Watering With Hanna

Today was planting day! The flats we started a couple of weeks ago were full of seedlings and we had double-dug a new bed last weekend in preparation for fall crops. The best part of today's gardening session wasn't the bed preparation or the planting -- it was the watering! Prior to our bout with hurricane / tropical storm Hannah, Ron and I set up a rain barrel to collect water from his roof.

Ron had a flexible gutter attachment on hand and was able to fit it to the existing gutter (which previously had dumped directly onto the wooden floor of his back deck), routing the end to the top of the rain barrel. The barrel we used is a commercial model from the Great American Rain Barrel Company. Ron had already bought this one and all it needed was setting up. It already has a threaded spout at the bottom for a spigot and additional spouts near the top for connection to additional rain barrels in a kind of chain. We could have definitely filled up more than one -- by the time we checked the barrel on Saturday morning, it was already full! Rain barrels are a great way to make use of a widely available natural resource, and are definitely the way to go when we're under mandatory water restrictions.

Here is a great video from HGTV on building your own rain barrel, and more info about why you should be using them:



You can also check out this tutorial for a set of pictures and instructions.

We connected a small piece of hose to the spigot and filled the can with water from Hanna. The pressure is low, so be patient when you're filling the can! If water won't come out, sucking on the end of the hose can help initiate the siphon of water through the hose, which often bends upward above the level of the spigot. Rain barrels are a sustainable way to water your garden and can help you save money on your water bill. They are also a resource we may need to take more seriously in the future as we face droughts and a possible decrease in the availability of potable water.