Rain Garden Update

On October 19, staff from UI Facilities Management delivered a mountain of compost to the Kuhl House. The next day, our lawn was part of a Rainscaping Iowa training program sponsored by Iowa State University Extension. A spreader was used to distribute compost over the lawn, then a deep tyne aerator circled back and forth across the lawn to penetrate the ground. This will both enrich and aerate the soil and help prevent rapid runoff from rainfall, extending the benefits we are already enjoying from our rain garden.

Blooms in the rain garden and the prairie garden are almost over for the season; only a few hardy brown-eyed Susan blossoms remain. We like to think that underground, the plants’ long roots will continue to absorb snowmelt until spring comes again.