Rain barrell for watering your plants & garden.

I was recently asked to give a presentation on going green. That term to me is being environmentally friendly. One of the ideas I shared in that presentation was a rain barrel. Then I visited my sister in droughty southwestern Georgia and realized many are not aware of this old idea. So let's collect some rain water from your home gutter system using a rain barrel.

A 55 gallon plastic barrel will not rust and will hold a substantial amount of water. Tops should be covered with a small mesh screen to prevent contaminations from small animals and mosquitoes. I want to suggest a couple of Koi fish in the barrel to help control mosquito larva. Fish love to feed on the larva stage of these insects. Another way to control mosquitoes is to use a few drops of vegetable oil on top of the water. These two ideas will not work together because the oil will negatively affect the fish.

Rain barrels are an excellent source of plant water. This water collection idea collects non-chlorinated water. A filtration system is not needed to use this water on your plants. The vegetable or flower garden can be watered from the rain barrel. Another neat feature of using a rain barrel is the reduction of municipal water use. Everyone should know less than 3% of all water on this planet is fresh so we all need to be thinking about a wiser use of this precious natural resource.

Once you start using a rain barrel you will influence others. Because friends and neighbors will ask questions and learn they too can utilize a rain barrel. The result will be less run-off and less use of the municipal's water source. There will also be healthier plants in the garden.

Rain barrels do not have to be unsightly. There are many options in the market out there. I will suggest you pick the one you feel fits your landscape. I would also suggest you landscape around the barrel to blend it into the landscape of your home. You can even paint it to match your home.

Rain barrels need overflow lines or they maybe connected by an overflow line from one barrel to another.

A control valve on the bottom will allow you to drain the barrel with a garden hose or into a water bucket to hand water your plants. You could also connect the barrel to a gravity trickle irrigation system for hands free plant watering.

So if plant care is high on your list add a rain barrel to your landscape. You can make a difference and together we can change the world.