Rain Garden Construction

Time to mark out a rain garden to capture the water from the gutters that are about to be installed. This looks like a good place for a garden. Needs to be 48 square feet (which is one tenth of the roof area this downspout covers). Time to start marking the outline with a shovel to begin to remove the turf.

Shasta helpfully supervises.

Keep marking.

There. I now have the boundary delineated. Now we pull the turf out of the interior.

The dirt I remove I use to build up a berm around the outer edge, and a bigger berm between the garden and the sidewalk that I'll use to plant a hedgerow.

Adding some compost to the base of the berm to improve organic matter and water holding.

Dig in the compost a little.

Lay some branches to decay in place, add some soil, then sprinkle with glacial rock dust for good measure.

Now for some serious earth moving.

Shasta keeping a close eye on things.

Hey look, it works!