Full Transcript for E15 DIY Rain Gardens

Amazon. Okay. Like tropical plants. Plants that like Yeah. humidity and Okay. Stuff like that. Suck it up. Yeah. All the water. Yeah. interesting that you say that because Yeah, it's interesting that you say that. I'll bring it up again later if I hopefully I remember. so The first resource that I found was an informational flyer made by the Montgomery County Conservation in Pennsylvania. Thank you, Pennsylvania. I've attached the PDF in the notes for you all to check out if it's something that you might benefit from. so here is a quote from their introduction. Mother Nature created our first rain garden before humans changed the landscape No shit, Sherlock. Let me continue. Do not yell in this episode, okay? That's just an insane statement. You're not letting me finish my sentence. Mother Nature created our first rain gardens. Before humans changed the landscape, rain was filtered through soils, roots, and plants in our native forests, wetlands, and meadows. The majority of the water that entered our streams was cool, clean groundwater. As we built homes, roads, and infrastructures, the natural water cleaning systems were gradually removed. Our streams and rivers became increasingly degraded as water ran off the land instead of being taken up by plants. Side note, that should be an episode is how much we've changed the small brooks and streams and rivers just all over America and how that's affecting our water everything. Water channels are important people and we definitely do not help them. And there were some articles that I read and they are all I there is a serious amount of sources in the notes for you guys for this one, just because I I came across a lot of good stuff and one of the things is like how you direct the water. Is it gonna affect a stream nearby? Like some that stuff. And I thought that was really cool. And that one I believe actually came from a UNH in extension, which I think is really cool because that's local to us. heck yeah. Good job, UNH And I know there are people out there who are trying to restore yeah old stream beds and yeah. It's not just for for nature. It always is gonna come back to haunt us. We're w our homes are gonna be the ones that get flooded. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Anyway, back to the quote. Rain gardens or bioretention areas were first conceived in 1990 Whoop whoop right here. Hey. That's when I was born. By stormwater specialists in Maryland. goal was to design a practice to mimic naturally occurring functions that help filter rain water. Good old Wikipedia is going to define this further. Rain gardens. Also called bioretention facilities are one of a variety of practices designed to increase reabsorption of rain runoff by the soil. They can also be used to treat polluted stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are designed landscaped sites that reduce the flow rate, total quantity, and pollutant load of runoff from impervious urban areas like roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots, and compacted lawn areas.

Rain garden rely on plants and natural or engineered soil medium to retain storm water and increase the lag time of infiltration while remediating and filtering pollutants carried by urban runoff. Rain gardens provide a method to reuse and optimize any rain that falls, reducing or avoiding the need for additional irrigation. Which I don't know if you guys have ever lived on a street that floods a lot. But if you have, you could probably see the benefit to this. Have you ever lived on a street that flooded a lot, Anna? No. That is surprising because Keene like half of Keene used to flood. Do you remember that one storm? When we were I think we were living on Victoria Street. It didn't flood there. yeah. Our friend's basement flooded. Like and and when I say flood, I mean like the roads were not accessible. you could not drive down them. It like you would stand in it and it would be like up to you, like at least a foot. not okay, because it was sewer backage. It's not just rainfall at that point. And like that's what people don't understand. that's some like biohazard stuff, especially if you're not keeping up with that. Like who knows if Keene was, but it didn't really look like it because everything's getting washed out. And it was really gross. But even before then, I lived close to downtown. And for a while, one side of Cumberland Farms, that one street, Dunbar Street in Keene, would flood all the time. They would have to close the road down. That was my road. Water Street as well. It would flood all the time. Is that why it's called Water Street? I guess so. And and the main reason that was happening was because the draining systems in the town had failed. They had to redo all of them. Yeah. Well, Keene's also a valley, so they're fighting against nature But I think in a valley, when you're fighting against nature, you fight nature with nature, people. Yeah. Come on. I think systems like this in a town like that, especially at the bottom of a valley, it would it would benefit us. and I'm sure there are certain things, you know, the ones that are along the Main Street, maybe it is a part of a system. You don't know what's underground, what they've built underground. it's gonna be similar to what we do. Well they just cut down all those trees. Yeah, that is true. So I don't think