From Christine MacDonald at the Atlantic Cities blog, on “Why Every City Should Be Planting Rain Gardens“:
Andy Wible’s backyard in Washington, D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood doesn’t look much like a sewerage drain. But his Bayberry, Bee Balm, Iris and Golden Ragwort plants get the job done – and then some. Dug 30 inches down and filled with a mixture of sand, topsoil and compost, Wible’s rain garden draws raindrops tumbling off the roof deep into the soil, purifying them and recharging the groundwater.
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The backyard patch is part of RiverSmart Washington, a new network of rain gardens that seek to mimic a natural ecosystem and end the scourge of sewerage overflows that have long befouled the country’s waterways…
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Once, cities were built to channel storm water away from building foundations and roadways. But as urban areas have grown, rooftops, streets and other impervious surfaces have disrupted cities’ natural hydrology. Today, everyone from water authorities to home gardeners are looking to absorb rain where it falls, eschewing traditional treatment plants and underground sewerage tunnels that effectively neutralize runoff, but don’t do much else…
I will admit I love this concept — of course I love just about any gardening concept that involves the phrase ‘minimal upkeep’ — although I’m not sure what it would take to make the EPA happy in an elderly urban area like mine, where the groundwater is already seriously contaminated. (True story: Our house is built on two overlapping Superfund sites. We couldn’t finish our mortgage application until we’d signed a form promising not to put in a well, as though that were a possibility on a 75×80 foot lot.) Anybody here have experience with rain gardens?
Here in New England, it’s too early even for seed-starting, although the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map has just been recalibrated to address the anthropogenic climate change that officially isn’t happening. It’s been a hella weird winter, with just about no plowable snow since the Halloween Horrorshow spoilt the weekend for a lot of trick-or-treaters and insurance adjusters, and temps running a consistent 20 degrees above average. Which has meant, for me, looking at a sodden grey/brown yard reflecting all my sad yardkeeping failures, without the face-saving snow cover to disguise my slackness. Usually by this time I’m well into making lists of potential planting purchases, but without the white-out, I just can’t seem to get motivated. Maybe, like a daffodil bulb, I just need a certain period of below-freezing temperatures to inspire green shoots.
How’s the garden-planning, or actual gardening, going in your neighborhood? Send me your pics ([email protected], or click on the link near the top right-hand column) and I’ll put up a Sunday Garden Chat when we’ve got something to share….
jnfr
I saw that article last week and really loved it. The use of various kinds of wetlands for cleaning wastewater and recharging aquifers is seriously useful and no one pays attention to it.
You’re a little early for gardening season in Colorado, but give me another month and I’ll have some shallots and kale out at least. And don’t fret over your yard failures too much. We all have them.
Raven
We have buds on Azaleas and weeds all over the dam place. The princess worked so hard in the garden this weekend she hurt her neck!
cckids
Rain gardens, huh? What is this “rain” of which you speak?
Seriously, we’re coming off the driest, warmest winter I can remember in 16 years here in S. Nevada. In 2011, we had, officially, 2″ of precipitation, 1″ or so of which fell in one big storm in July. It makes me afraid of what summer will bring.
Love the idea of capturing rainfall, tho.
Maude
It’s the time of year when everything looks ugly. The dull browns and bare trees make things look bleak.
No one’s yard looks good now. If you are looking for an excuse for a messy yard not covered by snow, blame the wind. It blew everything onto the yard and well, what can you do?
And tell those kids to get off the lawn.
Raven
Here’s a nice shot of our little garden monument to Raven. While we lost him almost 5 years ago he’s always with us.
Mike in NC
Bad news: unseasonable cold night killed two beautiful dwarf palm trees in the front yard.
Good news: they only cost $10 each at Home Depot.
woodyNYC
Funny to see a Garden Chat now – I spent 2 hours looking through seed catalogs on the web today. Maybe it’s because I took a walk ( downtown Brooklyn) and saw heather, periwinkle, snowdrops, and even a crocus in bloom. Daffodils are 8 in. tall already.
Speaking of seed vendors, I wonder if anyone has any recommendations? I usually wait til seeds show up in the stores but I’m thinking I might get an early start this year.
Cheryl Rofer
Winter jasmine buds are swelling. They usually bloom late February or early March in northern New Mexico.
Linda Featheringill
I planted a fall garden last year and talked about it endlessly, as some may recall. :-)
But I learned some stuff.
One: Leafy is the way to go. Maybe leaves require fewer hours of sunshine to produce but the leafy stuff definitely did better.
