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In an age of do-it-yourself environmentalism, where paper versus plastic is not the only option, and Starbucks offers discounts to patrons who bring in their own mugs, it makes sense people would look to their own lawns to make a difference.

At least that's what advocates of rain gardens are hoping. A rain garden is essentially a hole in the ground filled with permeable soil to collect storm-water runoff, said Kit Gage, a member of the Storm Water Committee of Friends of Sligo Creek who helps people build rain gardens and has one of her own.

By sponging up storm water and filtering it back into the ground, homeowners with rain gardens are using one of the most effective ways to recycle water and capture harmful runoff, Gage said.

"There are very real issues these things can help deal with," she said.

With every storm, heavy metals, fertilizers, oil from cars and garbage flow into local streams and eventually end up in the Anacostia Watershed and the Chesapeake Bay.

Seventy percent of the bay's pollution comes from storm water runoff, said Lisa Tayerle, a gardener with Brookside Gardens in Wheaton.

It was a huge problem on the slopes of Brookside Gardens, Tayerle said. With every storm, silt would run down to the conservatory, catch harmful pollutants from the parking lot and deposit in the nearby creek — eroding its banks in the process.

"Suburban and urban development generally has had a very negative impact on the environment," she said.

So along with a local landscape architect, Low Impact Development Center Inc., Tayerle and other gardeners dug two large holes into the hill near the conservatory and filled them with sand, organic material and native plants.

The new, more permeable surface can hold gallons of water — preventing erosion and pollution while recycling it back into the earth, Tayerle said.

"Anytime we can get water back into the earth as opposed to running into the ocean, we help the environment," she said.

A more scaled-down version of the Brookside rain garden is easily doable at home, Gage said.

Gage said homeowners should watch where water gathers after a storm to learn where to place the garden. There will be a natural dip that is ideal to collect storm water.

She said it's important not to dig near a septic system, too close to a house, or on a steep slope where water could flow down into neighbors' basements.

Once a spot is picked out, Gage recommended digging about a foot down and testing the soil by pouring in a large amount of water to see how long it takes to drain.

If it drains in a few hours, the soil is permeable enough for a rain garden. If it takes several days to drain, keep digging past the impermeable clay that is usually found in Montgomery County.

Next, pour in a mixture of sand, organic material and dirt, and choose plants for the garden. Tayerle recommended choosing ones that can go a long time with or without water.

The plants best suited for that are native—another environmentally-friendly aspect of the rain garden, she said.

"Soil and plant roots are one of the best filtration systems you can have for pollution," Tayerle said.

Once the garden is complete, Gage said it requires relatively little care. She said her own personal rain garden withstood the torrential rains this summer and was still blooming with native plants.

"I have a beautiful little garden," she said. "It's pretty rewarding."

There are also more tangible rewards for people who build their own rain garden. Through its RainScapes program, Montgomery County offers rebates for the cost of building one.

But most of all, building a rain garden is a beautiful, personal way to erase some of urban living's environmental footprint, Tayerle said.

"We can all work within our own property line," she said.

And just like bringing a cloth bag to the grocery store, she said every house that has a rain garden makes a difference.