It hasn’t been very rainy yet, but it sure will be again soon. Have you thought about where all that rain water is going to go? Rain gardens will capture the rain water and get into the ground where it belongs!
Every time it rains, we generate a ton of water. Every drop collected with all of our neighbors, every parking lot, every business, every hard surface, generates rain water. When we collect all that rain water together, it is usually too much for our local streams, creeks, and lakes to handle. When we pipe all that water to our local waterways, we create a lot of harm – we increase erosion and flooding, reduce native plant populations, and can even increase the spread of invasive species.
Rain gardens were developed as a way for a homeowner to do their part and beautify their property, while also trying to manage rain water at home and get it into the ground where it belongs.
What is a Rain Garden? Rain gardens are shallow depressions, usually six inches deep, that are hand-dug and planted with deep rooted, water-loving native plants. Essentially our rain water is directed from our roofs to a sited rain garden where water can be captured and temporarily stored it for one to three days in duration. Once there the plants, soil and microbes in the soil work together to clean the water, while the deep rooted native plants create capillaries that help it to soak into the ground .
When these gardens are not soaking up rain water, they are looking great and enhancing our landscapes. Native plants have great leaf textures, a variety of flower colors and heights to create interesting and unique gardens for our homes.
How to Build a Rain Garden:
For more “how-to” information on rain gardens, please visit our resource page at: http://www.formecology.com/resources/education/projects/Rain_Gardens_How_To_Guide_For_Homeowners.pdf
Rain Garden Plant Lists for sunny & shady sites available on our website at:http://www.formecology.com/resources/educational.php
This article was written by my good friend John Gishnock of Formecology. John is the foremost authority in Rain Gardens in the Midwest and gives lectures throughout the US on subjects that include rain gardens, natural stone hardscape features, native landscape design, and sustainable landscape features. For information about John and his company please visit his website or click on the links above.
If you have any questions about Rain Gardens or Native plants, please leave it in a comment on this page. John will answer and others can share the knowledge.
fantastic, i could do this, do you think it attracts rain too? as we are getting unusually dry out here in the midwest this year! c
Reblogged this on homesbyjim and commented:
Great way to recycle water and add to your landscaping.
Great article and fine way to recycle water.
Reblogged this on GWENDOLINE'S GARDEN.
You bet! Maybe we should talk about rainwater harvesting in the fall? There are simple ways to do this like using a 55 gallon drum, called a rain barrel, or larger containers that can be installed to store rainwater for reuse in the landscape. Rainwater is great for plants 😉
Do you have a problem with mosquitos in these areas? In Houston, we tend to want the water to either soak in right now, or go somewhere else, which is Braes Bayou, which leads to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. There has been much said by city, county and state agencies about the importance of not polluting the water that goes in the storm drains, because of this. I know of several commercial buildings with roof gardens, and these absorb a tremendous amount of water in neighborhoods that tend to flood. I’m not talking about anything that requires maintenance, but native prairie grass on the roof.
In the driest state of the commonwealth, country settlements and towns generally make great use of rain water tanks, on farms and private houses. I have two large rain water tanks out back with the water of the main tank being piped into the house for domestic use. The other tank its used for watering the garden in the drier months. Since we have had more than usual rain this year, both tanks are full.
I love this idea. I have 2 large rainwater tanks that collect the water from the roof of my house. The government (I live in Australia – water is always on our mind) gave subsidies to install rainwater tanks to help people put less of a demand on the water supply for gardens (we generally have rationing of some sort) and to help reduce the overflow in local creeks when the big rains hit. I also put a rainwater tank (if a garbage bin counts) to collect rainwater from my chicken coop roof. I haven’t done a rain garden yet but I’m going to mull this over. Good information, thanks for posting it.
Well, I’m glad to see I got it almost right! I had a garage roof with a harvesting problem, so decided I’d contour the land below the down pipe to slow the run off and direct it, in an unfolding fan shape, as it made its way across the garden and out onto the grassy ‘nature strip’ alongside the road. It was amazing how little watering that garden needed from me!
I love the idea of a rain garden… beautiful photos too. 😉
I just saw a rain garden here yesterday ~ http://www.bgriverwalk.org. I love this idea. Also like your Garden Project. Are there any in CT? I’d like to be part of this effort. Toni
Very interesting post! I love the idea of a rain garden too!
love this. Plan to reblog it on Monday
Reblogged this on Garden at School and commented:
Teach kids about water conservation, pollution caused by runoff water, and the importance of native plants. If your school has the space, create a rain garden! If not, you might still want to look into other rainwater collection systems, such as rain barrels.
