Hi! My gutters are in shambles and it’s time to replace them, and I’ve been thinking about making a rain gutter garden (Pinterest pics below). Has anyone ever made one? It seems pretty straight forward, but wondering if anyone has any major pros/cons/difficulties they’ve experienced through time or from building, or in ground vs raised bed. I don’t want to use plastic! Thank you!
EDIT: I live in an arid climate, so it does not rain much but when it does it currently goes directly onto my foundation. I bought this house recently and am trying to improve things. I just learned about this when researching how the heck to replace gutters. It’s my first home. Please be nice!!
EDIT 2: I now know this is an AI generated screenshot from Pinterest, please stop commenting it’s AI slop, we get it.
by Empty-Outcome5803
48 Comments
I personally would not do that, and would instead try to get the water away from the foundation of the house. Depending on what the roof is made of, the basic idea might be fine, if it were not next to the house.
I’d be worried about putting the stuff from my roof into my edibles
So it’s a gaint wooden box that you fill with dirt and water? What happens to overflow? How do you keep from saturating the ground there next to the foundation? There doesn’t even appear to be a way for the water to be absorbed into the garden beds??? Let’s just slap this permanently damp wood up against the siding lol
Imagine water sloshing out of there.. most of it would go out right past the rocks and just spray that loose dirt out if it was anything more than a trickle.
Total slop.
I think a rain garden or a rain collection barrel connected to a raised bed would both be better options.
This is AI, I saw the video yesterday. They didn’t even put anything under the rocks. Just rocks and wood.
I would probably opt for rain barrels instead.
this is like someone learned about rain gardens that already exist and work well for their purpose, and said “what if we made it way worse for no reason”
I can just imagine that tomato plant close to the pipe being absolutely blasted with water during heavy rains.
I would collect water in a rain barrel and use the water as needed.
No way to control the water like this, if using for watering plants and a garden. Water is also too close to the foundation.
This would be a nice idea to control water flowing away from the foundation to make a pretty stone river.
You can just have your gutters feed into water butts and water your garden that way… Then when it absolutely tips it down for weeks on end you’re not drowning
The angle on that row of rocks is opposite the flow of water and while some of it will probably make its way down, a heavy rain is going to hop right over that wood into the bed and flood it. A rain garden moves with the flow of water.
Lololol my rain gutter fills a swale the size of a small pond in an hour or two of rain, so, no, this is not a good idea unless your gutter is channeling like ten square feet of roof space.
What happens when the box overflows, flood your basement?
One good storm and you wipe out your garden. And this is can pool water near the foundation. You want to move it out farther into the grass.
have you seen the barrels that hold rain water from the gutters? that might be a better solution to both contain and reuse the rain water for gardening. my concern for your idea is that, if there is a heavy rainfall, the water would be coming out hard and fast, which might over water them or otherwise disturb your planting placement.
this is a fine starting point for an idea. lots of great suggestions already. look into a dry river bed style area with perennials that you don’t intend on eating, could be very cool. look to your municipality to see if there’s any rain garden incentives that could help pay for your project
I’m going to eventually add a gutter to my garage and put a barrel at the end with a drip hose attached. I did do a native plant rain garden on the end of the gutter to our house and it went well but that got ripped out when a storm blew my neighbors tree over
I’d look into getting a longer gutter part to move the water away from your foundation, and look into rain gardens, they are made in a trench and sand to help recharge groundwater and have plants that like the extreams of water and dry
I built a dry river that flows from the rain gutter out to the edge of my property. I live in an arid environment, so succulents and high desert plants thrive in it with the occasional rain. The rock “bridge” connects the pathways on either side.
https://preview.redd.it/kln2rr8r3rzg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a6e6080afde9d07a91f0ed66483d46f9b57e5c8
This box would be overwhelmed in a storm. The water can come down the drain with surprising force. Pretty sure it would simply wash the soil out. If you live somewhere like the west coast where most rain is gentle, it might work.
But this is just an Instagram-able version of a rain garden where you would have a rock lined drain system from the gutters down to a garden area. The rocks lining the drainage system are large and over a properly prepared slope and the garden is usually full of plants, often natives, that can handle wet roots for a period of time.
Certain details would depend on the location and the expected volume and frequency of rain, but the overall goal is to prevent water from standing around a structure and flooding a lawn. The plants usually have deep roots which help with soil water absorption, as opposed to grass lawns.
Generally it’s not recommended to put edible plants near the house due to what might be running off from the shingles
Rain garden are an awesome idea, but this is a terrible one. It’s too close to the house and the wood is going to rot.
The idea of a rain garden is to channel it to a low lying flower bed in the middle of the yard. Ideally, this bed should be filled with native plants that like having wet feet. The plant roots absorb the water and prevent it from running into the street where it can wash pollutants into waterways.
Many states and communities offer planning and even funding help for rain gardens. They are an excellent way to reduce waterway pollution and reduce flash flooding.
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/Stormwater/RainGardenManualPrint.pdf
Reclaimed water from asphalt shingles is not potable and not safe for agricultural use:
>the reclaimed water is *not*
suitable for:
>
>● Drinking
>
>● Cooking
>
>● Bathing
>
>● Watering of fruits or vegetables for human consumption
https://www.gaf.com/en-us/document-library/documents/technical-bulletins-&-notes/r-125-reclaimed-water-from-an-asphalt-shingle.pdf
This is straight from the shingle manufacturer.
