Grab a sturdy garden rake or a long stick. Your mission is to gently break the surface tension of the water by creating shallow channels leading away from the puddles. Think of it as directing a lazy river toward a designated exit point.
Work from the deepest puddle outward. These temporary trenches don’t need to be pretty—they just need to give the water a path to somewhere drier. If you have a slope, use it to your advantage; gravity is your free labor.
For larger areas, a lawn aerator is your best friend. Rent one from a hardware store (it’s surprisingly satisfying to use) and pull plugs of soil out of the ground. This instantly creates thousands of tiny drainage holes that let water soak in instead of sitting on top.
