With possibly increasingly frequent drought and less available water in future, I've gotten interested in developing more of my property as a "rain garden." Is anyone else doing this these days? I first heard of contouring to capture and maximize use of rain water a few years ago on a tour of the Governor's mansion gardens in Atlanta but am just starting to try it myself.

So far I've dug, but only partially planted, two very shallow garden areas to capture runoff from our roof. We're on a dry hill, so as the trees grow to provide shade these are to become my moist gardens where I can grow plants that would die in other parts during dry summers.

And today I was out raking a flat area outside the living room porch still flatter. The pines on the original slope there had died of drought and beetle, and I had to hold off replanting the past two years because of the drought (we're on a low-producing well), until frustration inspired me to have the bulldozer putting in our septic system grade part of the slope flat to slow runoff so more of it can soak in (and so I don't need a short leg to walk across it). He left it still conventionally sloped just enough in the wrong direction that rain escapes in a determined stream, so I'm currently digging a shallow trench and a little cove in the hill for it to turn into instead of running off altogether. Two years ago, the baby willow I planted died in the drought, but if this area ends up staying damp I'm going to try again here.

I'd love to hear what others are doing in their gardens, in addition to rain barrels. BTW, I jumped to get a new book out on this by two North Carolinia State University horticulturalists, Rain Gardening in the South, Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge, & Everything in Between. It's full of good pertinent information for our soils, and I'm really hopeful that with its help and inpuy from others dealing with the same problems I'll be able to have a lush green garden whatever the climate dishes up.