Watering plants is always a primary garden chore. For most of us, it’s the most common as well with many plants requiring a daily soaking in order to thrive. While how much water plants need and how often they need it varies from species to species and garden to garden, proper watering is a skill all gardeners need to learn. While watering with a hose or sprinkler system does make this chore much easier, it also comes at an environmental and financial cost. Many of us have seen our water bills go up in summer as we water thirsty plants. Rain barrels and rainwater harvesting offer a partial solution to high water bills while also being environmentally friendly. The water is free, setting up a rain barrel is generally easy, and the benefits are numerous. However, there are a few things to know before sticking a bucket out to collect rain. So let’s dig in and learn about rain barrels, rainwater harvesting, and how they can help your garden.
Harvesting and Storing Rainwater
Let’s start with an important legal note: laws on harvesting rainwater vary from place to place, so before you start check and make sure that you’re in compliance with all local laws and regulations. From there we’ll move on to a safety note: water from rain barrels may not be safe for human consumption, so don’t drink it. With those caveats out of the way, let’s take a look at how you can go about implementing a rain barrel system in your own garden.
Most rain barrels are made of heavy-duty food grade plastic; we recommend avoiding transparent or translucent barrels as the sun tends to promote algae growth. If you have a barrel made of transparent or translucent plastic, you can paint the outside without affecting the water within. The size of rain barrels varies widely; there are commercial rain barrels for sale in sizes raining from 35 gallons/140 liters to over 100 gallons/400 liters with many options in between. This means you can tailor your rainwater harvesting solutions to your garden and your space, which is a real strength given the wide variety of garden types out there.
So how do you get the rain water into your rain barrel? Well there are a variety of ways to do this as well, but most rain barrels are attached to the rain gutter system of the nearest home or other structure. This has a number of advantages; roofs and gutters tend to collect a large quantity of water during rainfall, and channel it into an easy to access downspout or other outlet. This can be done simply, by just having the downspout of the gutter empty into the top of the rain barrel. There are more complex systems that automatically direct water from the downspout until the rain barrel is full and then redirects it into the downspout again. NC State University has a good guide here, and there’s collection of DIY rain barrel projects that may offer the right option for you. While there is no “one size fits all” solution for installing and using a rain barrel, with a little research and some ingenuity you’ll almost certainly find something that works for you.
Rain Barrel Safety and Maintenance
While rain barrels are great, like all equipment they require some care and maintenance and come with a few safety considerations. We’ll address the safety stuff first. Ensure that your rain barrel is mounted such that it can’t tip over easily and designed such that curious children or animals can’t fall inside and risk drowning. In mosquito-prone regions, rain barrels should be designed such that all openings are covered with a mosquito screen in order to stop them from breeding in your rainwater. Finally, be aware of your roof material. If you have an older roof or siding made of asbestos or treated wooden shingles, avoid watering edible plants with your collected rainwater in order to ensure that they’re safe for consumption and uncontaminated.
The screens, downspouts, and the rain barrel itself will all require regular cleaning. Debris builds up over time even in the best-designed rain collection system, and regular inspections and cleaning will make sure your equipment lasts longer and functions appropriately. During the winter months, many of us will want to drain our rain barrels entirely to avoid freezing water that can crack the barrel itself, rendering it useless. On that note, all rain barrels should be designed with overflow in mind—most systems include an overflow hose, but if you’re going the DIY route make sure you include one. Direct the overflow away from buildings and other structures and towards plants that can use it. Many gardeners use this as an excuse to install a rain garden of water-loving plants, so that’s one option you have.
Rain barrels are environmentally and financially friend, easy to use with a little know-how, and can make a big difference in an outdoor garden of any size. If you’re making your own rain barrels or have a rainwater collection system in place, we’d love to hear how you did it and see pictures if possible so please get in touch.
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