Four steps to building a rain garden

Go on a rainy day hike . . . find out where the water from your driveway and gutters ends up.
A rain garden acts like a native forest capturing this rain water, slowing it down and allowing the water to percolate down into the ground. Compare this action to our common cul de sac where rain generally runs off of the sloped driveway skirts into a storm drain, travels through a pipe and is dumped into the closest stream, lake and ultimately to the Puget Sound. Two reasons the former is a better picture.

1. We need water to be in the ground . . .so we can pump it up. We all drink groundwater in Kitsap County. The only way that water gets there is through rain fall.
2. Rain fall picks up all the people stuff that we put on the ground and carries it to the Sound. Dog poop, oil from cars, chemicals from lawns all become a soup of that robs the Sound of oxygen. Rain gardens act as little factories, cleaning out this goop before the water travels on.

What is a rain garden?
Rain gardens are simply depressions in your yard. It can be any shape or size and can be planted with a variety of different plants. Want one??? Here are the four steps to get that accomplished.

Locate

• Identify the best location for the rain garden.
• Look for the natural drainage from driveways and downspouts.
• You need to do a simple soil test to determine how good the drainage is at this site.

Design & Build

• Determine the size and shape of the rain garden.
• Excavate the soil - only eighteen inches in most cases.
• Level the bottom of the rain garden - don't let it get compacted.
• Mix compost with the soil that you removed.
• Return and level the soil leaving at least a six inch depression to collect water.
• Create an entryway for the water this can be a swale or even a pipe.
• Create a rock lined over flow for those bigger storm events.

Plant

• Select plants that likes wet feet but that can also survive during the dry summers. There are plant lists readily available. Native plants are ideal, but many other plants work, too.
• Cover the soil with mulch
• Water the plants until they are established.

Maintain

• Mulch as needed to cut down on weeding chores.
• Make sure the inlet and outlet are both clear.
• Don't use pesticides or fertilizers. Remember this water is going to your aquifer.
• Water as needed, but if the correct plants were selected this will be required minimally and only in the warmest of weather.

This project is pretty straightforward, but help is available! WSU has a fleet of Master Gardeners waiting in the wings to help you with your rain garden construction. Also, Kitsap County Conservation District will help you with the costs incurred while building your garden. Can't beat that!

I am building a rain garden myself in late summer. I will let you know how it goes!