Garden of the Day – Reader Submitted Rain Garden

“Dear PoP,

You had mentioned the River Smart Homes Program here. I thought you might like to see one of the rain gardens that the River Smart Program helps fund and construct. The program had last year installed a rain barrel, which I love. This garden was installed (in Petworth) in July – right before the really bad storms, and worked very well. This garden soaks up a large amount of water from my gutter (after my rain barrel fills), and keeps the water from going in the storm drain that is right next to my house. As I’d prefer that my basement wouldn’t flood, this is a good thing. I’m still re-working the drainage after the garden overflows, but so far its only overflowed once.

The goal of this particular type of garden is to help keep the DC sewer system from overflowing during severe rains. Next up for me – a permeable pathway to help prevent runoff. I no longer qualify for more River Smart help, but I’ll still keep redesigning my backyard. And I want to say online thanks to the program for the help and inspiration.”