Show Your Stormwater Management Practices a Little Love!

A Rainscapes garden in the middle of winter.

Is your rain garden looking a little lonely? Have you not been spending enough time with your conservation landscape? Would your bioretention appreciate a box of chocolates and some flowers? February is the perfect time to show your stormwater management practices a little love!

Between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day is generally a slow time for vegetated stormwater management practices, such as bioretention facilities, rain gardens, bioswales, and conservation landscapes.  By mid-February, we begin to see some signs of spring. From now until March, is a great time to get ahead of some of your maintenance to keep your facility looking good and working well!

Tips for Showing a Little Love

• Before spring growth really picks up, check for and remove accumulated sediment from inlet areas.
• Check the condition of your mulch and for scoured out areas of soil media. Repairing these areas is much easier before new growth sprouts – go light on the mulch!

A mulched stormwater management practice.

• Begin the process of cutting back native grasses that have been left to overwinter to allow for new spring growth.
• Check outlets for accumulated debris and sediment.
• Get a head start on trash cleanup – it’s much easier to see and remove accumulated trash before new plant growth begins.
• Anytime the vegetation is low is also a great time to check the condition of metal and PVC components such as down spouts, caps, and observation well pipes, and make any necessary replacements.

A broken dry well cap.

Wishing you and your stormwater management practice a happy Valentine’s Day! We hope you have many happy years ahead!