Two: Don’t worry about the cold. I harvested kale and spinach when the ground was frozen and the plants were covered with snow. Didn’t matter. I don’t know if I could have made a salad out of the winter greens but they were very nice added to soup and other cooked things.
Three: The woven grocery bags make fine containers. They can sit on top of the ground wherever it’s convenient. And if they freeze all they way through, that’s okay. See #2 in this sermon. Some cannot be reused this year because they tore or fell apart or whatever. But they cost only 99 cents.
Four: Early and often. I should have planted about the first of August instead of Labor Day. The plants reached a point where they grew very little. They stayed alive and fresh, but they weren’t growing. Another month of the warm and sunny days would have made them bigger and more productive. And I should have planted much, much more. I only had about 5 or 6 plants of five or six different veggies. Next year, I’ll plant more of fewer types. This time, I picked the last of the survivors in the first week of January. If I had planted more, it might have lasted into March.
What to do this spring? Gee, I don’t know. It’s still pretty chilly in Ohio.
Maude
@woodyNYC:
Burpee seeds are here in NJ in the local garden center.
Raven
@woodyNYC: The princess is pouring over catalogs as we speak. She likes D Landreth
Linda Featheringill
@Raven:
Very nice. Buddha and Saint Francis?
Raven
@Linda Featheringill: I made navy bean soup with kale yesterday and it was a big hit. The greens are going nuts down here.
Violet
@Maude:
Mine looks great. Grass is finally somewhat green since we’ve been getting some rain. Bulbs are coming up, although no blooms yet. Walking irises are blooming, which seems really early to me. I’ve got bedding plants like pansies in to add some color. It’s a great time to garden.
Trees are beginning to bud. I’ve been out pruning fruit trees today, and the apple is already blooming. Yikes. Very early, but it has been a warm winter.
I’m looking at putting in a rain garden, although I’m not quite sure where to put it. I want to prevent runoff as much as possible, but the low areas in the yard are inconveniently located (like where the walkway is to the garage–it floods every time it rains) and I certainly don’t want to put them where the sun is, as I’m trying to grow vegetables. Decisions, decisions!
I bought a bunch of tomato seedlings to put in. I didn’t get them in today so will try to find time this week. This is early for us to put them in, but it’s a very warm winter, so I’m going to go ahead and put them in now and take my chances with the frost.
Linda Featheringill
@woodyNYC:
Seed sellers:
I’ve always had good luck with Burpee. And their already started plants are very strong.
Raven
@Violet: Like three months early, no?
Violet
@woodyNYC:
Johnny’s Seeds. It’s an employee owned company. The folks I know swear by them.
Yutsano
I’m building up the courage to attempt an herb garden on the back porch. I’m not too good with growing the green things, but even if all I get to live past a week is a chive plant and mint that’s still a win for me. I also plan to make it portable in case there’s a last-minute cold snap or something.
Raven
@Linda Featheringill: Oh yea, and St Christopher’s hangin in the wheelbarrow grotto with Our Lady of Guadalupe votive candles. I kept candles burning for a year after we lost the little fella and now have solar lights to show him the way home.
Violet
@Raven:
Three months early for what? For the tomatoes, no only two to four weeks early. For the apple blossoms, maybe two or three weeks early.
Raven
@Violet: Where are you Mazatlan?
One of my favorite pics of
Raven
sheiler
you live on Superfund land somewhere on the noath shoah? hmm…You live in Salem? Do they still have hearses that give tours of the city?
burnspbesq
@woodyNYC:
Van Bourgondien. Spouse is the gardener in our household. She buys stuff from them on a regular basis.
Violet
@Raven:
South Texas.
slag
I’m a huge fan of rain gardens. There’s a narrow gully along an alleyway in front of our house that I keep trying to plant a rain garden in. Only the plants keep dying. I’m hoping the new direction I go in this spring will finally be the solution. Tough spot!
And I’m not a gardener. I just hate stormwater runoff!
Raven
@Violet: Pretty good guess!
Violet
@Raven:
Yep! Although I’m considerably north of Mazatlan.
@slag:
Have you amended the soil with good quality compost? You might also try building some berms or swales to slow down and direct the water. They’re easy to build with things like sticks and branches and soil that’s already around. You’re not looking for a permanent structure, just something to last a season or two to slow down runoff and keep the water where your plants are. Unless your problem is something else like lack of sun or wrong plants for the area.
marv
Good lord, it’s just now the dead of winter where I live, real drifts walking out to the barn, and the wind, and so forth. What’s a garden?
