How to Install a French Drain for Garden Beds (San Diego)

A French drain is a sloped trench with rock and pipe that carries water to a legal outlet — not a random gravel pit under vegetables.

Now

Map the low path during a storm and confirm a legal outlet.

Why

Use French drains for soggy lawns, downspout discharge, and slope seepage when water has somewhere legal to exit.

Dig with continuous fall; fabric, gravel, pipe, gravel.

Kit

Map the low path

Watch during a storm. Mark where water sits and where it can exit without flooding a neighbor or foundation.

UC MG Placer.
Confirm a legal outlet

Daylight to a safe landscape area, approved storm connection, or dry well per local rules. Do not aim at the property line.

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Dig with continuous slope

Maintain roughly 1–3% fall. Flat trenches puddle; reverse grade backflows.

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Fabric, gravel, pipe, gravel

Line with fabric, set pipe holes oriented per manufacturer guidance, surround with clean rock, wrap, and backfill.

UC MG Placer.
Backfill and test

Run a hose test before final landscaping. Keep surface inlets clear of mulch dams.

UC MG Placer.

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