Local Long Beach organization, Roots of Unity, is exploring ways they can add more rainwater retention features to their community garden at Ernst McBride Park. After connecting with Surfrider at a watershed community event, we connected them with the VA Patient Garden and guided them on a tour to learn about different rainwater retention strategies and get inspiration for their own community green space.
Surfrider's SoCal Ocean Friendly Gardens Coordinator first met with Roots of Unity at their garden to see their current setup and possible opportunities to add more green infrastructure. Surfrider then arranged a visit with some volunteers and staff from the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Patient Garden, to see how they have added nature-based solutions and rainwater harvesting to their garden space.
We started our tour outside one of the garden's greenhouses to see some rain barrels set up along the building. The greenhouse has gutters along each side that funnel all of the rainwater into downspouts (pipes) that direct the water toward the ground. The runoff used to flow into a nearby storm drain, carrying any pollution on the roof or pavement into our waterways and ultimately, out to the ocean.
A few years ago, volunteers from the VA Patient Garden installed 5 rain barrels donated by Surfrider. The rain barrels collect rainwater that flows off of the greenhouse roofs, and can hold up to 300 gallons of water when they are full. Every 1 sq ft of roof generates over a half gallon of rainwater per 1 inch rain storm, so when it rains the barrels fill up quickly even in the dry climate of southern California.
VA garden volunteer Kathy told us that many groups that visit the garden love to fill up their watering cans at the rain barrels, and they never stay full for long after it rains! With the help of her husband and other volunteers, they clean out the rain barrels once a year to keep them free of debris and well-maintained.
We continued our walk through the garden to see another strategy for preventing runoff pollution. Kathy had also dug a large rain garden beneath one of the downspouts on the larger greenhouse to give the rainwater a place to slow down, spread out, and sink in to the ground. This is a type of nature-based solution, that mimics natural features like a seasonal streambed or pond to collect roof runoff and help it soak in to the soil.
This rain garden has a much bigger capacity to hold water than the rainbarrels, and is a great way to capture even more of the roof runoff. The Patient Garden has a fun little bridge crossing over their rain garden dry creek and volunteers use a California wildflower mix to add some color and pollinator attracting blooms.
We also explored the climate-resilient native plant plantings in the garden, and talked about how they use less water, support biodiversity, and can be paired with edible plants to attract pollinators.
Roots of Unity were super excited to explore the garden and get inspiration for their own green infrastructure solutions. It was great to connect these community gardens together to share lessons learned and get them excited about easy-to-approach solutions to help protect clean water in our watershed.
Learn more about our Ocean Friendly Gardens program and how you can get started at home with our free guide (en Español aquí).
