My neighbor's old rain barrel idea actually worked better than I thought

Honestly, I was just trying to be nice when my neighbor in Portland gave me his old plastic rain barrel last month. I hooked it up to one downspout, thinking it would maybe water my garden a few times. Ngl, after our last big rain, I checked it and it was completely full, over 50 gallons. I used that water for my veggies for almost two whole weeks instead of turning on the hose. The big thing I learned is that even one small barrel catches way more than you'd guess. Has anyone else tried starting with just one barrel and been surprised?

4 comments

4 Comments

finley_roberts273d ago

Look, I get the freeze worry but that feels like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. My barrel is just cheap plastic and I empty it before winter, it's not hard. The point is catching free water you'd otherwise waste. Even if it only works for part of the year, that's still a win for my garden and my water bill. Focusing only on what can go wrong misses the whole benefit.

path473d ago

My uncle in Oregon had three barrels and they supplied all his summer irrigation. The key was putting them on simple wooden platforms to keep pressure off the seams. That small change made them last over a decade without a single crack.

sandraknight3d ago

That part about it catching more than you'd guess is so true. My uncle in Seattle had a single barrel for years and it basically watered his whole tomato patch. He never shut up about it. Then one winter we got a hard freeze he didn't prepare for and the whole thing split right down the side. He was more upset about losing the barrel than if the tomatoes had died.

wood.jana3d ago

Actually that freeze proves why barrels AREN'T that great. They're fragile and high maintenance. My neighbor had the same thing happen, lost a whole season's water because he forgot to drain it before a cold snap. A simple plastic tank or even a covered trash can would have been fine. The wood looks nice but it's just another thing that can break.