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Have you guys considered a rain barrel? We can get one from the City for $50 (once the pandemic is over).

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:01 pm Have you guys considered a rain barrel? We can get one from the City for $50 (once the pandemic is over).

Barrels only hold about 50-55 USG and that doesn't go very far.

If you have craigslist in your area you might be able to get one for a lot less than $50. There are usually some food grade ones for about $20 here. They don't reuse them and lots of commercial stuff is shipped in them.

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:01 pm Have you guys considered a rain barrel? We can get one from the City for $50 (once the pandemic is over).

Yes, I have. I just have too much "garden" to be going back and forth lugging around a container all around the property. Now, if the barrel (or two connected) could be hooked up to a generator (preferably electric) with a timer, which could be programmed/timed to deliver water to a pre-defined garden area, I'd be interested.

Rain overnight, tomorrow and into most of the day Monday!!!! Never thought I'd be happy about rain.

Got the summer grass fertilizer down, mixed with an additional seed/fertilizer/peat mix. And now, we just wait for the rain.

We have in front of our house, a Pin Oak boulevard tree. These trees make up maybe 30% of the trees planted in this subdivision of 400 or so houses. In retrospect, it was a huge mistake by the town subdivision planting office putting these trees in - actually, it was a huge mistake. We are treating our with chelated iron, even though it's a town tree on town property, as it's got an iron deficiency.

At least 50% of these Pin Oaks around town are dead (or very close to dead) because of this deficiency. I'd say close another 40% are going to be dead in two years (or less), and maybe 10% are living in fairly good condition. We are lucky ours falls into the last category, which is fairly good condition.

Anyhow, these trees were planted over 14 years ago and most are dying if not dead already. What a joke. When the town gets around to replacing these dead trees, they'll plant little "stick trees" that are at least 25 years away from being even close to maturity. WTF??

Rant over.

Did I mention the rain coming in the next couple of days? Oh, ya, I did mention it.

LMD wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:59 pm

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:01 pm Have you guys considered a rain barrel? We can get one from the City for $50 (once the pandemic is over).

Yes, I have. I just have too much "garden" to be going back and forth lugging around a container all around the property. Now, if the barrel (or two connected) could be hooked up to a generator (preferably electric) with a timer, which could be programmed/timed to deliver water to a pre-defined garden area, I'd be interested.

If pigs had wings.

LMD wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:59 pm

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:01 pm Have you guys considered a rain barrel? We can get one from the City for $50 (once the pandemic is over).

Yes, I have. I just have too much "garden" to be going back and forth lugging around a container all around the property. Now, if the barrel (or two connected) could be hooked up to a generator (preferably electric) with a timer, which could be programmed/timed to deliver water to a pre-defined garden area, I'd be interested.

DIY Drip Irrigation System: Irrigate from Rain Barrels by Gravity Feed
How to irrigate with a rain barrel


Googled distribute rain barrel watering system for garden to find those.

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:10 pm Googled distribute rain barrel watering system for garden to find those.

Interesting thought and what I found rather quickly, is you can get pretty serious about this sort of thing. I know it took me a while to figure out the current watering system I've got in place now, which has been relegated to watering just the various flower pots and herb pots as well (normal dinnertime herbs, not the devils lettuce. )

That said, the rain barrel watering systems would take a lot of time, more time than I've got right now to gather parts, pumps, timers, hoses, plastic pipes, placement of the barrels etc. I'm sure I'd be able to rig up something, but even then, I doubt it would water all of the gardens on the property. I'd have to fully retire to think about getting that kind of contraption going.

LMD wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:24 pm

Accrete wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:10 pm Googled distribute rain barrel watering system for garden to find those.

Interesting thought and what I found rather quickly, is you can get pretty serious about this sort of thing. I know it took me a while to figure out the current watering system I've got in place now, which has been relegated to watering just the various flower pots and herb pots as well (normal dinnertime herbs, not the devils lettuce. )

That said, the rain barrel watering systems would take a lot of time, more time than I've got right now to gather parts, pumps, timers, hoses, plastic pipes, placement of the barrels etc. I'm sure I'd be able to rig up something, but even then, I doubt it would water all of the gardens on the property. I'd have to fully retire to think about getting that kind of contraption going.

Just my opinion: If I were going to work that hard at it I would have a lot more storage capacity than a few barrels. I would build or buy a properly sized water storage tank based on the average annual rainfall and the amount I could capture.

You also need to project your usage needs. During the heat of summer I feed at least a gallon per day per cherry tomato plant that I grow in pots. The in ground tomatoes probably get 2-3 gallons per plant per day. That does not even consider DW's flower pots and forget anything larger than a postage stamp sized lawn. When I had a 1000 square foot garden which had excellent dirt I used a good bit more water than I do now.

No matter how green you desire to be the payback just isn't there for the time or money. Your time would be better spent lobbying the government to adjust the sewer tax portion of your local water bills for the irrigation season because charging a sewer usage fee for that water is rip off.

Yep - a lot of time and cost, but I could see how someone would get immersed in trying to install something with barrels, or a 250 gallon holding tank and setting up something just so he could "stick it to the man" (Is that something we can still say, or is it not proper?) even though it takes up most of our free time and a good chunk of cash.

I thought I posted something about this already, but maybe it was in FB. Senior moment.

Weather update: Today, we're getting enough rain to fill three barrels in no time. Looks like tomorrow is much the same.

What's the expression? "When it rains, it pours"?

Water update: Installing a low-flow + pause shower head today.