Legion Park Gets a Rain Garden!

Did you know that the water that goes into stormwater grates goes through no treatment at all before being diverted back into the river? It carries 140,000 pounds of oil residue, herbicide, pesticide, soap, pet waste, and other pollutants straight into Snohomish County's rivers--per day. That's about half an ounce per day per resident, but given that there are 4.4 million of us, it really adds up. The Shomomish Conservation District's goal is for Puget Sound to have 12,000 rain gardens by 2016 to reduce this problem. Visit 12,000 Rain Gardens to learn what you can do and to see where rain gardens are already installed.

Conservation District's Stacy Aleksich directing plant placement for Legion Park's new rain garden

Saturday, April 14, we met a volunteer work party at Legion Park, aka the farmers' market park, to help the district install a rain garden next to the new bathroom facilities. In perfect sunny weather, we dug in hearty native plants and suitable cultivars (many of them donated by our own Garden Treasures organic farm & nursery!), watered and mulched them, and stepped back to view a beautiful, functional solution to an environmental need.

Farmers' market managers Samantha Schuller and 

Audrey Houston, with 4-year-old market kiddo Tegan

Check it out the next time you're on Centennial Trail or at the farmers' market!