Creating a residential rain garden is a great way to capture runoff from leaving your property. Rain gardens can be beautiful additions to your landscape; they are aesthetically pleasing and provide wind breaks, absorb noise, provide wildlife habitat and reduce the urban heat island effect. By creating a small bermed depression, amending the soils and using native plants, you can capture thousands of gallons of runoff.
Tips for creating your own rain garden: - Research rain garden techniques and implementation to familiarize yourself with successful models, such as this sample layout.
- Locate a good spot for your rain garden.
- Your rain garden should be located at least 10 feet from the house. A natural site is a low spot in your yard. It is best if the raingarden is placed in at least half a day of sunshine and there should be a natural slope from the water collection area (your roof or driveway) down to the rain garden.
- Call Miss Utility before you dig.
- Acquire appropriate permits to make sure that you are not in a right-of-way.
- Remove sod and dig about 2½ ft deep.
- Amend the soils with two to three inches of compost. Soil mix should be 50 percent sand, 25 percent organic and 25 percent topsoil
- Add native plants to the garden.
- Use at least 3 inches of mulch.
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