The Use Of Rain Barrels For Your Garden Rain Barrels TO HAVE ARTICLE READ TO YOU PRESS PLAY
Rain Barrels
The Use Of Rain Barrels For Your Garden If you’re a gardener that has an unlimited supply of water, consider yourself lucky. There are many of us who live in drought zones where the garden and lawn watering rules are very constrictive to the healthy growth of gardens and plants. Many people just give up when they find out how few gallons of water they are permitted to use, but some of us have just found ways to cope with less water. There are many ways to optimize ones garden to conserve water while still keeping it lush.
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Rain Barrels
Some of the ways include drip irrigation (the use of a pipe or hose with small holes to gradually seep into the roots of the plant), the placement of plants in groups of equal watering needs (to prevent wasting water on plants that don’t need it), and using compost or mulch to insulate the water and prevent drainage. But one of the best ways to keep your garden alive during a drought is to take preventative measures. Occasionally a drought will be predicted far in advanced, or those already experiencing a drought will be given a few weeks of heavy rain. When this occurs, you should take the opportunity to set up several rain barrels. Many people think this would be a time consuming, silly thing to do. But it can save you many gallons of water, and hardly requires any work. Finding the barrels will probably be the hardest part. You can use your own garbage cans, or head to your home improvement store to get a few 55 gallon plastic drums. These can be expensive and difficult to transport, so keep that in mind before you go to the store. You will probably want to cover the top of the barrel with a screen of some sort to filter out any unwanted leaves or debris that might fall off the roof of your house. Once you have your barrels ready, you’re faced with the decision of where to place them. Usually during rainfall, there is one corner or segment of the house that rain tends to pour off of. If you are taking the simple approach to barrel placement, just place the barrel under all the places where you see large amounts of drips. However, while this might be the easiest way to place them, you won’t see very high volumes of rain in the barrels.
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Rain Barrels
If you want to take a more complicated approach to placing the barrels, you should consider tweaking your gutter system a bit. If you remove each individual segment and place it at a very slight slant so that all the water is diverted to the nearest corner of the house, you can place a rain barrel at each corner. So essentially your entire house acts as a catcher for the rain, instead of just a few feet worth of shingles. This is how to maximize the amount of water your rain barrel will catch. After a heavy rainfall, each individual barrel probably won’t see very much rain. If it looks like it won’t be raining more any time soon, it’s a good idea to empty each barrel into one main central barrel. Seal it and save it out of the way, for whenever you may need it. Then the next time it starts to rain, you’ll be able to quickly put all your catching barrels into place without having to lug around all the water you’ve accumulated so far. The use of water barrels might sound like an antiquated idea. However, when you’re in the midst of a drought and you’re able to spare that extra couple of gallons for your garden in addition the city allotment, you’ll be grateful for every bit of time and money you spent on collecting all that rain. All it takes is a few trips out in the backyard every time it starts to sprinkle, and you’ll be a very happy gardener when water isn’t so abundant. By: Josiah Smart Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com To read about sunflower facts and violet facts, visit the Plants And Flowers site.
The Many Benefits Of Rain Barrels For Gardening
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Rain Barrels
Whether you need water for flowers or vegetables, there are alternate ways to collect and store free water than pulling it from the tap. A common source of water for gardeners is the garden hose-traditionally abundant and inexpensive, many gardeners never consider the impact or expense of using water from municipal sources or private wells. To reduce consumption and collect a free source of water, use a rain barrel. A rain barrel is simply a large container for collecting rain water, usually from a gutter. The idea behind a rain barrel is that the total surface area of your roof onto which rain falls is gathered into usually a few locations-that is, the gutters. So using a rain barrel allows you to conveniently collect and store all of this water for later usage. Ready-made rain barrels which you can buy come with a spout on the bottom to which a hose can be attached. Ready-made rain barrels are convenient, but can be expensive, and overall they’re often made of plastics, which perpetuate oil consumption. With a little extra work, you can find or purchase an available resource for your rain barrel. Where I have my rain barrel, I found two garbage cans left on the property probably from when the city of Ann Arbor issued its own refuse cans. Thus, I converted these unused available resources into rain barrels.
