Rain gardens reduce the risk of flooding with a little help from Mother Nature. Find out how well-placed planters can protect your home from the rain.
Gardens can be more than beautiful. They can provide you with food, shade your home or garden, and even help divert flooding from your home. Rain gardens are flooded areas of your landscape that are specially designed and planted to capture and control excess rainfall.
Rain gardens not only help reduce the risk of flooding, but they can also help reduce water pollution in your area. As water flows through your rain garden, it filters out pollutants and debris that would otherwise go directly into local streams and waterways.
Related: How to make your home climate safe
Even in arid regions of the country, a rain garden can help with rainfall fluctuations (and even help restore excess rainfall in drylands). The design of the rain garden should only be related to the local environment.
“Regardless of the location, a well-designed rain garden will take into account the intensity and frequency of rainfall,” says Coleman Cosby, project manager at online landscape design firm YardGen. "Property details, slope, garden size and depth, plant selection, and soil infiltration rate must all be considered to avoid potential rainfall."
Find the right place
Because your rain garden collects runoff, you don't want it near your house. Find a spot at least 10 feet from your house (and your neighbor's house—you don't want the flooding to get worse for them). The site must be on a slope from your house, but not at the lowest point; You want another safe place where water can seep out of the house during heavy rains.
Rain gardens are particularly suitable for areas close to hard surfaces such as patios, driveways or sidewalks, where they can help collect runoff from that surface. Avoid shaded areas. You need a spot that gets at least some sunlight to dry out the area completely and not become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. And trees tend to be a source of drainage, so don't plant a rain garden under your trees.
On the topic: How to get rid of mosquitoes in the garden.
According to the Watershed Institute, if you're having trouble finding a good spot on your property, you can always opt for a mini rain garden. A drain diverts water from their sewage system to irrigate the fields, after which the soil becomes an overflow. (Just make sure the landing site is positioned and sloped so any runoff runs away from your house.)
Be careful not to touch engineering cables and pipes.
You certainly don't want to damage your water and sewer pipes, electrical or gas lines while digging your rain garden. Call your local pickup service and note the location of the lines so you can stay out of these areas.
If you have a septic system, you want to place the rain garden at least 25 feet from the system and above the drain field.
Try to dry the area.
"The depth of depression needed for your rain garden will depend on how much runoff you get and the type of soil," says Cosby. “You want your rain garden to absorb normal rainfall in 24 hours. If your soil drains quickly you can go deeper, if it's a poorly drained clay soil you'll need a shallow depression."
According to the New Jersey Rain Garden Guide, sites that can receive 1.5 inches of water per hour are ideal. The best way to check. Dig a small test hole 12" deep and 4-6" wide, fill it with water once, then fill it again, and measure how much it drains each hour for the next four hours.
Decide how big you want it to be
The size of your lot, the number of impervious areas on your land (such as your house, garden, driveway, pool, and sidewalks), rainfall, and whether the soil drains well.
For most homes, a 100- to 300-foot-wide rain garden will suffice to manage runoff, but even if you don't have one, any area can help. “For smaller properties, reduce the total area of your rain garden to a safe distance from foundations and buildings,” says Cosby. "Even if you can't collect all the rainwater in a small garden, you still have an impact."
If your soil doesn't drain well, you'll want to build a large rain garden for more drainage, and if you have well-draining sandy soil, you can use a smaller one. The ideal depth for a rain garden is 3 to 8 inches, with gardens deeper in sandy soil and shallower in clay soil.
Creation of entrances and exits
Make it easier for water to drain away from your home by creating drainage channels in your rain garden. Cosby says you can put a rock in your rain garden to keep water away from the drain.
Snorkels are also useful when it rains a lot; They will help remove excess water from the rain garden and from your home.
Placing rocks or dirt debris around the edges of your rain garden can help retain stormwater and prevent erosion.
Ensure adequate soil drainage.
If the soil in your rain garden doesn't drain well, you can fix it. Add a mix of coarse sand, loam, and compost to create the perfect fast-draining soil that will help your rain garden thrive.
Related: Start-A-Garden Checklist:
Pro Tip: Don't put weed-blocking fabric in your rain garden, as it can clog your rain garden's drainage.
Choose the right plants for your rain garden
Of course, this is not for plants that like to stay dry. “Plants that can tolerate very wet soil conditions and large fluctuations in soil moisture do best in rain gardens,” says Cosby. "Plants at the lowest point of a pool or rain garden must withstand more moisture and for longer periods of time than plants on the perimeter, which dry out faster."
For your rain garden, look for native plants that thrive in your local climate. “They are workhorses for controlling soil erosion, filtering pollutants, and returning stormwater to the ground at an efficient rate,” says Cosby. Cosby recommends using sedges or sedge species in the wetter parts of the rain garden.
The National Wildlife Fund's Native Plant Finder program can suggest ideal native flowers, herbs, and shrubs as a great starting point. Choose perennials to reduce rain garden maintenance costs.
Some common plants suitable for the rain include:
• Guest
• Suzanne with black eyes
• Cone flowers
• Astra
• holly
RELATED: 15 Outdoor Plants You Can't Kill
Lie down in your rain garden
Like any other part of your garden, your rain garden needs a bit of maintenance to thrive. Keep an eye on the plants, especially during long dry spells, to see if they need regular watering and cleaning to help your chosen plants thrive. (This is especially important in the early years until the plants are fully grown and will help suppress weed growth.)
RELATED: 9 Gardening Tips for Beginners
You'll also want to clear out any debris that may be blocking the water, especially if you know heavy rain is coming. This way, nothing will stop your rain garden from doing its job.
For more real and useful news, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.
Read the original article in Real Simple.
