The rain garden is very close to being finished. We worked most of the day and managed to get the soil put in to make the planting bed. All that is left to do is to select plants and cover with mulch!
Here’s a look at today’s progress:
Here is where I ended the other evening. A big hole with a trench. The picture is a little dark but you can still make out the trench for the water leading to the rain garden area itself.
The next step was to make the hole larger and create a trench parallel to the driveway to serve as a water collecting trench. Then we laid a piece of perforated drain pipe in the parallel trench. Before we laid the pipe we put gravel down in the trench. The gravel helps to improve the drainage and allows for better water flow.
Here is the expanded rain garden area. It could be a little larger but this basin should hold the amount of water we need to manage our drainage problem.
Here is one of my assistants hard at work! I hope that’s not a violation of any labor laws…
On the left is a view of the “T” connector pipe that we used to connect the two pipes together.
On the right is my assistant doing some pretty important things. I’m not quite sure what those things were, but she knew and I guess that’s all that matters!
Here is another view of the “T” connector pipe. These parts are very easy to assemble. You just snap them together and the grooves lock them in place.
On the right and below you can see the rain garden and drain pipe trenches filled with gravel.
Here is the nearly complete rain garden. The bed itself is raised slightly higher than the surrounding ground to help define the planting area. In the foreground you can see the gravel area that will eventually be covered with decorative gravel.
On the right is another view of the planting bed.
We managed to fulfill my goal of filling the bed with soil. We still need to put in the decorative gravel, plant the bed, put grass seed in the trench, and mulch. The hardest part is done! I expect the rain will settle the soil some and we may need to add more dirt to the bed.
A big thank you needs to be said for my dad, who helped shovel a bunch of dirt, a bunch of gravel and drove the truck to the yard! So Thanks Dad!
Great to see someone go through the process of creating one of these rain gardens Dave. I can’t wait to read you next instalment with the plants and decorative gravel.
Good job documenting your process. I hope other people (like my neighbors) see it and try this method of eliminating standing water by their driveways. Can’t wait to see how it works.
Stuart,
Thanks for coming by my site! I’m glad you enjoyed the rain garden post. There is more to come although the planting will need to wait until warmer weather. I think winter will be resuming shortly!
Tina,
Thanks for the good comment. I can’t wait to see how it works either. I was expecting rain today but it never happened. I guess I need to look at the weather again!
Ok, so not a water garden exactly, but a rain garden – super! It’s terrific that you’re posting this detailed step-by-step of the construction process, Dave. I too am very much looking forward to seeing how it works for you.
Hey Dave, looking good. I like this step by step in pictures. Do you mind if I link directly to it from my blog.
Thanks Gloria!
You are very welcome to link to it if you want! I still have to plant it, but that won’t happen for a little while since winter has returned. I may try to broadcast some rudbeckia seed soon just to see if something sprouts.
Now that is interesting! I’ll be following this further!
I’ve just discovered your blog and I’ve got some catching up to do! 🙂
Thanks Kylee!
Feel free to take a look around and thanks for stopping by!
OOOooo I need to send this to my Dearly Beloved. WE have a problem at the end of our drive. This would take care of it. I have tried to tell him about something like this but I needed a ‘visual’. Voila…I have found a tutorial. Thanks for posting.
Lisa,
I hope it helps! It’s really not that time intensive but it all depends on the dirt you have to dig. It took me about 4-5 hours total to dig and probably about three to do the rest. Keep in mind that this rain garden is small scale and my dirt was very easy to dig through. I was pretty surprised. The first 8-10 inches was easy to dig dirt then I hit clay for the last half. The clay wasn’t too bad either. Thanks for visiting!
Yeah – way to go. If we build enough of these things we will not need waste water treatment plants!! I ran the sanitary line from my house into a similar trench. I dug it a little deeper to avoid the odor. Its great for the plants. I also use a rain barrel to collect any sanitary overflow.