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Florida Gardening

Rain Gardens for the Urban Enviroment

8 years ago

SUAC (St Pete Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition)

Rain Gardens

Their Design and Uses in Our Urban Environment

Carlos Frey, Pinellas County Cooperative Extension

Monday, April 4, 2016 at 7 PM

Enoch Davis Recreation Center

1111 18th Ave South

St Petersburg FL 33705

Open to the public. There is no charge.

Rainwater harvesting has been a tool of mankind for many uses for a long
time. Ancient Romans collected rainwater to cool their homes and
villages. In the Middle East, 4,000 years ago, they collected rain water
in ditches to irrigate crops.

Today rainwater is shunted away as quickly as possible, changing the ecology of streams and estuaries.

As
today’s society begins to realize that freshwater is limited, rainwater
is being recognized as a resource that should not be wasted. Rainwater
can play a larger role in our urban agricultural gardens through the use
of rain gardens.

Learn about the design, location and uses of rain gardens in our urban environment.

Questions to Bill Bilodeau at billbilodeau40@gmail.com or 727-488-3163

Featured Answer

User

8 years ago

I had a rainbarrel, but I gave it away because I just don't have room for it. I used it a lot at my old place, but here it would honestly just be in the way. It seems that without multiple rain barrels, having just one is pointless in the winter. The water runs out all too soon, and then you still have to water. I don't have a large enough garden to justify multiple barrels and nowhere to put them. Still, it was interesting working with it when I had it. If I had a lot of land, I would build a cistern.

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Comments (7)

writersblock (9b/10a)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
The rain garden at Mounts in WPB isn't designed to be wet all the time. It has plants that don't mind getting really wet but that can manage in drier times as well. It's more like a channel where runoff can go when there is any.

http://www.mounts.org/okeeffe-rain-garden/

ETA I always thought rain gardens, like the one at Mounts, were more for cleaning and purifying runoff than for collecting water to save.
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Sorry that things didn't go as planned. I have always had room, but my sil came to our town in North Carolina and decided to mostly grow in containers. Much of her 'farm' did well. She grew a decent crop of tomatoes and the smaller hot peppers. She also did well with herbs. She probably had more sun exposure. Since you mentioned expense, I want to point out that while many may disagree with me, I have found that potting soil can be used over and over. I do add some fertilizer. I have used old potting soil for starts and larger landscape plants and pond plants; basically anything that needs to be in a pot. Many seeds will last for several years as well, although you should probably save them in a zip lock bag inside away from the high humidity.
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shuffles_gw
8 years ago
My local Home Depot has a huge tank where they save rain water for irrigating the garden section.
whgille
8 years ago
Saving water is a very good idea! I do everything that I can not to waste and I use my 2 rain barrels as much as I can.

The lecture is probably very informative, if I was close by I would attend. Thank you for posting.

Silvia
Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
8 years ago
One of the things I am looking to include when we move is a rain cistern. I haven't started looking yet, but after one program I watched, I really like the idea of having a 3200 gallon rain storage cistern that I could use to run micro-irrigation (the homeowner used trellising to turn the cistern into a nice focal point instead of an eyesore). For now I am content with having a 55 gal barrel, even if I do run it pretty empty during our drier times, but as my garden becomes more established, this takes longer to do and I mostly use this water for my patio plants or watering in new plants.
writersblock (9b/10a)
8 years ago
Michael, if you're ever over on the west coast, be sure to visit the Gamble mansion to see their amazing pre-civil war water system.
Susan Bryan
7 years ago
Hi rain garden enthusiasts. I am going to invite my Master Rain Gardener class to post in the Great Lakes Gardening forum here. Please come and help out newbie rain gardeners! I'd love your support and help from experienced gardeners. Sometimes the questions are general gardening, like how to remove sod. Your comments are welcome!

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