Vegetable raingardens can produce food and reduce stormwater runoff

Abstract

Raingardens are garden beds designed to capture and filter urban stormwater runoff using a permeable soil substrate and plants tolerant of both drought and inundation. The construction of raingardens is actively promoted in many cities, primarily to protect local waterways from the negative impacts of stormwater such as channel erosion and degradation of water quality. To increase the adoption of raingardens by householders, it might be possible to expand raingarden functionality to simultaneously serve as "vegetable raingardens". Vegetable raingardens would be beneficial in the context of urban agriculture, as they could overcome both space and water scarcity constraints on home vegetable g..