Water for Gardening
While rain gardens have different looks and shapes and may serve slightly different functions depending on the locations they are in, some basic steps to make them are pretty much the same. Here are the major steps in building a rain garden for a residential house.
First, Find out where the downspout is and where the water flows to, and identify a good location for the rain garden. The soil at the location should absorb water well. If not sure, take a water test: dig a hole of 6 inches, fill in water to full, then see how long it takes for the water to soak down. If it takes more than 12 hours, consider another location.
In the front, the downspout is located right next to the yard. While all the rainwater would go into the soil, which was good, it could be further diverted out and flow to a rain garden, allowing soil soaking for a bigger area.