Roger Moore
@Maude:
Maybe in your neck of the woods. Here in Southern California, this is one of the most beautiful times of the year. The mountains actually turn green from rain instead of being brown, and the early flowers are blooming.
slag
@Violet: Good question! Yep, I’ve been composting every year and mulching twice a year. I think the problem is part crappy soil (working on it for a few years now), part sun, and part excessive dog pee. I love dogs individually but hate what they, in large quantities, do to plants.
Violet
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, this is my favorite time of year. Well, maybe fall is my favorite because it means the hell of summer is over. But I love this time of year where it’s cool enough to be outside and things are just hinting of budding out.
p.a.
the 4 seasons according to my friends in Maine: summer, fall, winter, mud.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Raven: Topical arnica gel will help Mrs. Stuckinred’s neck. As hard as she works in the garden, you should keep some around – it’s also great for just early season muscle aches.
feebog
This is my first year with a winter garden. we put in radishes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, spaggeti squash and winter tomatoes. We also planted more lettuce. We have a few tomatoes, but nothing spectacular. We had a good start on the broccoli, harvestd a couple head, and then the aphids got to it. Had to pull the rest. Strangely, the aphids did not attack the califlower, and we have picked five heads. Also, too, my bell peppers, planted last March are still beaing like mad. Pulled a couple carrots today, they are getting big enough to eat, but not full grown yet. Will send you a picture of the broccoli Anne, sadly all we have left…
beergoggles
Question for better gardeners than I: What would you use as groundcover in New England that isn’t grass? My back yard is fighting a battle between grass, moss and bare spots (from the dog urine). I’d love to get rid of the grass and go with a groundcover that’s less upkeep. I’ve tried thyme and vinca but they don’t seem to survive. I’ve got spots of english ivy started (but I don’t want to branch into the highly invasive boston ivy – which isn’t even an ivy). I’ve tried the whole gamut of “steppables” at the garden center too. Also, don’t suggest anything like bishops weed – which I spent over 5 years getting rid of from the front yard. TIA!
Raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Hokee dokee. She had that nasty crud for almost two weeks and with the beautiful weather she totally lost control.
Violet
@slag:
Oh, dog pee! Yeah, that could be a problem. Urine is mostly nitrogen, so you should definitely be composting and mulching to counteract that. And make sure you’re planting things that can survive those harsh conditions.
Are you getting any weeds there? Weeds can help you “read” the soil so you know what you need or what would work there. Like dandelions have a long tap root and can be an indication that the soil is too compact and need aeration–that kind of thing.
I’m the biggest believer in compost. Get the highest quality organic compost you can get and just keep putting it on the soil. Eventually it should start to fix your soil problems. You do have to be patient.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Hey, I never asked you (and if you ever said, I missed it) but how did your bride like those two gorgeous books you got her for birthday-Christmas?
Raven
@Violet: You are sposed to pee in the composter, right?
Violet
@Raven:
Yep. I’ve never tried peeing in the compost pile. I think it would be easier for men to do than women.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: She said she really loves em. The illustrations are amazing. She’s in the middle of a possible job change so she’s spread a bit thin right now so shr hasn’t had much reading time but we’ll have a house full of sports-hating gardeners for the superbowl next week so they’ll get a good lookin over!
Ellen
It’s even crazy down here in Florida – had some rain (it’s normally our dry season) so grass is green, flowers are blooming. Tourists and snow birds are loving it. It seems weird to us!
Raven
Off with the pro-bowl on with Downton Abbey!
Martin
@Maude:
75 today. Son mowed the lawn. Wife pruned the hydrangeas. Picked some meyer lemons from the tree.
We considered doing a rain garden, but holy fuck would that kill us trying to replace 3′ of solid clay soil. Honestly, it can rain nonstop for a day here and you dig down 3 inches and it’s bone dry. The soil here turns into some kind of organic tupperware as soon as water touches it. That said, we’re channeling the rainwater a bit better, but having to run a fair bit of it off to the storm drain (“Drain exits to ocean!” with a picture of some cute sea creature)
We’ve talked about rain barrels and the like, but truly when it only rains for 3 months out of the year and not at all for 9, it’s not really going to accomplish much. Only real solution is to yank out the lawn, which we’ve been doing tiny bit by tiny bit.
The city does, however, do natural water treatment. As the city developed, they reserved specific pieces of land that had the right conditions and diverted neighborhood storm drains to them (I think mine actually does, before it drains to ocean). They double as open wildlife/hiking areas. The one near my house is probably 1000 acres or so.
beergoggles
@Linda Featheringill: I wait for late harvest on lots of my ‘green’ veges. Swiss chard and brussels sprouts both get a lot mellower (or sweeter) after being harvested after the first frost or later.
