Rain Garden Planters
July 2023
The start of the year was spent working on proposals for rain garden planters at North Cave and South Cave Primary Schools, and how they would be implemented on site. We have been working with ‘SusDrainable’ to develop and install the rain garden planters in the schools during the spring.
How do they work?
These planters ‘slow the flow’ of water from the school roofs, by intercepting the rain water down pipes into lined timber planters, which can hold a lot of water in their soil and gravel layers, before they overflow via a control point into the drain.
These planters are not going to make a huge difference to flooding in themselves, but they will teach the children, hands-on, that it is possible to manage water more sensibly than just getting rid of it, whilst also creating more beautiful and nature-friendly places. In a small way, that is everything we want to achieve.
They illustrate the principles of slowing the flow very well - as well as providing attractive, educational features for the pupils to be involved in. They may also be the first small step in reviewing the school estates to see what else can be done to slow the flow. .
The rain garden planters, that were installed in March, at North and South Cave Primary Schools, have looked amazing through the spring and summer and have been greatly enjoyed by the children and the bees, as well as slowing some of the flow off the school roofs!