they did any of that, but They're taking steps back from a rain garden. Yeah, I guess so. guess what I'm just getting at is in a lot of cities, we probably walk by rain garden systems. those retention systems every day and you don't even know it. one that I can think of now, now that I know why it was built like that, 'cause I was walking by it so many times when my brother and I went to New York City for his thirtieth birthday and there was this one like walking center area and it had all these different levels of shrubbery and plants and you can see it how it kinda like filtered but you you were just like, Wow, that seems like a waste of money. But there was no running water. It was just water that was being retained. And then Now that I'm thinking about it, underneath all those bricks I'm sure there was layers and layers of the gravel and the large stones that help it fill up for a long amount of time. And then by the time it filters through, it's not as much water and it's definitely not polluted. And in places like New York City, that's what you need. Yeah. Every other block. Minimum. Minimum. Yeah. Seriously. thinking back on things I've walked past, I guess. I'm just like, I wonder if that's what that was now. You know? And I just think I think it's really cool. So yeah, we d we drive by rain garden systems every day, whether you live in a city or the middle of nowhere, wild or purposely replaced rain gardens are literally all around us. Here are a few examples that you see in urban places all the time. The last one is a diagram of what most systems involve below the surface and it's what Anna and I will be doing for our driveway. But we'll be using different plants that are native to our area. Here they are, Anna. So the first one is an example for like runoff from a roof. Wow, that's pretty. And then the other ones, one of them looks like it's not loading right now. So I'm sorry about that, but the other ones are just examples through through urban areas that you see them just built into the the sidewalk or where you're walking past. What happened these look very wet. Well that's the purpose because it was flooding, so there's like a whole system underneath it. Do you see have you gone down to the diagram yet? Yeah. So like a lot of even in the cities, like it's built like that. So that it can retain the water because that's probably where it was all already naturally flooding. So what happens when it's not wet? 'Cause we also go through droughts. We'll get to that. Yeah, they look like little ponds almost. Some of them are and some of them aren't. But that's just dependent on like I don't know, the level of retention that you need, honestly. Mm-hmm. so these simple methods help prevent flooding and are an excellent way to provide additional drainage in places where there may be an overwhelmed drainage system. Just like Keene. Yeah. Looking at you, Keene. but it can also benefit and help prevent structural damage and erosion. they also have a benefit on climate control. Don't worry, I promise I'm not gonna yell at you. I just thought this was interesting. it's especially in urban areas. And here's another quote from Wikipedia. A benefit of planting rain gardens is the consequential decrease in ambient air and water temperature. A mitigation that is especially effective in urban areas containing abundance of impervious surfaces like like concrete. Just slab cities, which you that's what and then glass, like people don't realize that glass retains so much heat. anyway, that absorb heat in a phenomenon known as heat island effect. Ew, that sounds terrible. And I know and I hadn't heard of this so I

I obviously had to click the link 'cause you know how on Wikipedia it'll be like Yes. That's how I end up in holes in Wikipedia. I'm like, wow, I've learned so much insane things today. Sometimes the most interesting things are not blue and linked. That is true. What you have to type it in and figure a whole thing, like, why wasn't that linked? You have a whole page on it, Wikipedia. Like, what's the deal? You're making me work. Yeah. so yeah, I did I clicked the link. and so this is what urban heat island means. The effect is a meteorological and climatological phenomenon in which urban areas experience significantly warmer temperatures than surrounding rural areas. The temperature differences what does the the the the temperature is way warmer. Where? In urban cities than in the rural areas. okay. What's the difference between urban and rural? Urban is like a city, rural is like us. okay, gotcha. Nope nobody. Yeah, yeah. the temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day and is most apparent when winds are weak under block conditions, noticeably during the summer and winter. The main cause of effect is from the modification of land surfaces, aka as of building concrete jungles. Is what it is. Not tomato jungles. And like so after I read all of that. I realized what they mean because in the summertime, like even here, even just down in in Greenfield where I work, because it's just way less trees and everything, when you would go outside and it rains so much. you could just feel it in the air. And it would just retain itself. And y I don't know. It just reminds me of those like sticky horrible summer days. Like that's what it reminds me of. Yeah. And it's all happening because there's nowhere where for it to go. So it