Having an attractive yard is sometimes tricky, especially if you’re struggling with “dressing up” your eyesore of a drainage ditch.
If you’re looking for ideas to make your drainage ditch go from boring to stunning, keep reading!
We’ve got 10 beautiful ideas to make it look great, and many of these ideas are not just simple and practical but also relatively inexpensive for anyone to pull off with ease.
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Add Natural Stones And A Bridge
Perhaps one of the most obvious yet ingeniously low-effort ways to make your drainage ditch situation look better in just a few short hours is to simply fill it with some nice-looking stones.
But why stop there?
We love the simple bridge this homeowner has added over the top of the stones here.
What’s unique about this particular idea is there’s a ton of room to either keep things simple or go extravagant with them.
Even a straightforward wooden bridge will elevate your yard instantly.
Still, you also have the option of painting it, adding additional decorations, or even sprucing it up with some plants on either side.
You don’t necessarily have to reinforce the bridge enough to make it 100% functional, either, but it’s certainly a good idea to do so.
Having an easy way to quickly cross the rock drainage ditch and avoid excess water runoff is especially great if you have pets or young children in your yard often and don’t want them to get hurt in wet conditions.
Use Stones Of Different Sizes To Fill And Line The Ditch
A lot of the ideas surrounding fixing up a drainage ditch include using stones and river rocks, and for a good reason!
Stones are inexpensive, look great, and last a very long time once they’ve been placed and arranged.
There are virtually infinite ways to use stones to make a drainage ditch look great, but one we think is both simple yet stunning is to mix up the sizes and shapes of the rocks.
This adds dimension and makes the ditch look even more natural, like the dry stream bed in this particular pin.
Using huge stones to line the ditch and filling it with smaller stones of varying sizes, what used to be difficult to even look at will now become a centerpiece of your yard.
This more conventional drainage ditch doesn’t require any real technical skill or craftiness to pull off, either, which makes it even more accessible and straightforward at hardly any additional cost.
Use Large Slabs Of Stone To Create A Natural Stone Bridge Over The Ditch
If you’re not the woodworking type, but you still want a simple means of hopping across your drainage ditch without having to take a leap of faith, why not use large slabs of stone like in the pin above?
This option isn’t quite as secure as a wooden bridge with railings, but it’s a lot faster and easier than having to build a bridge yourself.
We love how the different sizes of the stones give the ditch more dimension and make it overall a lot more pleasant to look at.
It’s similar to how #2 on this list utilizes stones but with more drastically varying sizes and shapes (and a bit of actual functionality in addition to its aesthetic value).
Plus, if you have turtles, frogs, or other critters you’re accommodating in your yard, they’ll certainly appreciate the stone slab to perch on from time to time.
Use Wood And Stones To Create Some Structure
This particular idea requires a bit of elbow grease to arrange the wood and stones, but the result is definitely worth it!
As sort of a combination of some of the previously mentioned ideas, this pin uses stones, wood stakes, and large slabs of stone all together to create a truly unique and beautiful landmark for your yard.
If you’re especially concerned with distracting your guests from the presence of the drainage ditch in your yard, this idea will certainly go above and beyond.
Their eyes will go straight to the beautiful arch above rather than down to the ditch itself.
Do A Bit Of Landscaping With Plants And Saplings Of Varying Sizes
Another great way to distract from the drainage ditch itself is to surround it with a bit of careful landscaping!
We love how this idea uses various water-loving plants, decorations, and stones to turn a simple ditch into a lovely dry creek bed.
Drainage ditch landscaping doesn’t necessarily require you to be good with your hands, either, as you don’t have to build anything (though the tiny bridge in this one is a nice touch).
If you’re more of a gardener than a craftsman, why not give this one a try?
There’s a lot of room to get creative with this one, as there are so many different plants that would look great amongst the larger rocks and decorations.
Experiment with the occasional flower bed, trees, bushes, and more to elevate your unsightly ditch to its little ecosystem!
Create Layers With Thin Stone Slabs
Adding dimension and depth to your yard drainage ditch doesn’t have to be an elaborate or difficult project.
As we’ve already covered, there are so many ways to use rocks of different sizes to make a ditch look great, but this idea is great in its simplicity.
If you’ve got a bit of varying elevation in your yard and around your drainage ditch, why not arrange stone slabs to direct the water flow to an artificial slope like in the pin above?
Not only does this idea look great, but it’s also very ingeniously functional as it creates a gentle slope to drain excess water more efficiently.
Surround it with smaller round stones to make it look even more special!
Camouflage The Ditch With A Bit Of Clutter And Landscaping
Sometimes making a drainage ditch look good is more about hiding the ditch itself than dressing it up.
In this case, some clutter goes a long way in sprucing things up!
A bridge, some attractive plants, solar lights, wood elements, colorful blue and yellow flowers, lawn decorations, you name it.
Use whatever you have at your disposal to make the ditch look more like a natural stream and less like…well, a ditch.
This idea is great if you aren’t concerned with precise and perfectly arranged things and want something more natural in appearance. Importantly, “natural” doesn’t have to mean “messy!”
Even a slightly more dense arrangement of decor here will elevate the chaos to something really special and unique to your yard.
We especially love the large stones used as a pathway crossing over the ditch.
It’s a lot simpler than some of the other bridges on this list, and it blends in very well with the plants and another natural decor.
Fill The Ditch With Colorful Stones
While this idea is a bit similar to others that utilize stones on our list, we like the splashes of natural-looking color here and there aside from the typical grey and brown.
You don’t necessarily have to use anything like those garish neon-colored aquarium rocks or anything here; even some subtle red or blue tones will liven up the area and give it a lot more dimension and style.
Having just a tiny bit of color variation when it comes to the decor in your yard goes a long way, especially when it comes to sprucing up a drainage ditch!
Of course, you have the option of going brighter and more vibrant, too, if you want something even more eye-catching than the natural-toned flat garden stones used here.
Use Large Pieces Of Lawn Decor Like Statues To Distract From The Ditch
Even a single stone statue will draw your guests’ eyes away from the drainage ditch itself, but you have the option to use as many as you’d like!
Consider theming the area with a certain kind of statue or decor, like various animal statues or even garden gnomes, if you want something more quirky and fun.
This is another excellent idea that proves you don’t have to be great with your hands to make your drainage ditch fabulous.
All you need is one interesting-looking garden ornament centerpiece to turn a simple ditch into a special themed area in your yard.
Implement A Natural-Looking Waterfall Into Your Drainage Ditch
Finally, we’ll finish off this list with something a bit more elaborate for those of you wanting a bigger project to have fun with.
If your yard has some variation in elevation, it might be worth using stones to create little layered waterfalls with your ditch.
During heavy rain, not only will you be thankful for the more efficient drainage, but the water features look incredible too.
This one takes a bit more planning and physical labor to pull off, but the result is truly unique and like something out of a fairy tale.
The more efficient design will help prevent water pooling in place and other common drainage issues often caused by stormwater.