The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

The song may go... April showers bring May flowers, but what do you do to water your garden come June when showers are sparse? Sure you can rely on your municipal water supply, but those of us that want to go green and conserve think self-sufficiency. Rain barrels are a great way to do just that. You can collect water and store it for when you need it, and it doesn't take much to replenish your supplies.

Unfortunately, if you are like me and my garden buddies, rain barrels are in the plans for our gardens, but way down the already crowded to-do list. I for one have already found the perfect place for four rain barrels in my yard. Three will be linked together in my garden and the fourth will be over by my blueberry bushes. I can easily handle the three in my garden because that one downspout collects water from approximately 700 SF of roof area. That and I have a storm drain located right there for the overflow, because 700 SF will fill 165 gallons in one good rain here in the Pacific Northwest. The other barrel will not only allow me to water my blueberries and potatoes, but it will protect my blueberries as well. Using a rain barrel there will redirect the downspout from dumping water onto my blueberry bushes, possibly watering them too much.

You see, rain barrels can provide much needed water where you need it, and even redirect water from where you don't. If you want to buy them, they can run between $50 and $150 per 55 gallon barrel. Of course there are sites out there showing you how to build them yourself, but if you do, make sure the barrel you use is food grade and thoroughly cleaned. Checking Craigslist and Freecycle in your area is a good start for used barrels, then check your local hardware store or big box for the plumbing materials.

Once you have it built or bought, install it on a stack of bricks high enough to get your watering pail under it. Remember that gravity is all the water pressure you have. Oh, and drip systems or soaker hoses don't work that well with rain barrels for that very reason.

One final note on collecting water from your roof. Do some research into the ingredients used in your roofing materials. Certain chemicals used in some shingles are not recommended for vegetable gardens. So while nature doesn't put chlorine in rain water, your roof can put asbestos, copper, zinc and petroleum products in your rain barrel. While there is no consensus on the issue, some sites recommend only using collected rain water on ornamentals. My opinion is home-grown vegetables with questionable rain water is better than GMO store-bought ones any day!

So, if you're like me and want to save some water this year, there's no better time like the present when nature will gladly fill several barrels for you. Get busy and get those barrels installed. They're a long-term investment in your sustainable garden!