Rain into the landscape

This rain garden nestles into the landscape and demonstrates how storm water management features can be done in a pleasing fashion

Fixing Drainage Issues in Your Yard

what you can do at home to keep our waterways healthy and clean. Part of the  water bring lazy and taking the easiest  route

Why plant rain gardens?

The news has been saturated (pun intended) with water-related headlines lately: last year, Toledo’s water was contaminated with toxic algae. Locally in central Ohio, we’ve experienced elevated nitrate levels and localized flooding from heavy rainfall and runoff.

Though compacted and paved suburban or urban landscapes are limited in their ability to absorb rainfall, the creative gardeners among us can capture their rainwater in a rain garden. Treating your own home’s runoff is one way residents can protect our drinking water while decreasing harmful effects on waterways from flash flooding, erosion, and pollution.

Storing water temporarily in a rain garden allows it to draw down slowly, preventing the possibility that it will pick up pollutants and carry them to the nearest stream. Water is naturally filtered as well: gardens remove and degrade contaminants through microbial processes, plant uptake, exposure to sunlight, and absorption to soil particles. Properly designed rain gardens capture the first inch of rainfall, and drain within a day. Since most storms produce less than one inch of rainfall, capturing it reduces pollutants significantly.

How To Build A Rain Garden

By Kathy LaLiberte

There’s a new sort of garden in town. It’s easy to install, looks good year-round and has a positive impact on the environment. It’s a rain garden

A rain garden is a special type of garden, designed to collect stormwater runoff from a roof, driveway or other impervious surfaces. Rather than rushing off into a storm sewer or a local waterway, the rainwater collects in a shallow depression in your yard. This area is planted with native grasses and wildflowers that are specially selected for their ability to gradually absorb and filter stormwater.

Rain gardens can have a significant impact on the water quality in our communities. Studies have shown that as much as 70% of the pollution in streams, rivers and lakes has been carried there by stormwater. By taking responsibility for the rainwater that falls on your own roof and driveway, you’ll be helping to protect our rivers, streams and lakes from stormwater pollution. Adding a rain garden to your yard will also provide food and shelter for wildlife, and give you a whole new garden that’s hardy, low maintenance and naturally beautiful!

Siting the Garden

Your rain garden should be located at least 10 feet from the house. A natural site is a low spot in your yard that often collects water after a heavy rain. Ideally this area receives full sun, but at a minimum it should receive a half day of sunlight. There should be a natural slope (at least 1 percent grade) leading from the water collection area (your roof or driveway) down to the rain garden. Choosing a relatively level spot for the garden will keep digging to a minimum. or call …

A-Plus Gardening & Landscaping
http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/British-Columbia/North-Vancouver/A-Plus-Gardening-Landscaping/5956273.html

Once you’ve identified the new garden’s location, remove the sod and dig a shallow depression approximately 6″ deep. Slope the sides gradually from the outside edge to the deepest area. Use the soil that you remove to build up a slightly raised area on the lowest side of the garden. This berm will help contain the stormwater and allow it to percolate slowly through the rain garden.

If your rain garden is no more than about 6″ deep, stormwater will usually be absorbed within a one- to seven-day period. Because mosquitoes require seven to 10 days to lay and hatch their eggs, this will help you avoid mosquito problems. If you want to create an area with standing water for fish and amphibians, you can make one part of your rain garden deeper, perhaps as much as 18 inches in the deepest spot. Depending on the type of soil you have (sand, clay, loam), you may need to line that area of the garden with plastic to help retain a small pool of water.

A typical residential rain garden is 100 to 300 square feet, but any size rain garden is fine. Most people just size the garden to suit their available space. You can calculate the ideal size for a rain garden, based on the surface area of your roof, soil type and the garden’s distance from your house. (For more detail, see the links at the end of this article.)

The downspout from your roof or sump pump outlet from your basement should be directed toward your rain garden depression. This can be accomplished by a natural slope, by digging a shallow swale, or by piping the runoff directly to the garden through a buried 4″ diameter plastic drain tile.

Time to plant! Native plants are the best choice for rain gardens.

They withstand difficult growing conditions and require little care. When choosing the plants, consider height, bloom time and color. Clumps of three to seven plants of the same variety will look better than a patchwork of singles. Be sure to mix native ornamental grasses and sedges in with your perennial wildflowers to ensure the garden has a strong root mass that will resist erosion and inhibit weed growth.

New plants should be watered every other day for the first two weeks or so. Once they are well established, your garden should thrive without additional watering. Fertilizers will not be necessary, and only minimal weeding will be needed after the first summer of growth.

Most rain gardeners wait until early spring to cut back the prior year’s growth. Leaving seed heads and spent foliage in place through the winter provides visual interest as well as cover and food for many kinds of wildlife. Once spring comes, burning off the dead material is the best way to knock back weeds and stimulate new growth. If burning is not an option, mow the dead plants or cut them back with a scythe or pruning shears.

Applied Ecological Services, Inc., has been installing rain gardens for more than 20 years. Their web site has lots of good information about rain gardens, and their Taylor Creek Restoration Nursery offers a wide variety of garden plants.

https://plus.google.com/b/111530368034509462252/+APlusGardeningLandscapingNorthVancouver

 

A-Plus Gardening & Landscaping
http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/British-Columbia/North-Vancouver/A-Plus-Gardening-Landscaping/5956273.html

Bug out Beatles

Do you have crows, skunks or raccoons digging up your lawn? If so, you may have a European Chafer beetle infestation.

The European Chafer beetle (Rhizotrogus majalis) is a serious pest in Eastern North America and was first identified in the Lower Mainland region in New Westminster in 2001. It has since spread to many Metro Vancouver municipalities causing considerable damage to lawns, boulevards, medians and turf in parks.

Chafer beetles have a one year life cycle and populations build up quickly. The grubs feed on the roots of many different plants, but prefer the fibrous roots of turf grasses. In drier weather, the damage caused results in the appearance of brown patches in the lawn. Most of the serious turf damage is typically caused by birds and animals digging for Chafer beetle grubs. Damage by animals is most severe in the Fall and Spring when the grubs are rapidly increasing in size and feeding near the surface.

What Can You Do If You Have An Infestation?

The European Chafer Beetle is an exotic pest, so there are few natural predators to control its population. They are here to stay, but with healthy lawn care practices, alternative groundcovers and biological treatment, damage from this pest can be controlled on residential properties

Don’t cut your grass too short. Raise your mowing height to 6 to 9cm (2.5 to 3 inches), since Chafer beetles prefer laying eggs on closely cropped lawns. The taller grass also helps protect the soil surface from water loss and encourages deeper root growth

The key is keeping the lawn healthy,

call Alpus for help

I have all the equipment for doing a good job
call Rob 604 929 3017 A-Plus Gardening & Landscaping
http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/British-Columbia/North-Vancouver/A-Plus-Gardening-Landscaping/5956273.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chafer-beetle-mild-winter-lawns-destroyed-1.4597198

 

A Beautiful Garden landscaping to sweeten your pond…

No closures will be implemented within one hour before and after all events at the the  bridge ,   Garden or  Party, to minimize traffic impacts in the area. .( ͡°╭͜ʖ╮͡° ).

 

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