We are in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. It's a semi-arid region mostly covered in farmland. The acreage we live on is about 15 years old, before that it was part of a grain field. So there is nothing natural about the grade anymore, it's almost entirely flat. Every spring the snow melt runs along the surrounding ditches and much of it accumulates on one side of our driveway before over-topping it and continuing (we can't put in a culvert...long story). This is the only time of year that we see this type of moisture, even in a very wet year this area isn't even close to creating that. There is a small ditch that was dug by the previous owners to redirect some of the water into the neighbouring field. It has a hedge of chokecherries, alders, and Hawthorne running along it.
My question is, what is the best way to make use of this water instead of pumping it away? I feel that planting a rain garden isn't feasible because the plants wouldn't get a reasonable amount of moisture the rest of the year. Anything we plant must be drought tolerant. The other problem is that the vegetable garden, compost, shed, etc. are all located on the other side of the property. So I can't just redirect it there either.
Help!
