Our house sits sideways on a small granite cliff. Our side yard, which we recently excavated about a foot down to the rock because of contaminated soil, slopes downward to the house. The runoff is probably is the source of water in our crawlspace. We'd like to level off the area and build raised vegetable beds there, and also improve drainage while we're at it.
Our idea was to use retaining wall block to build a 8' x 16' rectangle parallel to the house, fourteen feet away from the foundation. We would fill this rectangle until the surface was level. Not sure yet whether we would use gravel and pavers (for raised patio space), gravel and soil (plant directly in the soil), or plain gravel (put raised garden beds on top). This would probably be a DIY project.
The question is, what would be best for drainage? Would filling with soil be best? Or would a level paved surface be better? Would placing a perforated pipe along the base of the lower retaining wall direct the water sideways into our front yard?