This is Site #1 for my proposed rain garden. This will be the largest rain garden and will be my primary project for this class. This garden captures water from a down spout on the northeast corner of my house, and it is attached to the largest section of roof (350 sq. ft.). I plan on installing an 18-20 ft. underground pipe to my front yard, where a natural depression already collects rainwater in heavy storms. The area gets full sun and the garden will be approximately 90-120 sq. ft. The soil is heavy clay but very healthy with lots of earthworms.

Site #2 is a 60 square foot bed situated on the front (east) side of our house between the driveway and sidewalk. The downspout captures only a quarter of the rain from the roof over the garage. We plan on transplanting most of the existing plants elsewhere and replacing them with plants suited to a rain garden. This bed gets morning and early afternoon sun. The soil in this bed is very rich and light, and it will be relatively easy to dig up.

Site #3 sits on the southeast corner of our house and it gets full sun. A large bush used to live here, so there are a lot of roots that still need to be chopped/dug up. This downspout captures another quarter of the rain that falls on the roof of the garage. This garden bed will end up being around 36-42 sq. ft. The soil is clay, but has already been amended with compost and organic matter.