(Can I like twice? This post deserves 2 likes…). Rain gardens are my answer to “what to do when you live on a very steep block and your property is covered in volcanic rock and digging is next to impossible. I couldn’t make swales work here and was starting to think that I was just going to have to let the stormwater runoff dig a nice runnel to China when I discovered rain gardens. Thank you so much for this wonderful post and for sharing all of these resources. Along with Anthropogen and Milkwood Farm you are helping us solve lots of the problems that we encounter on a daily basis on Serendipity Farm. Cheers! 🙂
I’ve never heard of these but what an awesome idea! I saved this article and can;t wait to look at my yard and see where i could put one. Thanks!
A great alternative to capturing rain water. In Colorado it is illegal to have a rain barrel or capture the water. Not sure why if it’s put back into the ground to water the plants but none the less, it’s the law in most counties. Probably has something to do with feeding water sources that flow into other states. Not sure. I should do some research to see why.
Like this!
Thanks for putting this out there. Rain gardens are wonderful, but I took a class in making a rain garden last year and sadly discovered that my yard is not suited to one because of its slope that leads down to the foundation of our home (there’s already a sump pump in the basement). It’s a good idea to check out the resources listed in this blog, and if your extension agency offers a class as mine did, take it. The one I took was free. Now if it would just rain here in SW PA! I can still collect rainwater in all sorts of conveyances, as long as I use it and not let the collected water become a mosquito breeder.
[…] at The Soulsby Farm Blog they had an interesting article on rain gardens, now we don’t get a lot of rain out here in Vegas but the article did make me think that I […]
Awesome post! And thanks for the like on my post on tomatoes and corn surviving the hailstorm. 😀
I’ll be following you now. 😀
Marvelous! Making this work in Vancouver would be interesting!
Super blog! We are kindred spirits! Thanks for stopping by and keep up the admirable work!
I wish we could have a rain garden. We are heading into our dry season here in the Foothills in CA. We might have a tiny bit more but everything here gets dry and hard quickly! Great article!
I have never heard of a rain garden. This seems perfect for my backyard! Thank you so much!
P.C. Zick comments that she saves water in a lot of conveyances but doesn’t want them to become mosquito breeding grounds. I have a bin for collecting rain water from the roof of my chicken coop and my husband put a hole in the lid then attached a strainer to the hole (the hole is where the water is channelled into the tank). This is the same basic principle our large commercially made rainwater tanks have. The theory being that if you put a mesh over the openning, no mosquitoes can get in to lay their eggs. It works well and we should never get mosquitoes in our rainwater. We just have to make sure we put the lid back on and seal it tightly after taking water out.
Rain gardens make so much sense. Great article.
Thanks for posting this article. If I didn’t have rain on the brain, I do now, Great information. Will reblog.
Reblogged this on The Naturalist Blogger and commented:
wonderful article from a fellow blogger to help us work more creatively with nature.
Everyday is a day of learning. Today The Soulsby Farm touched the soul. Beautifully written and good content. Thank you for teaching,
Love what you’re doing here. Our third daughter and hubby are doing very close to the same here in rural NC. Chickens are their favorite. Thanks for sharing and please keep up the great work!
Thanks for hitting like on my site = )
Great post-love learning new things
Brillant Idea! Never heard of that before, but it makes total sense! I have a great natural depression for this, unfortunately it is in the middle of my chicken pen! Go figure.
This is a great idea. When I eventually have a yard I’ll definitely try to put one of these in!
Love reading your blog. I learn something new every time.
Never heard of a rain garden before; enlightening.
Great post! I love the idea…I am wondering how we could incorporate this into our landscape. Thanks again!
I renjoy your blog!
This is a great concept. We used to do this on the ranch, and I never thought to do this in the home garden.
Check out some of the tricks used in NM for gardens. Pretty cool stuff if this is an interest to you. I learned a ton about the subject living there…there is no rain…and lots of wind so gardening can be hard. Rain catchment systems, clay jars buried under plants…good stuff!
I love this idea! I’ll have to check out which of these plants can survive a Nor’Easter. Soaking up snow melt to keep mu cellar dry- music to my ears!- FoodItYourself
Nice succinct explanation. I’m going to show my kids, who just planted a rain garden at school.
so important to harvest all that rain, excellent post!
