April 7, 2009 | 5:58 PM
Barrels of Fun … and Water Savings, Too
Rain barrels give the garden hose a rest and cut down on summer water bills
As spring creeps closer, I’m spending more time outside in the garden. I’ve put in the radishes and carrots, beets and Swiss chard, and spinach and lettuce. Soon, it’ll be time to get in the annual herbs, and before you know it, I’ll be planting tomato, pepper, and cucumber seedlings.
But this week, I’m moving my rain barrels outside and into position — at the ends of my gutter downspouts. That way, I’ll capture all that spring rainwater that falls in April and May, and — as I have the past three years — dramatically reduce my water consumption and water bill.
My rain barrels are recycled pickle containers retrofitted to collect and dispense water. But now I’m finding that almost all garden shops sell them. You can even find them on WalMart, Target, and Home Depot Web sites.
I’ve been advised, however, to use the captured rainwater only on flowers, lawn, and nonedible growth: The water may contain chemicals from the asphalt roof and other pollutants that you don’t want to eat along with your salad caprese at the end of summer.
Green Cleaning For Dummies
Solar Power Your Home for Dummies
One advantage of creating a rain garden is that it both captures and filters pollutants from storm water runoff, before it reaches our lakes and streams. Rain gardens also have much more capacity to hold water than those lovely, retrofitted pickle barrels (which are also a terrific way to conserve water use but fill up fast!). And rain gardens are beautiful, lush with hardy plants that require little maintenance once established.
There is great resource for home gardeners interested in the details of design, installation and care-taking of a rain garden: Rain Gardening in the South: Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge & Everything in Between by Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford. It’s a lovely,pictorial how-to guide with extensive plant lists and trouble-shooting tips, particular to the southern US. Its available at bookstores and on-line at http://www.enopublishers.org.
(Report comment)
Rain gardens are a great way to address storm runoff. And a great and natural way to use your yard–rather than planting it with a high-maintenance grass lawn. You can also check out a Web site, http://www.raingardennetwork.com, for basics about the benefits of creating rain gardens.
And you’re right about rain barrels only capturing a limited amount of water. My rain barrels are — I think — 70 gallons. But one heavy spring storm will fill them up in no time. I’ve had to emply a couple of drain-off hoses to address the overflow. But maybe if I moved them further into the yard and built a rain garden around them, I’d have the best of both worlds!
(Report comment)
pZhcwl
(Report comment)
DjXFdV Perfect site, i like it!
(Report comment)