{"id":2829,"date":"2014-01-16T04:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T04:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/?page_id=2829"},"modified":"2016-09-22T15:25:17","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T15:25:17","slug":"build-a-rain-garden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/policy-alerts-2\/build-a-rain-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Rain Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our creeks need your help! Rainwater is running off roofs, roads, driveways, lawns and packed soils, and flowing too quickly into the creek! These urban surfaces have dramatically reduced the ability of rain water to sink into the ground and regenerate \u00a0ground water supplies. Instead, rain is bringing a large, fast burst of water to the creek which is scouring banks and degrading animal habitat. This runoff also often carries sediment and fertilizers, leading to water quality problems with our drinking water supply reservoir. \u00a0You may not have a creek in your yard, but the rainwater that flows off your yard continues on, perhaps into the street or storm sewer, and ends up in a creek near you. \u00a0That creek feeds a larger one, which flows into a drinking water supply reservoir.<\/span><\/p>\n

Building a rain garden is one way you can help promote healthy creeks which sustain invertebrates, fish, frogs, birds and mammals \u2013 the entire chain of life. \u00a0A rain garden filters rain water and allows it to slowly sink into the ground. \u00a0It is a shallow-shaped depression that is intentionally designed to capture rainwater and to become an attractive feature to your yard. \u00a0The garden is filled with\u00a0native plants that are both flood and drought tolerant, require no fertilizer, benefit water quality and wildlife, and become an attractive feature of the garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"How-Rain-Garden-works4\"<\/p>\n

Rain Garden Homeowners\u2019 Initiative \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Build your own rain garden!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

We will be holding rain garden workshops in the spring of 2014a and 2015. \u00a0By teaming up with local homeowners, we hope to spark the creation of an abundance of rain gardens in Chapel Hill and Carrboro to decrease stormwater runoff, improve water quality, protect land, and beautify our towns.<\/span><\/p>\n

This program will give homeowners the tools they need to implement rain gardens at home by carrying out a series of hands-on rain workshops in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. In the workshops, homeowners will learn how to build a rain garden and implement measures to protect our local streams. By participating in the workshop, a homeowner can also earn assistance toward building their own a rain garden in their own yard! The initiative begins in the Bolin Forest neighborhood and will eventually expand to include other areas in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. Ultimately, we envision hundreds of rain gardens across Carrboro and Chapel Hill, reducing the serious runoff and erosion problems that homeowners face.<\/span><\/p>\n

The workshop series will give homeowner’s the knowledge and skills to construct their own rain garden. \u00a0Following the workshop, participants will have the option of receiving additional supplies and assistance from FOBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our spring workshop series was a huge success! \u00a0Check out a video made by The People’s Channel to see what we did and learn more about the project!<\/strong> <\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0If you would like to be added to the waiting list for the next workshop series or to receive information,\u00a0please sign up here!<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you have any questions or would like to become a co-sponsoring organization for this initiative, please email FOBC.rain.gardens@gmail.com for more details.<\/span><\/p>\n

MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO THIS PROJECT!<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"RG<\/a><\/p>\n

Rain Garden Resources<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension has a fabulous\u00a0Backyard Rain Garden website<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>full of information about how to build and maintain a rain garden. \u00a0They include photos, plant suggestions as well as a\u00a0step-by-step guide<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0on how to plan and install the garden! Once you’ve gotten suggestions from their website on what plants to use, you can visit the\u00a0Cooperative Extension’s plant page<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>to get more information and pictures for specific plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The town of Chapel Hill’s Stormwater Management Division also created a useful\u00a0brochure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0on how to install a rain garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a fabulous book called\u00a0Rain Gardening in the South: Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge and Everything in Between<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>by Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford\u00a0<\/em>available from Eno Publishers.<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>This book is excellent because it provides a step-by-step guide to installing a rain garden in North Carolina. \u00a0The authors were also very generous in giving us permission to share their lists of rain garden plants and design layouts during our workshops.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you feel like you want a little extra help to design and install a rain garden, you can find\u00a0a rain garden professional that has been certified<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0through the NC cooperative extension’s Backyard Rain Garden Program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"rain-garden\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Our creeks need your help! Rainwater is running off roofs, roads, driveways, lawns and packed soils, and flowing too quickly into the creek! These urban surfaces have dramatically reduced the ability of rain water to sink into the ground and regenerate \u00a0ground water supplies. Instead, rain is bringing a large, fast burst of water to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2468,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"folder":[232],"class_list":["post-2829","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3107,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions\/3107"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}