I wouldn’t do it. You have no control over the amt of water. When you get heavy downpours, many plants/veggies simply don’t tolerate that much saturation and hate having “wet feet.”
My next-door neighbor’s gutters all drain toward one side of my yard, and it created a constant soggy area. I ended up having to install a French drain, remove a number of plants that couldn’t survive there, and replace with varieties that actually thrive in wet conditions — eg Red Twig Dogwood, Sweetspire
The idea sounds great in theory, but in practice, too much uncontrolled water can quickly become a maintenance and drainage problem rather than a benefit. And as others have pointed out, runoff from an asphalt roof can contain chemicals and contaminants that really aren’t ideal for a veggiee garden – most gardens in general.
Really bad idea, you want water going away from the foundation and depending on the roof material that water could be contaminated
there are other ways to harvest rain water for your garden. plenty of options out there that can be safer for foundation of your home. my personal favorite is the hanging rain chain/chime that leads to a large barrel or pot. it’s attractive and makes soothing sounds. my local garden center uses a few of them to collect water for their plants.
but as a few have mentioned, familiarize yourself with the materials on your roof before using the water in an edible garden. where i am, we don’t have shingles, just food safe roof sealant.
Run the gutters into a rock “river” that slopes towards your ditch or wherever rain drains to and turn it into a rain garden. Put in native plants that tolerate wet feet while the rain soaks in.
You get a really bad rain storm and your garden is washed to the street.
I would start with a French drain leading away from the house and then plant ornamentals alongside if it’s too ugly
Where is the excess water going when it really rains? You want that away from the house, not trapped in a wooden box next to it.
No, also I don’t want water with crazy chemicals and tar residue from my roof in my plants plus you aren’t supposed to have plants or structures against the house as it leeches water and pests
This is screaming AI TikTok nonsense, but also… Kinda looks like it might work.
I feel like this would just overload your planter with water. If its raining, the plants are already getting watered. But with the downspouts, you’re now funneling the collective drainage from (likely) multiple planes of the roof. Unless you’re growing some kind of swamp plant, bad idea.
A raingarden? I don’t think wood would be a good idea for that, but absolutely doable.
As other said, better do it away from the house? Since you say it is arid, it is like when it finally rains, it is a lot of water coming down? Because if that is the case, you have to have reservoir under the bed or overflow to absorb it, so the topsoil doeesn’t get washed away.
AI slop that makes no sense whatsoever
Where I live I can water and an hr later it’s bone dry. They make stops for the end of the gutter. Did you drill holes in the wood where it touches the wood? I’m not sure how the water is getting to the plants
Or get a rain barrel and have the downspout drain into it. When it rains, you get water in the barrel and can use it later!
I just have multiple rain barrels. They feed water into my garden wherever I need it, without having a bed that close to my foundation.
AI alert
This isn’t a very good idea.. coming from a house inspector and wood destroying insect professional.
You’re adding a wooden structure that close to your foundation that will potentially hold and moisture and give termites a mansion right next to your house that you may never see until the damage is already done.
I would suggest a water collection barrel attached to it instead so that you can control the amount of water in the garden.
Plants can be overly flooded just as easily as they can be under watered. Gutters catch a lot of rain and you don’t want that going to the garden all at once. It’s better to have it in a collection tank or barrel so that you still have water when there’s no rain.
Maybe something like this would be way more useful?
Why add extra water to the garden while it’s already being watered from the rain?
Once the water is collected in a barrel or something that’s mostly covered, it won’t instantly evaporate.
https://preview.redd.it/62egcdkqlrzg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=a09ac199b035c30d8769a288ff002106a197951b
https://preview.redd.it/rm29yvbkmrzg1.jpeg?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=126b053b760aafe6e7d2d39662491a0c58475af5
I think something like this going into a rain barrel is a better idea! And also ✨ aesthetic ✨
Look into rain barrels!
Don’t do this, it looks like much more trouble than it’s worth.
Also, keep/move the raised beds away from your foundation if you can. Generally good to get drainage and water away from the foundation as much as possible
Besides the foundation issue I would NOT recommend putting an edible garden there. I used to catch rain water from the roof. A LOT of the shingle material comes off. It’s not a small amount. Any chemicals from the shingles would be flowing into your plants. Just something to consider if you have a shingles roof.
It would make more sense if the garden was undercover or in a greenhouse. The plants are already going to get rained on, then get a possible deluge from the roof runoff.
1 this is AI 2 no fucking way water needs to stay away from my house foundations
looks like vegatables, native plants, foundation shrubs and grasses would be safer choice.
I’d really advise against using roof tile runoff to water anything edible
I’m not sure about using roof water for food crops. Because of all the chemicals in the roof shingles I would be weary of it. I have no studies to quote about leaching and run off but it just seems like a bad idea. Presumably you are growing your own veg it eat clean, seems counter productive
I have a rain barrel that’s connected to my downspout. I just water my garden with water from the barrel when it’s needed. That way you can still use rain water but it’s more controlled.