BLOG.Notes from the Field

Our creekside deck will provide a bird’s eye view of SHED’s rain garden alongside Foss Creek.

Rainfall on SHED’s roof and terrace will make its way to the creek, and we want to ensure the stormwater is clean before it enters this restored waterway. Our big plans for SHED include a small ecological footprint.

Aquatic environments are sensitive, and stormwater runoff is a major polluter. Foss Creek runs the entire west side of SHED, and we are protecting it by capturing storm runoff in a rain garden. Natural and attractive, a rain garden purifies, provides habitat, and protects from flooding and erosion.

Don McEnhill of Russian Riverkeeper helped design the rain garden and select the plants. To create the garden, we dug a trench 4 feet deep x 6 feet wide x 110 feet long on the west side of SHED. We installed a bed of rock and gravel plus 2 feet of organic compost, adding rice hulls to prevent compaction. Drainage pipes deliver rainwater runoff to the soil at the top of the trench. Native plants, such as Basket Sedge and Purple Needlegrass, will absorb the stormwater’s pollutants. Bacteria and fungi in the compost will also absorb contaminants, and can even breakdown petroleum-based contaminants like gasoline, diesel, and oil. Native ferns, iris and fuchsia will take up nutrients that, otherwise, would enter the creek and stimulate growth of aquatic plants and algae. When clean and wholesome, the water will exit the rain garden and enter Foss Creek; some will recharge groundwater.

A rain garden is the perfect habitat for Douglas Iris

Don McEnhill of Russian Riverkeeper spreading compost

Oliver Lipton lends a hand