Let’s Divert Heavy Rainwater from the House!

Well, it’s Spring again! We had a really rainy Spring a couple of years ago! I don’t know about you, but I never really worried about where the water from our gutter downspouts flowed. Not that I started to worry, but since I had been landscaping around them, I had been paying more attention to those areas. Also, we had just had our gutters cleaned out AND it had been a really rainy Spring!

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First downspout – flower garden

I had seen people using rocks to divert water from their downspouts and thought that would look nice with the vibe of the landscape around our home. Besides, our soil is very rocky so I have a lot of rocks laying around. Every time I dig a hole to plant flowers and such, I end up with lots of rocks of all sizes. I had so many that I ended up lining both the front and back fence lines and along the house where there are flower beds with rock! What that meant was that I had a lot of rocks to choose from to make river beds.

1st rock river bed

Once I made the decision to build a little rock bed, I got to work. Using a small garden shovel, I removed soil to create a dip in the ground where I could place the rocks. To allow the water access away from the enclosed garden bed, I moved one of the bricks that bordered the garden. This would allow the water to be dispersed better.

1st river bed in action

Second downspout – Planter box

2nd river bed

To create the rock river bed here, I removed some of the grass on both sides of the planter so I could divert the water to the driveway. I then used a small garden shovel to remove enough soil so I had a concave area to build the bed. I used the same process as I did with River Bed #1. I gathered large & small rocks and brought them to the area in my wagon. Once again, I wasn’t certain that it was wide enough in the area directly under the spout. I hoped, though, that I would be proven wrong like I was with the first bed.

2nd river bed in action

Third downspout

The last downspout I addressed was in the backyard, right outside the door to the garage. A couple of years ago, I put in a bark bed and lined it with cement blocks. At the time, I left the downspout area alone. When it rained, the water poured onto the cement block below the spout and then drained into the bed. Even though I used landscape cloth below the bark, there was never an issue with drainage. Below is a picture of the area before the bark was added and before I leveled the blocks.

3rd river bed

3rd river bed in action

Fourth downspout

The last downspout on the house drops water right into the back of this bark bed. I have a plant at the base of the spout that benefits from the rainwater. It also waters the plants in the garden bed on the other side of the fence. Since the water from the spout is doing a good job watering the neighboring plants, I decided it didn’t need a rock river.

Your turn!

If you are like me and haven’t paid much attention to where your rainwater goes….or if you just LOVE the look of these little rock river beds, then it’s your turn to build one (or several) for your place! Leave me a Comment in the section below letting me know if you plan to do this project or have already done it.

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