One thing you can do with rain barrels is you can set up rain chains to direct the water into the barrel instead of a regular gutter down spout. Doesn't do anything special... just adds some pretty to the yard. My rain chain drains into a potted container in my back yard. My rain barrel is on the side of the house. Since there is no visual impact there I didn't install a rain chain over my barrel. But it's an option :)

Great idea, Nichole.  I was looking at the spot where I'd want the barrels, but the gutters would have to be manipulated more than I'd like.  Still not sure where the best spot is, while keeping the land looking decent. 

- Wills . Can you post a picture of the 350 gal poly tank you mentioned (@ post #13)? This should be a good, inexpensive alternative. I have a spot in mind for one.

Saxon,

Here it is.  It has a very inexpensive shallow well pump with included pressure tank mounted to it, $119 at Harbor Freight.  A pipe and foot valve down inside the tank and it has 4 valves.  It is set so it can recirculate or feed any one of 3 
blueberry beds I have.  

Like I said I use it as a mix tank...I add 1 cup of 96% sulfuric acid to the tote and fill it with water and it drops my ph 7.4 water to 5 and changes the liming bicarbonates to neutral stable gypsum.  The figs on the other hand love our limerock well water.

The totes have a built in threaded shutoff valve at the bottom if you wanted to daisychain several together.  The tote is actually 300 gallons but filled to the top it is in reality 350 gallons.  

Thanks for posting that Wills. I have seen those around. I looked on Craigslist and saw one for $50 not too far from me. So this should be a good economical solution. I'm thinking about using one as a basic rain barrel. Just elevate it on some cement blocks and attach a hose to the drain valve for gravity fed watering. Might be a good way to water with a 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer.  

Saxon,

Yep they are economical.  I picked it up for $25 though it had a few inches of dried dye on the inside which I had to clean out, you can still see the tote is stained red.  They had already cleaned ones for $75.  I ended up taking 10 of them which is what would fit on a trailer.  Just one was for me and the other 9 for a buddy that wants to use them in a hydroponics project.  I had thought at one time getting a lot of them and just using rainwater for the blueberries but I would need to store 10,000 gallons for that at least and that is way too many totes to fool with.  I may at some point put in a pond and funnel the rain water to that but for now the acid works just fine.  

I got mine several years now, in my area i use it mostly during late july/august.I have got it routed to the southside of the house also.

I have a couple of the 55 gallon terracotta olive barrels. If you go with barrells, be sure and put them up on blocks so you don't have to use a pump. I built a stand for mine with 4x4 ceder post and heavy duty bolts. I do like Grasa and connect them after it has rained for a bit.

As for the color, if the barrels are going to be in the sun, don't go with black. My barrel on the south side of the house gets pretty warm, in the heat of the summer I only use that one for late night watering missions.

If you call around to self-serve car washes and food processing plants, they may give you barrels for free.  With rain in short supply during the summer and many in ground trees to water, I gave up on the barrel idea (even the larger totes).  I've been thinking of creating a pond by mudding a depression on the property (possibly a previous pond).  If anyone has ideas about a pond, I'd appreciate it.

My cousin had a stream running through his land. nothing big but fresh clear water. he wanted a pond but didnt have the money to dig one so we took an old case of dynomite he had. one stick here and there placed out with the stream in he center. of corse we barried them for more impact. he has a nice pond now. but i must add he lives out in the sticks where it wouldnt bother anybody. the closest house was 10 miles away.


I used a rain barrel last year until the city told me to take it down as a health hazard. said i was responsible for the misquito population. im sure it had nothingto do with the farm ponds and creeks around here. they all came from my 35 gal barrel. i need to move.

mine came from a flavor watering - cannot believe all that syrup is put in the water that people like to buy (Talking Rain).