OK, so it's far from perfect. We're super broke, and I can't believe I did this at all with my two year old running around, but here it is.
Actually, I wasn't planning on it being a raingarden - it's just that I bought a 5 plants at a once-a-year sale that said they wanted WET (or mesic wet) before I was completely sure of our soil type (i know, awful!), and I just figured they should go by the rainspout. Then I realized that I needed to keep the water within the area, so I turned a completely flat area into hills and a valley.
I was planning on putting mulch down, but then a native landscape designer talked me out of it when I went on a tour. I asked why there was no mulch, and he said you just have to plant MORE stuff, so that it becomes it's own mulch (low-lying for shade). He pointed out that there isn't shredded woodbark underneath flowers on a native prairie. Plus I needed more items to root and hold the new hills in place. Any mulch would just wash away.
I wish I could have hired someone to help me do this, but you gotta start SOMEWHERE!
There are 27 native forbs and grasses in here, not counting the native common violets that I left in (or the tiny weeds underfoot).
I need to do a little tweaking on the levels at the very end, because it's too low and the plant is so small, and it keeps getting submerged. My advice for anyone else in the future is to use a 2" x 8" or long plank, and step on it to level out the soil underneath. And I should have made it have a slight slope downwards from left to right since water starts at the rainspout.
But I am thinking about changing that - might throw up a piece of PVC tubing on shelf brackets alongside the base of the siding with holes drilled into it, with some sort of flex tubing to attach the two. That way, the water would be distributed more evenly.
Oh, and I'll post a pic of it with rain in it next. Just can't have 2 pics in one, and I made the "panoramic" before it rained.
Here is a view from the right end, with rain in it. Oh, and I'm not sure if this will work or not longterm, because we have very sandy soil, and this drains quite quickly. I guess we'll find out!
Don't want to be a party pooper, but it seems awfully close to your foundation. You don't have any problems with water under your house or against your foundation?
nope. never have had water problems. drains in less than 15 minutes usually (when i water). we have an insanely small yard, so this is really the place to do it.
i figure if we start to have problems, i can give the plants to someone else and redo it with just one slope away from the house. it will at least have been a good learning experience (in native plant selection, etc.)
i planted the tall bellflowers so they will be visible right in front of the 3 windows. and i figure the height and wetness will provide a decent security barrier once plants reach their full height.
oh, and i'm leaving the weeds on purpose at this point since they will give the soil some erosion control until the other plants get established. these are super tiny weeds.
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