With the coming of winter, some places have seen extra rain showers in their areas. Whether you live in the city, country, or suburbs, one of the fun things you can do before a shower comes is make a rain garden.

What is a rain garden?

A rain garden is a garden of shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a depression in the ground. It temporarily holds and soaks in rain water runoff from roofs, driveways, patios or gutters. Rain gardens are effective at removing chemicals and sediments from the rainwater runoff. They are not ponds or wetlands; they actually improve water flow into the soil, and are helpful for keeping away mosquitos.

How do you make a rain garden?

My family did a couple different things to make our rain garden. First, we dug around the site chosen for the garden and removed any large stones under the dirt.

After that we took small plants and stones and lined the small ditch so that the water would flow over the stones before the dirt. Click through the slideshow above to see examples!

When it rains, the garden holds the water and it runs over the stones before soaking into the ground. This keeps the ground from constantly being soaked and soggy from the rain. It’s also a great way to incorporate Mary into your backyard!