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 Always start with a call to your local
municipality. Some have restrictions on water harvesting, but most
encourage this practice and some even offer rebates or rain barrels
at a discounted rate.
Purchase a rain barrel or make your own from a large, recycled food
grade container. In either case, there are some features to consider
when purchasing, creating, and adding a rain barrel to your
landscape.
Make sure the top is covered to keep out bugs and debris. Some come
equipped with a solid lid with an opening just big enough to
accommodate the downspout. Others use a screen to keep out debris,
while letting in the rain.
Don’t worry about mosquitoes breeding inside your rain barrel. Just
use an organic mosquito control like Mosquito Dunks and Mosquito
Bits (SummitResponsible
Solutions.com) in rain barrels and other water features. Mosquito
Bits quickly knock down the mosquito larval population, while
Mosquito Dunks provide 30 days of control. They are both safe for
people, pets, fish, wildlife and beneficial insects.
Look for one with the spigot near the base of the barrel so water
does not stagnate in the bottom. Use the spigot to fill watering
cans or attach a hose for watering.
Include an overflow outlet near the top of the barrel to direct
excess water away from the house or for connecting adjacent barrels.
A downspout diverter is another way to manage rain barrel overflows.
When the rain barrels are full, this device diverts the water back
to the downspout where it is carried away from your home’s
foundation.
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Elevate your rain barrel on cement blocks, decorative
stands, or similar supports. This provides easier access to the
spigot for filling containers and speeds water flow with the help of
gravity. A water pump will boost water pressure for a nice steady
flow of water.
Dress up your container with a bit of paint suited for outdoor use
on plastic surfaces. And don’t worry if you are not an artist, you
can hide your rain barrels with some decorative screens or plantings
or upright shrubs, perennials or ornamental grasses. Just make sure
you have easy access to the spout for retrieving water.
Start your conversion to rain barrels one downspout at a time. You
can capture as much as 623 gallons of water from 1,000 square feet
of roof in a one-inch rainfall. This can be a lot to manage when
first adjusting to this change of habit. Disconnecting one downspout
at a time allows you to successfully match the use of rain barrels
and other rain harvesting techniques to your gardening style and
schedule.
The choices are many, making it easy for you to conserve water and
grow a beautiful landscape.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including
The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space
Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD
series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV &
radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for
Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Summit for her
expertise to write this article. Her website is
www.Melinda
Myers.com.
[Photo courtesy MelindaMyers.com] |
