Let It Rain!

Our Florida butterfly bed and rain barrel

Why have rain barrels?

As Tropical Storm Florence recently reminded us,

in case of emergency situations,

it's vital to have your own source of water.

If it's impossible to get to the store,

or shelves are empty when you get there,

(water is one of the first things to sell out),

you'll have a stash to use for cooking, cleaning or flushing toilets.

Of course, it's also fabulous to have a water source

to use around the garden.

Rain water is perfect for hydrating seedlings or plants,

or for those outdoor washing duties

(cleaning out garbage cans, potting containers, etc.).

And what could be better than FREE?

My goodness, but this has been a long process!

We purchased rain barrels almost a year ago,

(each barrel was about $20),

and just got to the installation this past weekend.

It wasn't high on the priority list,

as we've been occupied with getting the veggie garden established. 

This is the location for them at our home here in NC.

It's on the SE corner of the house,

in a little niche close to the vegetable beds.

The first step was to put a spigot on the barrel.

Of course, our resident handyman, Big K was called into service.

He used a hole saw to make a hole for the spigot.

He ended up having to use a rasp to enlarge the hole just a bit.

The same procedure was done so that we could add

a plastic overflow piece to each barrel.

(We will be joining two barrels together.)

The plastic threaded piece was tightened in place.

Check out this little trick-

He didn't have the appropriate sized socket

that was also long enough to do the job.

So,

he placed the socket inside of the larger one

and got the job done.

I can honestly say that I would 

NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS

have thought to do that.

He earns his keep, I tell ya!

Silicone keeps the water from leaking out of the spigot.

After the addition of the spigot and two plastic valves,
we readied the site for installation.
The materials we used were found on the property,
so we only paid for a few screws to complete the project.

I leveled the boards as best I could,

and then we screwed a few pieces of wood together to make a stand
for the barrels to rest on.
The hose from the wall spigot goes out to the veggie beds,
and I wanted to be sure that it would tuck behind the barrels.

We are blessed with gutters on this house,
and it was a simple matter of cutting a piece off of the main spout,

and replacing the end piece so that it rests
right over the barrel.

This piece of sturdy plastic connects the two barrels
so that we can collect over 100 gallons of water in a snap.
We have ample room to add a few more barrels,
should we feel the need.

Screen was cut and added to the tops
to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.
This is especially important in the warmer months,
when the buggers are so prevalent.

It feels so good to finally be able to scratch this project off the list.
The area under the window will house my workbench
and some of my materials for potting and sowing.
Hopefully, we'll get it moved over here this week.



By Wednesday, we are supposed to be getting wet.
Bring it on!
We are finally ready!