Rain Gardens have become a great addition to our Rainwater Harvesting projects. We always build in some kind of overflow into the system. Once the tank fills up the water has to go somewhere. Sometimes it is diverted back to where it was going before, i.e. sewer or sidewalk but where there is space and the garden contours allow we encourage Rain Gardens. Here in NY we turn to Brooklyn Botanic Garden for expertise. Here is an excellent article on the topic with some how to information: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2004sp_raingardens1.html
Also a link for a good list of plants for all regions: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2004sp_raingardens.html Rain Gardens are a definite piece of the sustainable garden. Lenny Lenny Librizzi Council on the Environment 51 Chambers Street room 228 NY,NY 10007 212-788-7927 phone 212-788-7913 fax [email protected] www.cenyc.org -----Original Message----- From: Mike McGrath [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 2/19/2009 1:15 PM To: [email protected]; Vicki Garrett Cc: [email protected] Subject: [Community_garden] Rain gardens I researched this a while back. It turns out that they are appropriate for just about any location, and there are many ways to build a rain garden. Here's my take on them; and some great links: http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=818 ---McG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Reid" <[email protected]> To: "Vicki Garrett" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:46 PM Subject: Re: [Community_garden] B.T. (Before Tires) I think the plants might be appropriate, but from what we are told around here, it would be good to check whether in Ohio they recommend rain gardens a nd their particular porous soil mix to be placed in low spots. Around here it's quite the opposite -- they say actually NOT to put the rain garden in the low spot. Rather, I'm told that somewhere on the way to the low spot is better. However, blindly following instructions is not wise, and I'm not sure if the low spot is considered to be a risk to the groundwater or what. The soil prep for the rain garden is very particular and I would suppose you could use the wetland fringe plants (aka facultative plants- that will do okay in part wet and part dry conditions) for such a spot. Many thanks for the link, Vicki! Chris Reid Stamford, CT --- On Thu, 2/19/09, Vicki Garrett <[email protected]> wrote: From: Vicki Garrett <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] B.T. (Before Tires) To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 10:48 AM Great idea, Chris. The Franklin Co. SWCD has a nice page on rain gardens (http://www.franklinswcd.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=46&Itemid=117) with links at the bottom with instructions, including suggested plants. A rain garden in a low spot would be practical, educational, and attract beneficials. Anna, I've used the Geauga SWCD's manual (at the bottom of the linked page), and they have great native plant suggestions for our area. ---Vicki On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 5:38 AM, Chris Reid <[email protected]> wrote: Anna who raised the original question on tires brought it up because she still has a corner of the garden she is working on that she'd like to plant with native plants that will bring in some beneficials. She isn't into tires, she's into plants, and wanted to make sure they could have dry enough conditions to grow. I had suggested to her that she might not have to do raised anything if we can figure out HOW moist/wet the spot is and suggest a native plant or three that will attract beneficials, not shade out her garden, and be perfectly happy in the existing conditions. I believe that the garden is in Ohio. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090219/228f5eeb/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090219/e4d38b78/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090220/b42ef9db/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
