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Storm Water Solutions  - Rain Garden Construction (see below for more descriptive construction information)

                                                                          Level Spreader         Down Spout Diffuser

 Grass Kill                     Dig complete                    Finished Rain Garden

 Finished Rain Gardens

Roadside Swale Rain Gardens

 Rain Gauge for monitoring    

Canton Rain Garden site before construction #1

Construction of Canton Rain Gardens- garden #1

Garden #1 was designed to take storm water from the roof of the house.  Water came out of a pipe that the owner had run from the house, under the ground to the edge of the yard and flowed down a steep hill toward a stream.  The garden was designed to slow the water as it came out of the pipe, stepping it down into level gardens of increasing size.  This allows the water to have time to sink into the ground, not create a gulley to the stream and be a beauty spot in the back yard where only briars and weeds grew before.

Construction of Canton Rain Garden- garden#2

Garden #2 was designed to receive storm water from the neighbor's driveway, roof and another neighbor's roof on the other side of the first neighbor.  The ground is gently sloping, but the volume of water rushing through the yard down the fence line and back to a creek required a Terraced Rain Garden.  At the front of the garden is a 9-inch Bio-D Watl (Rolanka - www.rolanka.com) which is stuffed with coconut fibers.  It's purpose is to diffuse and slow down the stream of water and filter out any dirt or other particles that might wash into the garden. Coconut fiber weed mat is used  under the stone and on the berms to prevent weeds.  The stone area is designed to further slow the water and each spillway will further slow the water as excess overflows into lower gardens.  Three inches or more of double-shredded red oak mulch is used to control weeds and hold in moisture.  This was also used in Garden #1.  The purpose of both of these gardens and the others shown here is to control storm water by slowing it down and allowing it to sink into the ground naturally.