just stays in the air. And so like I don't know, the pavements are steamy. Yes like you know what I mean? Like it's just not nice. Whereas if you focused your energies on things like this, it wouldn't be so bad. So I thought that was interesting. So I clicked on the link. I'm I'm glad I did. Yeah. But yeah, it is kind of horrible and disgusting. and I could yell about climate change, but I'm I'm not going to, I promise. so the best part about researching about rain gardens was because I was already happy that I found a solution for our problem, but while I was doing the research for rain gardens, I found very easily a whole page. ten pages. Not just one page. Ten pages of all the plants. All the plants, Anna. Perennial native plants and shrubs and flowers. Wow. For your rain garden. That's wonderful. Broke it down and my gosh. It it broke it down in so many ways that it was helpful, but it it's not overwhelming. they tell you the hardiness zones, the soil moisture preferences, the rain garden zone, light exposure, bloom period and color, mature size, and even who is attracted to them. That's cool. Yeah. What's the website? it's a PDF Made by the UNH extension program, but I found it on their Soak New Hampshire

page. Soak New Hampshire? Yeah. It's all grants and stuff. It's like it's educational. Don't- get your head out of the gutter. This is for education. So anyway, I was very excited just by the chart. Here I'll show you. The chart is perfect. I also made a little scrolling feature of this PDF for you all to see right now quickly. Cause I'm fancy like that. But Anna, you can scroll through it. So it starts with a like a plantless key. And then it just has a chart and it has like the pictures of all the plants. cool. It's it's very cool. So as you guys see, it breaks it down. it'll tell you flat out like which plants you can and can't use for the certain areas in your garden, your rain garden, which I will go over in a moment after Anna takes a little peek at it all. Witch hazel? Yeah, there's a lot of different things. what I what I really liked about it the most was that it told us also about our our friends and if they'd be attracted to them or not. Yeah, 'cause that's important. That's important as well. So yeah. that came from ExtensionUNH.EDU. Go Unha Uni University of New Hampshire. Are you okay? No. so Okay, now we're gonna talk about planning our rain garden. But first I'm just gonna go over some like things that they taught me. Okay. That you definitely need to know and understand about rain gardens rain gardens there's like three zones kind of like opportunities that you have in rain gardens. Okay. It's the base. Slopey areas, which are slopes, and berm, which are like things that are like kind of built up in a way. I can't really explain it, but berm. Yeah. It's like kind of where like grass ends up going. That mainly helps with erosion and stuff. Like you know what they're doing over there on the wall? I consider that. What the f*ck are you talking about? You know how they pulled out all that stuff and now they're growing grass? Where? In front of our driveway. my god. On the wall, and that's what I'm supposed to take out of that. Get it together, yeah. They should just plant marigolds. No. No, that's not that's not a I always f*ck those two up. Listen, that's not the right feature. If you have an erosion problem, goldenrods. And grass. You need other things. Grass. Whose episode is this? Goldenrod wasn't even on the list Anyway, Anna. So I have a brief description of all three from the beginning of the plant list that was that was just shown. So I thought that was pretty cool too, because it gave you like the this is the key information that you need to know. And then here are the plants. Yeah. So good for them. so Your base, periodic or frequent standing water may keep the root zone wet for several days at a time. After the initial establishment period, base zone plants should also be tolerant of dry periods up to two weeks during the growing season. Slope. Periodically wet or saturated soils during larger storms. Plants in the slope zone can help to protect against erosion once established. Shallow residential rain gardens may not have a definitive slope zone. Berm, drier soils, infrequently subject to or saturation. This zone may be raised berm or simply the perimeter of the rain garden. Plants should be quite drought tolerant and blend into existing landscape of the site. So it's like kind of it like it it layers it all. Okay. Each has its own function if you need it. we are definitely gonna have some areas where all three will help us. And then we have some areas where it'll just be one of them. but I'm I'm excited. All three what? zones. yeah. Sorry. All three zones. And then some will just be like one. Because like we have genuine sloped areas where planting some of these plants would just be helpful. Right. For like the down. But that's not gonna just fix it. So that's where we also kind of have to make this like almost it's like a drainage system that will go to the base and our overall rain garden. but I can show you a picture of that as well. How are we gonna do that? Well, the main rain garden that we need to make is right where the two of our slopes meet, which is why there's always a big puddle. So like our driveway starts with a slope which is like a depression slope, and then it goes right up and it meets