| Thursday Tips: More About Rain Barrels |
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| Written by Heleigh Bostwick Thursday, 17 May 2012 | |||
 As we know, rain barrels are a great way to save rainwater, but can sometimes be a bit pricey. Last week, we looked at a couple of resources for inexpensive or free rain barrels. Several people wrote in with more ideas so I decided to post what they had to say in today’s edition of The Daily Dirt. ”We bought barrels at an army/navy surplus store. These were plastic shipping containers for Greek Olives. They cost less than $25 a piece and have lids. My husband fitted a hand pump with a long piece of PVC to the lids and then drilled the lids with holes, and stuck them under our shortened downspouts. We can pump them out by hand, or if we're feeling lazy, use a submersible sump pump to empty them out into recycled gallon milk jugs. They work great! We have 6, and they are 60 gallons each.” –Pat from WA “I had new gutters put in a couple of years ago and purposefully left off 2 downspouts. I bought some really cheap decorative plastic chains and I park a couple of my old wheelbarrows under the chains. I can move the water to dry spots for a big soak or dish out the water for spot watering with large buckets. If the wheelbarrows overflow, the water moves towards a pond in a low spot in my garden. It's not a long-term storage solution but it's practically a free way to collect water with existing garden stuff I have sitting around. Thanks for the article on rain water collection. It doesn't rain much in Santa Barbara so I'm always looking for ways to collect it.” –Jeannie M. One reader from New England suggested New England Rain Barrel Company as an inexpensive resource for anyone in that region of the country. And finally, one reader wrote in to express caution about using barrels from the car wash as they may contain substances that might not be so good for plants. Good point! Thank you readers! |
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