Rain Gods & Rain Barrels

Ohio was blessed by the rain gods in May of 2011, that is for sure!

To commemorate the occasion, I thought I should jump on the rain barrel bandwagon. I've read a lot about rain barrels, but when you don't garden and you don't wash your car, there's not a compelling reason to invest in one.



Lo and behold, one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2011 was to start a more elaborate container garden. A rain barrel finally made sense.

It seems that the most difficult task when making a rain barrel is finding a...um...barrel. Rumors abound about the best places to find free or dirt cheap barrels, but it seems that there's a lot of treasure hunting and dumb luck involved.

Common suggestions for locating rain barrels:

• Look on Craigslist or Freecycle.
  
• Contact local companies such as Pepsi Bottling Group or T. Marzetti's.
  
• Touch base with someone who works in the restaurant and food service industry. (Food-related barrels are best, as you know for sure that they are not toxic. Be careful and ask questions before you accept a barrel of unknown whereabouts.)
  

Lucky for me, the Franklin Park Conservatory took the guess work out of finding myself a barrel by offering a "Make Your Own Rain Barrel" program.

So, here's how it went:

The conservatory provided the rain barrels (formerly used to store my favorite guilty pleasure, Mountain Dew.)


They also supplied a DIY Rain Barrel Diverter and Parts Kit (an EarthMinded product sold by Rain Brothers here in Columbus.)


Then we got out some drills. (The kit comes with the perfect size drill bits for the job. Score!)


We drilled holes to install the drain (the bottom hole) and the spout (the top hole).


Then we drilled a hole on the opposite side near the top for the hose to the downspout.


Made sure to add the "Don't Drink the Water" sticker in case anyone got thirsty and made the mistake of thinking the water was safe for human bellies.

From here, we were sent home with careful instructions on where to drill the hole in our gutter's downspout and how to hook the downspout up to the barrel with a hose.

I merrily went on my way, super excited to get home and finish the job. Well, come to find out that my condo is the proud owner of ZERO downspouts. Both of my neighbors have them on their decks, the perfect location for my new container garden.

"Sigh" with a big side of "doh." Wish I had thought to look for that earlier!


Nonetheless, my rain barrel can still hold water and dispense water, so I decided to drill holes in the top to allow for water collection and be okay with the fact that I just won't be collecting as much water as I could be with a downspout.


I still needed to cover the holes to prevent mosquitoes from taking over. So I bought a yard of window screen from Roush Hardware. Then I drilled a lot of tiny holes around the edges of the big holes and threaded wire through them to tie around the screen and keep it in place.

Not the prettiest, but it's functional!

Some tips from the Franklin Park Conservatory program coordinator:

If attaching to a downspout, be sure to drill the hole on the downspout a few inches higher than the hole in your barrel.

Over the winter, be sure to drain all water out of the barrel and then store outdoors under a sheltered area or indoors. Cover the hole in your downspout with the cap provided in the kit.

Happy watering!