like very aggressively just because the water keeps making it go down. And so what a lot of people do is they'll put a drainage system into that area right there. Okay. And it funnels first to a rock bed then it continues to the rain garden. And that's where all the plants kind of soak it up and in each of their levels. Gotcha. And we're lucky because where it depresses over just a little bit, there's already then another natural hole into our pasture. And so we kinda are just gonna have to use that area, dig it out just a little further. And that way all the plants will be able to raise up. I'm thinking it can get raised up in front of that bush that's already there. Yeah. Because that already helps. And then it all just grow around it because some of them they grow really tall. Cool. Yeah. That actually sounds pretty easy. Yeah. For the most part I don't think it'll be anything too crazy, but what about the drainage system? Like the drainage system is just that slit that you're making to Yeah, I I try it's like pipes or anything 'cause I saw in the diagram there's like pipes. I'm gonna explain it. okay. Don't worry. Have no fear, Jeidan is here. So the main priority is obviously the the migration of all this water. we need it to to not be at the driveway. and then obviously a close second will be all the insects and birds that plants attract. All the plants are native and perennial and this is important especially for us because we don't want to invite an invasive plant or flower into our ecosystem. Native plants already do a good job thriving in our area especially. So like I don't want to be the one that is like, Hey, here's this invasive tiger lily. Right, is that what's yeah, those are invasive. They're beautiful, but they you're invasive. we have a

little they came with the house. There's like a little stone wall back here and they're lining it. And they're popping up in our front field because of the birds. yeah, they are. So annoying. too many. Hopefully they don't spread too far. Those are kind of all over Hensdale though. Mm-hmm. Which is probably how maybe those ended up there. No, those were definitely planted. okay. Maybe it was maybe it was past owners' fault. That they're all over Hensdale. Yeah. I'm just kidding. so I'm gonna go over the plants that I think will be Good from this list, and it's a dumb amount of plants. I want all the plants, okay? So in the base, which is like where all the water retention happens the most. and it sometimes will be puddly, but not always. I want to do marsh merigolds. Ooh. And I have pictures of all of them. They're gonna start scrolling now. Marsh merigolds, foxglove, black-eyed Susan's. I thought foxglove was invasive. Not some of it. You just have to find the right kind. There's a a lot of different foxglove. Hmm. Cardinal Flower, which I think is beautiful. It's like red and I can't even explain it. It's just like it kind of reminds me of foxglove, but not really how like it's like bell shaped. Sort of, but not really. Like the flowers kind of just fall that same way though. Like they droop a little bit. I don't know. They're they're pretty. They're bright red. blue iris, cone flowers, New York American Aster, New York Ironweed, Blue Vervaine, and Swamp Milkweed. Heck yeah. And then around the edges, which will be more of like the slopey stuff. But also they can be Burmie as well. They're like the mixed ones. I want to do red columbine, butterfly milkweed, and spotted cranesbill Those sound beautiful. They are beautiful. And then for the slopes leading to the garden, there will be bee balm I love bee balm New England Astor and Golden Alexanders. So they had a glimpse of them all. I can show it to you now. We already have a ton of asters just naturally So yeah, I'm excited to bring this to life next spring, but we will have to start preparation in the fall. And I think even just some of the stuff that we'll get done in the fall will also help for the rain and the snow that ends up just like coming and then melting. Coming and then melting. Because the same thing happens in the winter and it is atrocious. and so what what we'll do before the winter is we will dig out and install a draining system from our driveway where all the water typically pools and then we'll also get the stone structure that will help it kind of funnel set up like that. And that way it'll already be pooling in there. By the time it's springtime, it'll be an easier transition for us to like dig it out once it gets warmer, I think. That sounds more difficult. Well there's no we can't really plant any plants right now because they'll all die. We have to wait for that part. Digging out the drain, that sounds difficult. yeah, that is gonna be difficult. Yeah, for sure. That's gonna be the most tedious part. And that does involve like a like a drain pipe kind of thing. And you still cover it with gravel. That way when it soaks in, it soaks down there and then it goes through. Hmm. And like the P V C pipe system that you're talking about earlier, that will have a drain attached to it also, not gonna be attached to the drain from the road. That kind of just ends up going in through the rocks. That's how it slows it down a little bit. And then there's just gonna be what does the road have to do with it? I mean our driveway. Sorry. the gravel there'll be a separate draining system in there. And it's it's similar to