Building a Rain Garden

Click on each step of building a rain garden to learn more.

1. Decide where to place your garden
2. Measure your house to determine size of garden.
3. Start by creating a design
4. Choose your plants
5. Layout the shape of the garden
6. Dig a shallow depression
7. Prepare the soil
8. Time to Plant
9. Mulch the garden
10. Watering and arranging downspouts

Whether your garden is large or small the same basic principles apply. By laying out and planning your garden on paper first, you will be able to get three seasons of bloom and create the best appearance possible in your rain garden.

The first rule is to keep the design simple. Choose a few types of plants and place them together in groupings. As a general rule, you will need one plant every one to two feet. To determine the number of plants you will need, estimate the square footage and multiply that number by .75. So if your garden is 100 square feet, you will need approximately 75 plants.

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