Water in your yard can be a blessing during the dry season. But, it can also be a curse when it floods your yard and those puddles just sit there. The runoff can drown plants and cover sidewalks, creating safety hazards. It's not only annoying, it wastes water and can damage your property.
But what if that soggy part of your lawn could save money, grow food, and help clean local waterways?
That's what one Ohio homeowner pulled off with a native rain garden, featured in a video shared on Instagram by Columbus Foodscapes (@columbusfoodscapes), the garden's designer.
Standing in a section of the yard that used to flood, garden designer Katie Carey said, "We were called in because this client wanted to grow some food, but they also had some really significant drainage issues right where I'm standing and in this whole entire section of the yard."
Her fix? A sculpted, shallow rain garden that works with the slope of the land. "We designed a rain garden that perfectly contours with the land," she explained. "So that instead of the water collecting and not draining or running off into the streets ... it's slowing it down, it's sinking it into the ground."
The short video walks viewers through the setup. "These are our rock spillways," she said. "We have our berms on the side. These are planted out with all kinds of natives as well as the basin system." The lower part, she noted, is designed to soak up water and support the plants above.
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Rain gardens like this don't just fix soggy lawns. They act as mini water filtration systems, cutting down on pollution and easing pressure on local sewer systems. One homeowner from South Carolina showed that installing rain gardens helped reduce their long-term landscaping costs.
As Carey noted, it's important to fill a rain garden with native plants. Because native plants naturally thrive in their environments, they don't require as much maintenance or as many resources, helping homeowners save both time and money.
Even swapping out part of your lawn with clover, buffalo grass, or native beds can ease yard upkeep and lower water bills. These plants also give pollinators like bees and butterflies a place to thrive, which helps protect food crops that people rely on every day.
Reactions poured in on the post. One commenter wrote, "Beautiful!"
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Another simply said: "Just lovely!!"
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