Juliet
http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com
Great info. I will share with my brother-in-law (the gardener/lawn guy).
Thanks
Love what you guys are doing with this blog–I’m vegan so I don’t like when people slaughter chickens, but I don’t know if that’s the end result….I think it’s great when people take in (preferably rescued) hens and let them eat bugs and dustbathe and BE CHICKENS! I hope one day to have a homestead where we can get some rescued chickens and feed their eggs to our domestic pets, as well as set up a rainwater cachement system…one can only dream!
Much thanks for “liking” my review of “Operation Bite Back” about Rod Coronado! Would be honored if you’d keep reading my future posts.
Love and Liberation,
Jan @ TheRewildWest
We had a segment in Master Gardener’s training on rain gardens, but prior to that, I’d not known of this wonderful concept. Very good post and from the looks of the comments, you’ve impacted many people! This really is such an informative blog!
Hi Dan,
Thanks for “liking” my post “Color” on
uribotanicalgardens.wordpress.com
I love reading about your small farm! Some of these great ideas have been in place at our home garden for years (vegetables, canning, chickens, etc.) Some of them we are trying to incorporate into the Botanical Gardens, (rain gardens, native plants) a place
where the public can come and learn about sustainable landscapes and gardening.
I’m looking forward to reading more!
Best,
Gabrielle
I read about this just earlier this year. It’s a brilliant idea! I shared your post on fb so more people can learn about it. Thanks for sharing it!
Thank you very much for posting this information. We recently installed a pool right in the path of our (unknown) downspout. We have too much rain for the rain barrel I installed, so a diverter to a Rain Garden may just be the ticket!
Well as we get plenty of rain here in Scotland….. this is food for thought.
[…] frogs, dragonflies and other small creatures can exist. Soulsby Farm recently published a post on How to build a rain garden, which ties in extremely nicely with the focus of water conservation and dew ponds. I recommend you […]
I love the ideas behind this post and have linked to it from a post I’ve just created on dew ponds in England: http://wuppenif.com/2012/06/01/dew-ponds/
Great post on an important topic.
Thank you for liking my post about Swedish bears! And thank you for taking the time to write about water conservation, it has been pouring down the past couple of days here in western Sweden and I am taking your practical advice to heart. More to follow on my blog.
Now that’s an interesting article. I need to read it more closely. Maybe it’ll give me some ideas, even if we might not have much use for a “rain” garden down here. It’s awfully dry already and no rain in sight. But still, we can hope.
Best regards from southern Texas,
Pit
Hi-thanks for stopping by my blog!Wow! I had never heard of a rain garden. What a interesting article! Definitely gonna share this post!!!!
Reblogged this on EMPOWERED RESULTS ~ Creating A Difference In Our Communities… and commented:
Hi dear Readers! Do you know what a rain garden is? Well I just found out. Check this post out from Soulsby Farm.
Enjoy!
Thanks for spreading the knowledge! G @ Caramelize Life
Finally had a moment to check out your blog and so glad I did. I really love this idea. Thanks for sharing it.
I’m working on a follow up piece to my blog on water (thanks for dropping by) with suggestions on how to reduce run off. I plan to mention rain gardens, but not in detail. Mind if I lint this post into my text? (I’m working extra days this week and may not get the draft together for another week or so).
Thanks, Oscar
Absolutely, thanks for the link. Please make a link to http://www.formecology.com/ that’s the author’s site. He’s happy to share any knowledge of questions that may arise from your readers.
You know your stuff! You certainly can do everything on your farm & you are great in explaining it all to us! Very enlightning! 🙂 Many greets from a foodie from Belgium!
Great Blog – very informative and well-written. Thank you!
How fascinating! We have had problems with rainwater drainage here. I wonder whether anyone in the UK specialises in these?
[…] Although most of the time we tend to be on the more arid side of things here in Calgary and we’re usually looking for xeriscaping tips, this hugely informative article about rain gardens might be just the ticket, considering the copious amount of rain we’ve had this month. After all, we all should be thinking about how best to trap rainwater and conserve it for future use. Check out this post at Soulsby Farm! […]
Reblogged this on frugallifeblog and commented:
Great idea!!
A number of people in Memphis are exploring rain gardens also. This was interesting to learn about. Thanks for visiting my blog and liking my post.
[…] of ways to capture rapid flows of water and contain them for slower release or ground absorption. Rain gardens around parking lots and roads can add a feature of containing and breaking down oil and road grime, […]