snowcovered Rain Garden

A Long Soggy Winter

There has been very little opportunity to garden these past few months. In fact, we've been so consistently wet that the ponds still haven't been completely cleaned out from the falling leaves. Even if walking on wet ground wasn't a big no no, I would still refuse to garden with umbrella in hand. Call me a fair weather gardener.

The moisture deficit in our area is a thing of the past. I was curious to see what would happen when the ground became saturated and our berms held all moisture that fell to our property. The answer is that we have a couple leaks in the basement. One two day period in November produced 4 1/2" of rain. This is when I discovered not only the existing leak that has always been there by the chimney but also a new leak coming in from where we added the basement door. I think this one may be related to the fact that the water has no where to go except downhill and that means down our basement steps and into the well under the bottom step that houses a sump pump. Perhaps this spring we'll add some overflow channels that can be opened should we ever need to actually let rainwater leave the property.

The gentle little Ellerbe Creek across the street is now a raging river. The stream restoration work done by the EEP last spring has held up well through the heavy downpours. I wonder though, how many events like this one it will take before the fast moving water begins cutting deeper channels. I was thinking that if we could get just 10% of all our neighbors to put in those raingardens, the creek wouldn't be forced to carry so much run-off.

At the expense of what?

I find myself in an odd situation.

As I have championed rain gardens as a tool to help save our waterways from the destructive forces of large volumes of storm water run-off and the pollution that accompanies it, I am hesitant to support the proposed buffer zone to protect a portion of Ellerbe Creek that runs through our urban park.

Going back to comments in an earlier post, there are problems in our watersheds with the run-off from so much development (read that as impervious surfaces that don't absorb rain water).

In our area, the capital of North Carolina, that being Raleigh, wants the pollution flowing into Falls Lake, their source of water for the citizenry, to stop. So they look upstream and find that the Ellerbe Creek watershed needs some changes because the creeks water has the worst quality of any creek in the state. Think of this as pollution running downhill and problems running uphill.

A massive stream renovation project was done through Northgate Park, a city owned urban park. This gives the city/county of Durham credits for having created BMP's (that's Best Management Practices for those not in the know) to help offset the problems they are having in Falls Lake.

The park itself comprises a parcel of about 18 acres. One side is a heavily sloped wooded bank filled with invasives (read poison ivy here) that is unusable for recreation. This piece constitutes at least 25% of the park proper. The new creek banks and buffer area (no mow zone) that is proposed takes up another 5.2 acres so there goes another usable part of the park amounting to about 28%. Picnic areas, safe clear spaces beside the children's play area and an informal soccer field have been swallowed up by the buffer. The neighborhood association is already hearing from parents of small children about future safety concerns.

I could live with this except for the fact that the neighborhood of Northgate Park's Adopt-A-Park group has been diligently tending to the park and creating sight lines extending through and across the park for personal safety for the last 6 years. Guidelines for the clean-ups come from CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) principles.

We, as a neighborhood, have been fighting crime for years because of the proximity of a small commercial district and property management companies that aren't really managing to keep units maintained so that they attract law abiding individuals who would love to live near the school where they work or the business that they own. Instead we battle streetwalkers, drugdealers and party houses with front yards filled with beer drinking 24/7. Right now no one can hide in the park anymore because they would be so visible. That is about to change.

This new no mow zone will be filled with new trees (1400) and shrubs (2338. The shrubsvary in height from 7 feet up to as much as 30 feet. Granted the survival rate will lower this count but still, there go our clear sight lines for safety and crime prevention.

A little research of articles on the watershed and restoration plans for the creek on my part brought me to the conclusion that stream restorations aren't taking into consideration whether they occur on a golf course, in a country setting or running through densely populated urban neighborhoods.

And of course I find a way to bring this all back to rain gardens. If developments were putting rain gardens into yards, the rain water wouldn't be leaving most properties but instead would be soaking down through the soil and entering the water table in a benign manner.

With the cost of stream renovations sometimes totalling in the millions, doesn't it make more sense to offer grants for rain gardens and really do a serious promotion so that both established homes and builders/developers would be eager to utilize this tool to reduce their storm water run-off.

You'd think so wouldn't you.

Water quality issues

Just read in today's News & Observer that the cities of Durham and Raleigh are arguing over who bares the cost of cleaning up Falls Lake. It's water quality is deteriorating due to nitrogen and phosphorus going into the lake. Durham does not benefit (receives no water) from the lake but some main tributaries flow through Durham County on their way to the lake.

When the state Division of Water Quality inserts additional rules later this year, the costs of the clean up will probably increase.

What does this have to do with rain gardens you might ask. Rain water that runs across all our properties eventually ends up flowing into a creek, river or lake. As the rain water flows, it picks up impurities (pollutants) such as lawn chemicals, animal wastes, agriculture chemicals and things like oil, gasoline, tire dust, etc. from our love of the automobile.

We can stop much of that run-off by putting a rain garden in our yard. Think many people doing one small thing that adds up to big benefits to our environment.

IT'S OFFICIAL

Our fine weatherman just announced that we are currently down by 8 inches of rain for the year. That's quite a bit if you remember that one inch of rain moistens the ground to a depth of about 3 inches. Mmmm. 8 X 3 = 24 inches or 2 feet down that moisture is lacking.

But the flip side is that there was no storm water run-off from those lacking 8 inches going into streams and rivers and reservoirs that hold our source for drinking water.

I did some recent research on water quality and storm water control because I will be teaching a rain garden seminar the 17th of October at the King's Daughters Inn in Durham, North Carolina. I like to help folks understand the reason we need those rain gardens.

Here are some facts that came up:

• The Gulf of Mexico has a 9000 square mile 'dead zone' with low oxygen that kills fish and other sea life. The watersheds surrounding the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers all empty into the Gulf. The pollution is attributed to both agriculture (chemicals and animal waste) and urban sources (oil, chemicals, topsoil, trash). So if you keep your rain water and filter it down through your garden, you help reduce the pollution. You're part of the solution.

Sorry, didn't mean to make that rhyme.

• The water quality along the much of the Pacific Coast (US) is a Grade B.

Solutions listed were green roofs, rain gardens, and conservation efforts such as clean-ups. We organize a group every year to clean the creek across the street from us in the park. Every year there is more trash to remove and we spend the better part of a day hauling it out of the creek and piling it up to be picked up and disposed of by the City. The beauty of that rain garden though, is that once it's in, it pretty much takes care of itself except for pulling the occasional weed.

Rain garden's appearance with high temps and no rain

We've spent the last several weeks watching storm clouds from far off. They dumped their load far from Durham and we are now 7 inches down for the year. This picture shows you that if you choose your plants carefully, you can still have an attractive garden, even with temperatures in the 90's and no rain in weeks.

She's here!

As I write this post I hear the sounds of an aluminum water bowl being bounced across the kitchen floor.

The baby has arrived.

Little Lily came home to live with us on the 26th of July and life in our household hasn't been the same since. Every day is filled with laughter at the antics of a 9-week-old pup that knows no fear. We are striving to meet the 100 puppy kisses minimum quota our friend Allyson said are required.

I am beginning to suspect that she may be too smart for her own good. The reason I hear the water bowl is because it is empty and Lily wants us to know that it is empty and she wasn't done yet.

Poor water bowl, not even a month old and already dents are appearing from crash landings. I can't wait to see what happens when she turns 10 weeks and has picked up the additional 'steam' from gaining a couple more puppy pounds.

I'll try to limit adorable pup pictures since this is a rain garden blog but had to announce that we are the parents of a bouncing baby girl.