Homeowners Can Experience Rain Garden at the EARTH Center

Homeowners in Central Jersey who are interested attracting birds & butterflies and preserving clean water, can get a first hand look at how to do, it by visiting the newly installed rain garden at Middlesex County's EARTH Center.

The rain garden display was planted at the EARTH Center to show homeowners how a simple to install feature in their landscape, can help replenish diminishing groundwater supplies and combat non-point source pollution. Non-point source pollution occurs when water from precipitation runs quickly across impervious surfaces and picks up chemical pollution along the way, eventually finding its way into our lakes and streams. This creates a serious problem for our eco-systems.

A rain garden is simply a shallow landscaped depression, tailored to receive a calculated amount of runoff from the house's gutters, sump pump and/or driveway. Once the physical layout of the basin is achieved, the garden is filled with plants that can withstand or thrive in wet conditions.

Benefits of rain gardens include the reduction of lawn areas (which often attract the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides); the removal of nutrients from runoff that would contaminate above ground water sources: and the beautification of the local landscape.

The EARTH center's rain garden was a joint effort between the Middlesex Co. Extension Ag Dept (with Bill Hlubik as the County Ag Agent) and Rutgers University's Professor Chris Obrupta. The chief function of a rain garden", says Dr. Chris Obropta, "is to minimize water runoff into stormdrains - runoff that courses throughout the watershed and causes decreased sediment, flooding and damage to shorelines. "The cumulative effect of rain gardens throughout the state could be enormous," he says. "In New Jersey, we average approximately 44 total inches of rain per year. Build 40 of these gardens in your neighborhood - with each treating 1,000 square feet of driveway or roof top runoff - and you'll have treated and recharged one million gallons of water per year."

The EARTH Center, home to Middlesex County's office of Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension is located in Davidson's Mill Pond Park, 42 Riva Ave in South Brunswick. Also recently planted are the already existing vegetable display garden and herb garden.

For more information contact the Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension's of Middlesex County's Ag office at 732 398 5262.

Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension educational programs are offered to all without regard to race, religion, color, age, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

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EARTH Center Tours Available

Middlesex County's EARTH Center invites you to learn about local agriculture and the environment. Now your school group, Scout Troop or Senior's club, can take a guided tour at the Middlesex County EARTH Center to learn about these topics and more. These educational guided tours take place at Davidson's Mill Pond Park in South Brunswick and are available by request for a nominal fee. Tour content can be tailored to suit your group's interests and needs.

The EARTH Center demonstration areas include a 1000 square foot vegetable garden, a 13-bed herb garden and a water conserving rain garden just to name a few. These demonstrations are used to spark conversation about local agriculture, basics of horticulture, Integrated Pest Management, earth-friendly gardening techniques and many topics that are the focus of the Extension Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Department. Visitors can also find out more about the 4-H Youth Development program in Middlesex County while visiting the EARTH Center.

If you are not familiar with your local Extension office, it is part of a nationwide network that brings the research of the state land-grant universities to local people. Rutgers Cooperative Extension offices throughout New Jersey are cooperatively funded by; the County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Rutgers University- New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even if you can't visit the EARTH Center this season, you can still get great vegetable gardening tips plus information on the infamous Asian Longhorn Beetle at the Middlesex County Extension website, just visit co.middlesex.nj.us/extensionservices and click on Educational Video. For more information call 732 398 5262.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension educational programs are offered to all without regard to race, religion, color, age, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.