of my yard is made out of red clay and only some.

I almost wonder if it would be worth just extending the mulch bed to take over this trench while keeping the rocks there and covering them in fabric.

Hey yeah let me try to explain!

So the trench here is simply rocks and a corrugate pipe, but the pipe is cut horizontally so it's basically just a "u" shaped pipe.

The rocks lead to that box drain and don't go into it unless there's enough force pushing it because 1. It pools at the beginning and 2. I think the trench may be lower than the box drain.

Lol thank you! If anything I'd be okay with at least figuring out how to keep the rocks cleaner and free from weeds.

I actually did some work on the other side of the driveway and used this rock system to drain it away. It was a lot of dirt and clay so it kinda stayed mucky. I was hoping the rain would help wash it away but that didn't happen lol

Yeah so for the driveway it's got a "lip" I can take a pic if needed. It's one of those neighborhoods that has a half-pipe shaped edging at the end of everyone's yard that runs along and empties into storm drains wherever they are. I don't think I have ever seen water spill over that, and then the top of my driveway also has a "hump" to it. Our driveway is actually shitty we don't even drive down it because it's too steep and short lol.

I don't actually have an issue with water getting into my garage unless the downpour is really heavy and even then it isn't too bad. On the other side of my driveway we have a downspout that goes down and into another section of our backyard, but it's currently sitting higher than the driveway due to terrain but could be fixed. I don't know if cutting into the concrete would be more trouble than it's worth honestly.

Ah okay just making sure! That would be doable. I know we have some around already but I don't know if they are for the drains or something else.

Would it be fine to have another small box drain or something similar at the beginning of the driveway (maybe a channel drain if it can work) and have it connect to the current box drain and the downspout?

From where this box drain is I believe it connects to another one or two downspouts and travels down a pretty steep slope and off into my backyard in a area we don't use. It currently can handle the water it does get even when this rock area is working so it may not be overrun..maybe.

Thanks! It's sod.

You should have seen it before when I tried to fix the lawn..or at least how it looked before I tried to DIY it..lol

We prefer to have these rocks not overrun by soil and weeds, and to do the job the prior owners presumably attempted to make it do is all.

It's half of a corrugate pipe so it doesn't actually do anything.

Awesome thank you! Yeah. It's odd because it really doesn't bother my garage much when it rains. Our neighborhood has those little sloped curbs so most of the water is coming from rain landing on the driveway/yard.

I'll check this guy out I don't think I've seen him out thank you!

For the sake of clarity you mean "clean outs" as in one of those attachments that you can open up and clean the debris out right? (I know it's probably obvious but I want to be sure lol)

I'll try to remember to snag a picture later, but from the box drain to the backyard (side of house) it's a pretty good slope then once it hits the back yard it kinda levels but then slopes for 50 or so more feet pretty good.

The drain here goes all the way back a few hundred feet and on the way is connected to another downspout and I am not sure how they did it and I don't even know if I want to look lol