Jay S
@woodyNYC:
For pacific northwest types Territorial Seed is a good source.
Anne Laurie
@slag: One of the things I’m told is key to a proper rain garden is digging waaay deep — the link says 30 inches, the (not much) reading I’ve done elsewhere from 24 – 48 inches. Maybe you need to dig deeper before putting in more plants?
Chuck Butcher
You have to stop to think that a 2,000 sq ft single story house will collect that 2,000 sq ft of water on its roof in a rain. That also includes 2,000 sq ft of your lot with nowhere for that water to go until it is over 2 ft under ground. Soil composition and strata have a lot to do with how that is going to go. A clay strata is damn near impervious to water and a lot of you have that at varying depths.
In my neighborhood keeping water at a level in a yard where it will do some good is a huge battle (when the ground isn’t frozen) and other places it runs off badly. The kind of garden you’re referring to isn’t a one size fits all solution. You could wind up with some undesirable outcomes with the wrong soil types and depths.
Violet
@beergoggles:
Yeah, the frost brings the sugars up and things like collards and kale and much sweeter after going through frost or a light freeze.
General Stuck
Here is another weird report on some pretty bad jail keeping in the Dona Ana Country Detention center, that Mr. Cole wrote about in another thread. Whether this guy is guilty or not, it sounds like a freekin’ dungeon you get thrown in and never heard from again.
I don’t know if the guy did what the feds say he did, selling guns to Mexican Drug Cartels across the border, but the main ringleaders in the gun running gang were the police and other officials of Columbus, NM. His claim of selling to these officials unknowingly, on the surface sounds reasonable.
opie jeanne
@Jay S: Thanks. I’m in Woodinville and there are still clumps of snow in my neighborhood, which I can hardly believe because all the rest of it melted a couple of days ago.
I’m surprised that we have green grass after the snow lay on it for more than a week, but even more surprised to discover that the primroses were blooming under the snow.
opie jeanne
@Roger Moore: I miss Anaheim, mainly for the gardening.
Anne Laurie
@Jay S: I’m too lazy to seed-start, but I can attest that Territorial Seeds is an excellent source for heirloom tomato seedlings. I get a couple dozen varieties from them every year, they’re shipped on schedule and packed to arrive in good shape, and I’ve had excellent results from the plants here in our very different New England climate.
bemused senior
@Linda Featheringill: Do you think the burlap bags that Basmati rice comes in would work as containers?
floridafrog
I have worked in urban stormwater and urban stream restoration for a couple of decades now. Chuck Butcher has a point, rain gardens are fabulous in lots of places and a nightmare in others. But, there are lots of larger scale methods (parking lot bioswales, constructed wetlands and wet meadows, etc.) that mimic the natural hydrology even in heavily urban areas. The engineering is much trickier but it cuts down on flooding, and protects the local streams too.
North Florida garden weather is great right now. Snow peas and sugar snaps are producing like crazy.
Linda Featheringill
@bemused senior: #54
I don’t see why not. Go for it.
Angela
@Violet: I love Johnny’s seeds. Seed Savers is also great for heirloom seeds and tomato and pepper transplants.
All this talk of gardening makes me miss the garden at my previous house even more!
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I’ve designed rain gardens as part of stormwater control for new developments. Probably the best-known manual for designing and building them is the Prince George’s County, MD Bioretention Manual. When I did my first design, everyone was using their manual and developing local plant lists.
I love them. We can usually combine the stormwater control requirements and the landscaping requirements into the same sections of land. My favorite (not one of mine, unfortunately) is a subdivision in Charlotte NC that I toured a few years ago. The parking islands in the high-density part of the development were miniature rain gardens with curb cuts to capture the flow from the parking lots, and parts of the parking lots were pervious concrete.
Roger Moore
@bemused senior:
Probably. Apparently gardeners in Seattle swear by the burlap bags coffee comes in, which are readily available in the area for some reason.
Gin & Tonic
@p.a.: I thought the Maine seasons were pre-winter, winter, mud, and black flies.
Anoniminous
@beergoggles:
If you have shady spots, I confess a weakness for hostas. Get four or five different varieties and plant them about 18″ apart, water, and then mulch heavily with redwood or cedar bark around the plants. They will spread out to cover the entire area in a couple of years, shading out and killing weeds and other invasive plants. May need to water occasionally and fertilize every two or three years, perhaps renew the mulch but that’s about it. They have, to my mind, quite nice delicate flowers, the broad leaves make an attractive green “lawn” without the hassle of mowing. They can’t tolerate sun though.
