apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Thanks so much for the directions, we will definitely try it!

I got a couple of barrels free from a car wash....1 was a little sudsy the other no problems and they work great.

Just a quick question: I have (already) a similar, commercially bought set up with a much shorter hose. I've been considering getting a longer hose (to reach the garden, instead of filling up a watering can), but I'm not sure the water pressure would be strong enough to water across the yard. What is the water pressure like using a longer hose like the one on that rain barrel?

I have seen garden books that recommend having linked barrels set up at intervals throughout the yard. Some can be semi-sunk in the ground to facilitate water flow. That way the water doesn't have to travel so far along the hose, I guess. Otherwise I suppose you could have a pump.

I have always wanted a water barrel -- or a string of them -- in my garden. It seems such a pain to have to pay for water when so much flows into the sewer.

at our cottage we always had a series of water barrels to collect the rain water from various sources.. the cottage was on a well and we had a few big gardens.. its funny how the little systems than my gramps would have set up simply to solve the problem of the well going dry are today considered these 'green' and great ideas! way to go gramps!

Tell me you don't live in urban San Francisco!

I would not want the pollutants in the ambient air downtown being absorbed by plants I intended to eat, which is what will happen if you water herbs with rain water.

Seriously -- the Bay Area is an EPA nonattainment area for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which are the major components of acid rain, as well as for PM-2.5 and PM-10. You're not doing your plants or your health any favors by dousing them with this in preference to properly treating municipal water.

Wende, does that mean that any food grown in the Bay Area is dangerous to eat because it gets rained on? Do those pollutants actually make the food unsafe? Please explain.

SFGail, it's really very simple: the food you buy in the Bay Area was not grown in downtown San Francisco, but further out in less developed rural areas, where the air pollution is not so intense and consists of different substances. So the rain doesn't deposit the same pollutants on it as you'd be distilling with your rain water in the central city.

I strongly recommend visiting the EPA's Web site and taking a look at what's in your local air and rain water before deciding that it must be healthful because it's natural. Environmental quality has been studied and regulated for over 30 years now, which means there's a wealth of scientific data to help you make decisions based on facts.

"Ask This Old House" did an episode on installing a rain barrel, for the more visual among us.

I'm just laughing because that bright blue barrel looks exactly like the one from Living with Ed that Rachelle threw such a fit over for being ugly. It's funny to see it pop up in all its undisguised plastic glory on such a decor-conscious site.

You could always wrap it in some bamboo or cane fencing to make it prettier. :-)

Thanks for showing this!!! I have two linked commercially bought barrels that used to hold greek olives under one spout, and two plastic trash barrels under another spout--my better-than-nothing solution, which quickly attract mosquitoes and must be drained soon after capture. I'd love to make my own, although, in the desert, our infrequent heavy downpours really necessitate a larger system to be truly effective.

Check out the website/book of Brad Lancaster(hometown guy!), Rainwater Harvesting, for multiple tips about gifting yards, rather than the municiple sewer system, with rainwater.