New to ladnscaping

[heholder]

Hello,

I have no experience at all in landscaping.
I live in a small house with my mother, and our backyard is a mess. The house is at the bottom of the street and there is a large pond tight next to us, which attracts wildlife (today for example there were to ducks in it).

The water from the pond, which look like a small swamp, invading the backyard and cause it to be muddy. The previous owner did not take care of the back yard, which is now basically a disaster.

Today I was repairing a small channel he dag to allow some water out and out of the yard. I want to try and dig similar small channels to allow water out of the garden and into the pound.. the gutter keeps throwing water into the yard and the grass really grow wild around it.

If anyone is interested, I will take some pictures and post them somewhere, along with a small map maybe to give you a better picture.
What I am trying to do first is to dig these small channels and get the water away... it's a little bit of a problem since the whole yard as the same elevation as the pound it seems. Any ideas?

[my_secret_garden]

I am not really much help but I just wanted to say that I am sure some people here will have ideas for you. I am new to gardening and landscaping myself and when I started, my yard was an abomination, thanks to my husband's lack of interest in yardwork and lack of interest in putting his things back in the garage when he is done with them. It has been a lot of hard work but I have managed to make my yard look decent and now I am working on trying to make it beautiful.

The people on this forum are amazing and so helpful. Someone will have suggestions for you. GOOD LUCK!

And while pictures may or may not be helpful... it gives us something to look at, which I enjoy!

[my_secret_garden]

PS - Hi in New Jersey from Iowa. I used to live in Millville, NJ.

[grandpasrose]

Is your home at the same level as the pond, or just parts of your backyard? And yes, photos would help!

Val