Dream of spring. Build a rain garden

Here in the mid Atlantic region we have had one wet September. I haave planted my tulips and daffodils. The leaves are starting to fall and we are heading for autumn which makes me start to think of spring when the trees will start to turn green again. My next project is building a rain garden in my yard. Rain gardens are promoted as the easiest and most cost efficient ways to reduce your contribution to storm water pollution. A rain garden is a shallow depression in your yard that you can fill with deep rooted native plants and grasses. The garden should be positioned near a runoff source such as a downspouts, driveway, or sump pump so that the garden can capture rainwater runoff. This keeps the water from reaching the sewer system, particularly important around here since the run off can reach the Chesapeake bay! Diverting your rain water from a roof or driveway into a rain garden allows the water to soak slowly into the ground. Any contaminants are also filtered out of the runoff and not put into the were system. A rain garden can imitate the natural absorption and pollution removal that takes palace naturally in a forest, meadow, or prairie. Because rain gardens are shloow - frequently just 4" to 8" deep but never more than a foot or two deep, they hold larger quantities of rainwater making their overall construction more cost efficient than other green alternatives. Rain gardens also need less technical experience to install and can be created without permits or heavy construction equipment. They can be the perfect solution for the boggy or problem areas of your yard,