Detaining that rain is more important than you thought
Detail that rain so that you can water your garden during the dryer months. The water more we can keep, the happier & healthier our plants will be.
As we experience new weather cycles, larger volumes of rain less often, it’s time to look at how we can keep this water on site to benefit our gardens and to capture this water for future use. By keeping this rainwater on site, it benefits our home landscape, recharging the soil, which supports plant health, which is especially important during times of drought like we are in now. Also, when rainwater can stay on our property, it prevents pollution from reaching our creeks, wetlands, and the Bay.
I have a few options listed here:
Install rainwater catchment systems. Rain barrels and cisterns now come in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet the needs of just about any situation. The barrels pictured in the photo above hold 55 gallons of water each and are linked together. This is a great way to start, as over time more can be added. Smaller barrels are easy to install and cost effective. Larger cisterns cost more, take up more space but also can hold hundreds even thousands of gallons of water.
Install a rain garden. Rain gardens are a landscaped areas designed to receive rainwater that runs off roofs, sidewalks, patios, and other paved surfaces and help that water absorb into the ground. It can also take on overflow from a rain barrel.
Installing a rain garden is a low impact solution that provides many benefits. Rain gardens allow the water to stay on site instead of running off into the storm drain. The goal of a rain garden is to ‘slow, spread and sink’ the rain water. This water in able to sink deeply to reach deeply rooted trees & shrubs, as well as recharging the groundwater. Rain gardens are beautiful, relatively easy to install, support pollinators, beneficial insects, moderate temperatures, and sequester carbon. Plant with climate appropriate plants that will thrive with little care once established. (Photo below is of a beautiful rain garden planted with CA natives plants that can thrive during the winter wet season and the long summer dry season. Photo & design created by Thorne Architects)
Increase permeable surfaces within your garden. If you have impermeable hardscaped surfaces throughout your property, consider ways to increase the permeability so that when it rains, that water can sink in rather than running off into the storm drains or local creeks. Consider gravel pathways rather than concrete, or dry laid flagstone rather than flagstone that is laid in mortar. You can also cut strips into concrete patios, driveways and parking pads so that the water can infiltrate rather than run off into the street.
Finding ways to keep water on site is a win win for you, your landscape and the health of our local waterways.
Here is information on installing a rain catchment system from the awesome folks at Greywater Action 💦
Here’s a pretty good video on the benefits of installing a rain garden that I found YouTube from WSU. A rain garden doesn’t have to be as large as in this video, it’s pretty thorough. Here’s a fact sheet from the Bay Area Stormwater group that provides some more information on installing a rain garden 🌿
If you haven’t seen my new list of free seasonal gardening webinars, please have a look 👩🏻🌾 I hope you can join!
