I don't think I'm allowed to alter the downspout, as I'm in an apartment complex. I was planning on adding material to make that end of the garden not so low to make it drain better, but any soil amending will have to wait until spring thaw. (If I was in a house, I would totally make a watering hose out of the downspout, though. That's a great idea, and reminds me of the crazy engineering we did to fit rain barrels on the house in Virginia.)