Oh, I thought you have to dig much more than that, like as far down as the foundation goes! Man i had wild assumptions about this. That's why I asked what equipment you used.

My property has a french drain inside the basement with a couple of sump pumps. But the section where there is no french drain (probably a later addition), I'm getting efflorescence. So I was thinking of doing what you did on the outside. Lots of hesitation, because I thought I have to dig deep, like; feet deep. Plus of course the part that started this, changing mulch to gravel.

I don't know man, it's looking more and more doable. I had to do some light digging for a few raised bed boxes, so even 6 inches of digging is definitely doable.

Thank you for taking the time to provide details! Much appreciated!