Rain Garden Design
This may be a natural depression on your property or it may be the result of a planned change in grade that you implement in your landscape.
Rain garden design. A rain garden is a shallow planted depression designed to hold water until it soaks into the soil. Clay soils work best to make a rain garden because they slow the percolation of water holding water while allowing it to slowly drain. A key feature of eco friendly landscape design rain gardens also known as bio infiltration basins are gaining credibility and converts as an important solution to stormwater runoff and pollution. The soil and root systems of plants in the rain garden filter the runoff cleansing it from pollutants.
Rain garden instructions normally suggest making it between 4 inches and 10 inches deep. You ll need a low spot or depression that s at least 10 feet from your house in order to make a rain garden. A rain garden is a landscaped feature that replaces an area of your lawn in order to collect the stormwater rain and melted snow that runs off your grass roof and driveway. Homeowners may choose to direct their downspouts into rain gardens where plants can absorb and filter even more water.
The plants and amended soil in a rain garden work together to filter runoff. Generally a rain garden is comprised of three zones that correspond to the tolerance plants have to standing water. The depression slows stormwater runoff catching cooling and absorbing it into the earth. A rain garden is a planted low area that allows rainwater runoff from hard surfaces like roofs driveways walkways and parking lots to soak in.
Create the rain garden by building a berm in a low spot in the yard then build swales to channel runoff from the gutters and higher parts of the yard. The size of your rain garden is entirely up to you but the larger a rain garden is the more runoff water it can hold and the more space for different rain garden plants you will have. The better a plant can handle wet feet the closer it is placed to the center of the garden. Choose the right site for your rain garden take a good look at your yard.
The next step in rain garden design is to dig out your rain garden. Amend your soil as needed. A rain garden is a depressed area in the landscape that collects rain water from a roof driveway or street and allows it to soak into the ground. Planted with grasses and flowering perennials rain gardens can be a cost effective and beautiful way to reduce runoff from your property.
The water is then absorbed into the soil through the network of deep plant roots.