Evolving Deep Southerner (tense changed for accuracy)
OK, turfgrass. Specifically, centipede turfgrass. I know Raleigh is supposed to be right at the northern tip of the zone for which it is supposedly best suited, but I’m banking that warmer temps overall will make that a non-issue.
Does anyone have any experience with centipede? Should I plant it now, wait another month …?
Larkspur
Mmm, lemons! It’s been a dry winter here in northern California, but things are still blooming and the lemons are singing to me. The Meyer lemons sing really pretty. Then there are the other lemons, the ones that grunt. I do not know what they are called. As they ripen, they turn into these big lopsided, warty-looking globes, but even though they are homely, they are still full of lemony goodness.
Soon the acacia trees will bloom and I will have to be restrained to keep from clawing out my own itchy sneezy sinuses.
Allen
Portland is very big on rain-gardens, bios-wales, etc. But out here in the west you need to know who owns the run off. My understanding is in that neighboring Washington you don’t necessarily have the water rights to your property, so be careful.
Galileo126
While my family in Rhode Island is bragging about not having to shovel snow this winter, me here in SoCal is waiting to get the seeds going. Come May 1st, I thin we’ll be ready to start the seeds.
Personally, I like planting the seedlings – but they do best about early April here. Seeds take some care, and yeah – I’ll put the oven the lowest setting and let the pots bake at 100-degs, just to get them suckers to spout.
Anyway, green is cool. The more the merrier, you city folks.
-g
Garbo
@General Stuck: They should rename it the Dona Ana Oubliette.
Svensker
@Violet:
I second Johnny’s. They’re great folks and I’ve always done well with their seeds.
Svensker
@Yutsano:
You pretty much can’t kill chive or mint. They’ll go dormant over the winter, then come back in the spring nice as anything. And chives get the prettiest flowers in early summer. The flowers look wonderful in salads — pretty purple flowers that taste like onion!
Yutsano
@Svensker: I LOVE chive flowers! I happen to love the nice little allium hit they give as well, but the flowers have this lovely peppery oomph that is amazingly satisfying. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a chive starter for sure. And hopefully some thyme and sage as well. Possibly oregano or marjoram.
slag
@Violet: Good advice, Violet, once again! Yes to weeds but not much with a deep tap root. Mostly shallow root stuff, it appears. Not being a gardener, my gauge is “easy to pull up”, which these are. I’d say our biggest problem is lack of consistency. We’ll put in 5 or 6 of the same plant and only 1 or 2 will survive. Which makes the narrow space look like a mess. We’ve had some good luck with two types of vertical plants, but all the ground cover and short stuff is sporadically dying off or constantly looking bedraggled. I’m thinking you’re right on about the soil amendment strategy. I try hard to be patient, but really, I just want to go out there and yell “Grow, damnit!” on a daily basis. At the very least, I think my neighbors might enjoy that.
@Anne Laurie: I think you may be right that depth is also an issue. We had landscapers dig up what was there before (gravel and construction fill), and I think they went down about 20″. I don’t have the heart to dig everything back up again, so I’m hoping that mulching and composting (always organic–the best stuff we can possibly find, really) will compensate for the depth. It really is a harsh area (a lot of animal and pedestrian traffic, weird light conditions, you name it). I’m hoping that persistence will win the day. And even if it doesn’t totally do the job on the stormwater, I figure that it’s gotta be better than gravel and fill. Besides, I’m apparently doing my neighborhood dogs a solid by giving them a community space. Noblesse oblige.
Thanks much for the help, people. I know less than nothing about this stuff. You all know a lot more than that. So, thanks for sharing your wisdom.
keestadoll
Report from North Humboldt County CA (Zone 9): Freezing nights and oddly warm days have made me nervous to plant anything in our new garden yet. The only thing I have accomplished thus far was to get bare-root apple (fuji and golden delicious) and plum (Santa Rosa) trees into the ground and barricaded against the deer. I’m researching companion planting right now and am planning on a start planting date of 3/3.
gelfling545
@woodyNYC: I like Seeds of Change http://www.seedsofchange.com/
Ken
Of the listed species the bayberry and iris should be OK, but bee balm has a tendency to start eating bees while humming “Feed Me Seymour” and for the love of all that is holy do not put in the golden ragwort.
Not Sure
Damn! Hardly any of St. Lawrence County, New York, is still in zone 3. And the Utica/Rome area is now in zone 5b. I wonder what kind of kewl stuff I can plant now that we’re no longer in zone 4. Peaches?