a P V C pipe, it just has a grate on the top of it. And then it's closed all the way around on one side and then it funnels out one side. then you just kinda cover up you just put your gravel back on top of it. weird. Yeah. And then the rocks will help funnel it to where there will be an additional, we're gonna dig out and there'll be a PVC pipe. Like you know those covers that you get for like bathroom showers? It's kind of similar to that. It'll be on top of there. And that pipe will go directly down into the ground. And it'll funnel out. under there's gonna be layers of stone like in that picture that you saw. I'll put it up again now so people see what I'm talking about. and that'll help it disperse. Okay. And systems like that, if you already have a well and a groundwater system for your house, rain gardens are incredible. So like this will help our well system as well. And probably are as well. Yeah. I didn't even know. Are you okay? I almost flipped my chair backwards. Please don't die. I just cleaned this room. yeah, I I think it'll be a lot of work, but it'll be beneficial. I think it'll definitely be something that'll help us because our driveway just deteriorates more and more every year. And so I think at least having some control over the water part of that issue. will really help. At least I I hope it helps. If it doesn't help, I'll just feel crazy. All that work for what? We'll have a beautiful garden. True. But I I really do think it will help. I also got a lot of information from how to make a garden drainage system step by step plan from the gardening and beyond website. I put that in the notes as a resource too, just in case anyone else is struggling with drainage issues in at your house. It's like I said earlier, it's not just for driveways. Like a lot of people struggle with water pooling up like on the sides of their house because of poor gutter structures or just the way the majority of your water falls off your house. rain gardens can be beneficial in in that aspect too. And it it usually is like a compilation of different size stones and plants for situations like that just because it helps soak everything up and and migrate it away from your house. Yeah. So that's there. I hope it helps people. Thank you for that. Yeah, of course. yeah, so I I know it'll help us on the homestead and I'm

also looking forward to all the hummingbirds and the bumblebees. yeah. And the butterflies that will benefit from it as well. remember. The best type of drain are plants. Ooh to go plant some stuff. Snap. So yeah, that's what I got. It's your time to shine, Anna. heck yeah That was that was informative. Thank you, I tried. It sounds like we're gonna be busy very soon. When do we have to start that? Well, I think I'm gonna start I'm already gonna be digging out stuff in the pasture anyway for the blueberry trees getting transferred over here. At least some of them. So I think I'm gonna try and do some of it when I have vacation at the end of the month. dang. And then What for winter? Is there anything we have to do? Does it freeze? Like it if it's melting down into the pipe, is is it freezing down there? Like is that gonna cause like a frost heave situation? I don't think it I don't think it will because systems like that last a while and I honestly I I don't think that it would happen as a frost heave just because it's not Concrete. It's all gravel. So like yeah, it moves already, but it's not gonna be as nearly as dramatic as the frickin' roads. Yeah. In the winter time. That's a good point. So today is September tenth. September. The new moon is today. Ooh. Uranus is stationary. What? my god. marks its transition into retrograde, unfortunately. So look out, people. Yeah, that doesn't sound fun. Uranus and retrograde. Too good. Too good. Sorry. Inventor Elias Howe was granted a sewing machine patent in 1846 Cool. And an honorable mention today, cranberry bog harvest began in Cape Cod, Massachusetts yesterday. wow. And I thought I would mention it since the blueberry episode was about cranberry bogs as well. Yeah. If you haven't listened to it, go check it out. Yeah, that was a good one. And cranberry big king Yeah, literally. Two cranberry dynasties. Yeah. F*ck out of here It was a good one. today is the best day to have dental care and pick fruit. So go to the dentist and eat apples. I feel like that's really not the best. Counterintuitive. I love the things that they recommend. Yeah. It's like who is reading that and being like, I gotta do that today? I've only ever followed it by accident. Well, when you have to castrate the animals. Yeah, perm my hair. my. All right. If you want more of this, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok @TwoToolsNoCluePodcast. Or you can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/TwotoolsNoClue. Or you can email us at TwoToolsNoCluePodcast@gmail.com. Tell us your stories. Tell us your rain garden adventures. Just say hi. Just say hello. Tell us to chill out. Rate whatever you want. Rate and review on whatever platform you're on. Please. Yeah, go on go on TikTok. Anna makes so many TikTok videos. Yeah. She would love it if you guys watch them. I can't get on to TikTok. But if you could watch them for me, that would be great. Yeah. get to watchin' you guys We love you. We'll see you next week. Till then stay safe. Stay seen. Bye bye. Bye. I was about to say stay hydrated