we're building a rain garden

just like the optimist who tells you to make lemonade with your lemons, gardeners can make gardens with all of the rain that falls.  sounds odd but it is actually the best thing you can do for the environment.  it holds the water where it falls and prevents contamination from entering the water shed.  even if you practice organic gardening, your house can still contaminate the environment.  when rain washes off the rooftop and down the driveway into the street, it takes things with it that will contaminate the water supply.  for more information on this, check out the website for the cumberland river compact.

david cook decided he wanted to build a rain garden right in the middle of our demo garden for a very good reason.  the water pours off the roof of the building and washes down the walkway and into the center of the demo garden.  after every heavy rain, you could follow the wash pattern easily.  so, we are now going to harvest that water, keep it where it falls and prevent pollution as well as  have a vital tool to educate visitors to the garden on the importance of rain gardens.

the roof above the steps allows the water to pour into the garden via the walkway.  the path was lined with liriope on both sides so the first step was removing the liriope and digging a gully that meanders down the path; it forms a simple manmade stream bed.  david, along with my husband darry, used a tiller and shovels to do the digging.  they dug out a shallow path for the water; it is only about 6 inches deep  and it will be lined with a vinyl strip to prevent thebuildup of silt.  all of the liriope that was removed will be available for purchase during the field day event, at cheap prices too!  (and if you come help dig it up and pot it, you may even get some for free...)

a view of the water way, it is less than 40 feet from the steps to the basin that will catch and retain the water.

the view of the basin.  it is a bit deeper than the "stream bed" but not so deep that any heavy equipment was necessary.  the only thing used was a small tiller and shovels.  the soil that was removed was used to build the berm behind the basin.  this was done by 2 people in a couple hours.

another view of the basin

and still another view, slighly more close up

finally, here is david tilling what will be the vegetable garden.  not pictured is jim miles planting the bee nectar garden with fresh herb plants from the herb society's big annual spring sale which was held yesterday, 4/18.

***if you are interested in learning more about building a rain garden, david will be out at the demo garden on saturday, 4/25 to do more work and this will include adding the liner and plants.  the rest of the liriope will need to be removed and potted too.  the hours for this informal work session will be from 7:30am til...possibly noon.  see you there!