Class 1

I decided to plan on installing a rain garden after I did some landscaping around my house to divert the surface water that was getting into my basement. I now have a swale and tile moving water from the back of my house to the front and decided that, rather than have it discharge down the front lawn, I can capture it in a rain garden.

Eventually, I would like to divert 1-2 of my downspouts toward the rain garden as well, either onto the swale or via a pipe under the lawn, so I will be planning it with that in mind.

The area is full sun with about 5 inches of top soil and then full clay. The lawn is sloped awat from the house. I prefer mid-low profile plants so that I still have a good view of the shrubs on the perimeter of my lot but will want options that have deep roots, to help the water infiltrate into the clay.

Current garden

Drain tile

Finished swale leading to garden

Approximate location of future rain garden

Class 2

The percolation test was fairly easy since I already knew what the answer would be. I have solid clay so the water does not drain within 48 hours. I am planning to dig down an extra two inches to accommodate for a layer of compost.

In addition to my swale and drain tile, I am will be capturing water from is a large section of my roof, about 1,089 square feet of impervious surface. Sized at 20% the garden would be 217 square feet. After some initial measurements of my current garden, I've confirmed that my rain garden will be need to be undersized fto fit in the locations I selected, especially with heavy (but amended) clay. However, some rain garden is better than none, especially since my downspouts are already draining over the front lawn.

Class 3

After measuring the area using the triangulation method, I know I will be able to make the rain garden a lot bigger than originally estimated. The new area will created about 280 square feet of plantable space, about 1/3 or 80 square feet will be the basin. This is to ensure that the sides have a 1:3 slope so they aren't too tall. The depth is due to the fact that the basin needs to hold 4 inches of water that drains from a pipe that is about 4 inches below the surface of the ground.

Photo A: location of existing shrubs mapped with triangulation technique and rough perimeter sketch.

Photo B: rendering of the perimeter and basin on Google earth