| Ham Lake couple happy with rain garden improvement |
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| Wednesday, 05 August 2009 | ||
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Staff writer When Mick and Valerie Forsch moved to Ham Lake seven years ago, the newly built home they bought had very little landscaping. The couple have spruced up their yard over the seven years. They were thinking about adding rain barrels for the downspouts, but Valerie thought that would be
She had heard of rain gardens through her subscription to The Garden Gate magazine and how they help filter water and reduce water runoff. The Forschs decided this would be the next project to tackle and they finished a 20-foot-by-15-foot rain garden in two days over the Memorial Day weekend. The whole first day was spent removing the sod. They could not get the root system out, so they rented a rotor tiller. They also rented a Bobcat machine to dig up the sand and flatten out the area because it was taking them a long time to dig by hand. They put in a pond liner, so when water comes from the downspout, it does not go automatically into the ground. When the water gets high enough, it flows out of the trench and into the yard. It takes a few hours for the water to filter through, Valerie said. Since they finished, the couple have seen many more birds such as blue jays and cardinals as well as species they did not know, so they bought a bird book. In the rain garden, they placed plants that are drought-tolerant, but can be in water for a period of time. Some of the plants they put in include monks hood, black eye susan, leopards bane, agastach blue, yarrow and white clusters. About 90 percent of the material Valerie bought was from an Andover business, Cheri’s Garden. Including the rental of the equipment, the project cost around $500. “We’re pretty proud of it,” Valerie said. “For not knowing what we were doing,” Mick said. “She’s the brains of the operation. I kind of just did the grunt work.” Lynn Hagen, program coordinator with the Anoka County Master Gardeners Program, said she has seen enrollment increase at home and landscaping garden fairs and one-third of the show is dedicated to sustainable landscaping like rain gardens. To find more information on rain gardens, Hagen recommends visiting these two web sites: • www.bluethumb.org • www.extension.umn.edu Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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