[notfarnow]

AAARGH... our home has the same issue. Both in the garage as well as the basement. It just baffles me that someone would pour a foundation without proper drainage, and then lanscape around the property in such a way that the water runs TOWARDs the foundation wall.

In our case we addressed one of the factors that red-beard mentions: "I'll bet a good portion of your roof is draining into the backyard"
I've diverted the water from the gutters, but the foundation still weeps when we get a good soaking. Better than it was though... we used to get 5" of water in the basement.

The really scary part for us is the frost heave... if the ground is that soaked it can heave a foundation wall in no time.