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The trashcans I found had holes in them, so I lined them with the thickest 42-gallon trash bags I could find-contractor grade trash bags, 3mm thick. I put the rain barrel under the gutter, and voila! After the first rain storm I had a ready supply of water for my garden. One downside of my rain barrel set-up is that I don’t have the convenience of a spout on the bottom. Thus, I draw water from my rain barrel by scooping out the water with an old plastic container. This allows for direct watering and minimal waste of my rain water reserves. Another drawback of my rain barrel is that standing water is left somewhat open and exposed, which can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. To combat this I agitate the water periodically to drown potential mosquito nests. Visit Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources that describes how to build a rain barrel. It helped me; I’m sure it can help you. Most importantly depending on your local rainfall patterns, you should implement the benefits of a rain barrel as soon as possible before the drier part of summer arrives. By: Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com About the Author David Merian is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club.
Conserving Water With Rain Barrels
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Water is necessary to all living things. Water is all around us, in the air and in the ground. It is in milk, vegetables, fruits, meat, leaves, trunk, roots and branches of a tree, it is even in stones. We use water in many things like for drinking, people should drink eight glasses of water each day to stay healthy. To wash cars, clothes, dishes and ourselves as well. We also need water to cook, put out fires, to water the plants, lawns, tress and bushes. There are many plants and animals that live in water, either salt water or fresh water than on land. These are just some reasons why water is important. Most people do not realize this and they just waste water. For instance, in brushing the teeth, they just keep running the water while brushing their teeth and even in washing the dishes. We need to conserve water like using rain barrels because we don’t have much fresh water on earth. We have to reduce the usage of water and recycle the waste water for different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation. The use of rain barrels can save you literally thousands of gallons of water during the summer when less rain falls. Rainwater is also naturally soft meaning it lacks the minerals and chemicals
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Rain Barrels
associated with ground water or water from municipal water systems. It is clean and uncontaminated. During the summer months, most of the water is use for household, in watering the lawn and garden maintenance. A rain barrel collects water and stores it for those times that you need it most. Using rain barrels potentially helps home owners lower water bills, while also improving the vitality of plants, flowers, trees, and lawn. Having stored rain water at home provides you with an emergency water supply in the event of water shortage, drought or damaged water supply line. You can also lessen the impacts of drought with collected rain water by using the precious tap water supply for essential purposes and leave the non-potable uses to rain water. So remember, using rain water is also environmental friendly as it helps conserve precious water supply and reduce the amount of pollutants pouring into local storm water systems. By: ezrathomas Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com For more info on compost bins, compost tumblers, rain barrels, composters, composting, raised garden beds, worm bins. Visit www.composters.com/ How To Install a Rain Barrel by Aquascape
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Rain Barrels 101
Some more resources for you…. Rain Barrels & Rain Catchers for the Garden | Shop Gardener’s … http://www.gardeners.com/Rain-Barrels/Watering_RainBarrels%2Cdefault%2Csc.html Gardener’s Supply Rain Barrels | Shop rain barrels and rain barrel accessories like downspout diverters and linking kits to catch rain water and use it in the garden. Healthy Landscapes – Rain Barrels http://www.uri.edu/ce/healthylandscapes/rainbsources.html What is a rain barrel. A rain barrel collects and stores rainwater from rooftops to use later for watering plants and gardens. Water collected in a rain barrel would normally pour off your roof directly or flow through roof gutter downspouts and become stormwater runoff. Amazon.com: Rain Barrels: Patio, Lawn & Garden http://www.amazon.com/b%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D698954011 Results 1 – 24 of 418 … Online shopping for Rain Barrels from a great selection of Patio, Lawn & Garden; Watering Equipment, Gardening & more at everyday low … DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self … Betsy Matheson, published 2011, 160 pages
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