April, 2002 — Before stacking the rock I laid a drainage line at the base of the wall just behind the first row of stone, shown in this photo. The line is tied into the same line the downspouts drain into.
The photo below shows Rosemary (for scale only, I did the stacking) next to the wall when it was half-finished. Landscape fabric keeps the soil from eroding into the wall. Since my neighbor's side yard is covered in concrete and drains to the front of her lot, very little water is taken up by the earth behind this wall, reducing the hydrostatic forces against it. In addition, the wall is inherently porous, so pressure cannot build up behind it.
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