As the rain is pouring down, a typical home will have water streaming out of the downspout and across the lawn, picking up pesticides and fertilizers, and traveling into an oily street, down a drain and straight into a nearby river or stream. Yuck! An easy solution to this is to create a beautiful rain garden! You can divert your downspout to point directly towards a planting bed that will work just like a sponge. This project can take up to 3 days to complete but it is very easy to do as long as you are willing to do a little digging!

Finding a place for your rain garden: You would think that a low lying area in your yard would be the perfect place. The reality is that you want to put your garden in a place that is not already soggy. Keep it at least 10 feet away from the house and at least 50 feet away from the septic system. Avoid any slopes in the yard that are over 15%. Make sure that there aren't any underground utilities in the way, you can do this by calling 811.

Once you have found a good spot it is time to do a percolation test. Dig a 2 foot hole in the area, add 8 to 12 inches of water and wait. If it takes 12 hours for 8 inches of water to soak into the ground than the percolation rate would be 0.67 inches per hour (8 divided by 12). Any rate that is higher than 0.5 is perfect, you will only have to dig 18 inches deep! If the rate is lower than 0.5 you will have to dig 30 inches deep and if the rate is less than 0.1 than you will have to find a different place for your garden.

You may find that the size is smaller than what you had expected. To make this garden impressive and effective, build your garden at least 150 ft square. The shape can vary from oval, kidney, teardrop or even a long and skinny one can be beautiful! You can use a garden hose to test out different shapes until you find the one you like. Once you find the perfect shape outline it with spray paint. Measure 18 inches out from the garden into the lawn and mark this area with spray paint as well. Since grass likes to creep into gardens, removing the sod around the garden will minimize the chances of this happening. This 18 inches of lawn can be removed with a spade or by renting a sod cutter. A sod cutter runs somewhere around $80.00/day.

It's now time to start digging your garden. You can use a shovel or you can rent an excavator for about $250.00/day and begin to dig your garden to the depth that you have determined by figuring the percolation rate. Make the bottom flat so that the water will percolate evenly. Dig a trench for the piping that will carry the water from the gutter(s) to the garden. A rigid pipe with smooth walls serves best here. Line the bottom of the garden and around the piping with stones to prevent erosion. Once all the stones and the piping are in place fill the rest of the trench excavated dirt. Fill the rest of the garden area, except for the top 6-12 inches with rain garden soil. Rain garden soil consists of about 65% of the excavated dirt (if it's clay free, otherwise use native soil) and 35% compost.

Now for fun part! Planting your garden! The purpose of your garden is to filter runoff, therefore you would want to plant the plants that can tolerate a whole lot of water closer to the center of your garden. The middle of the garden should have plants that can handle occasional standing water such as snowberries. The outer portion of the garden should contain plants that prefer drier soil.

Cover the garden with approximately 3 inches of mulch once all the plants are planted. Keep the garden nice and wet until the roots have been established. Now grab a chair and a good book and bring it out to your garden and enjoy all your hard work!