Rain Barrel Part 3: The Watering System

So the rain barrel is set up and ready to use! The final challenge of installation was to make an easy to use, practical system to water our vegetable garden. So in addition to the rain barrel, I also bought a hose splitter and 2 pre-measured lengths of drip tape.

The tricky part? Getting hoses the right length to carry the water from the rain barrel to the start of the raised beds. Fortunately, the hardware store has all kinds of neat tools and tricks.

I needed 2 lengths of garden hose - 1 about 7 ft, the other around 14. I bought one 25 ft hose and two hose end replacements, one male and one female. *Make sure you are buying the same size of hose and replacement parts!!*


Next, I cut the hose to the right length. It's important to make this cut as straight as possible!

Wiggling the hose replacement part into place is a little tricky, but it can be done! Remember to put the outer part (silver in these pictures) onto the hose first! Otherwise, you'll have to smack yourself in the head - just like I did.



Tighten up the screws, and you should be ready to go!








The great thing about the drip tape system is that we can turn it on and walk away for an hour. Our plants will get a slow, steady & gentle watering, and we won't be watering anything we don't need to be (like the weeds between the raised bed and our fence.)









Big thanks to The Rain Brothers for delivering my rain barrel and giving lots of advice! If you live in the Columbus area, I highly recommend them!
http://www.rainbrothers.com/

Rain Barrel Installation: Building a Stand

It's a beautiful Sunday morning in my backyard - the birds are singing, the lilacs smell amazing - and I can see our newly installed rain barrel. While it was a big project, now that it's all done, I feel that I can say that most people would be able to get this done with a little help from a friend. Doing a project together is always more fun than going it alone anyway.

So, the first step to installing a rain barrel is building a stand - unless you live on a hill. Since rain barrels have no water pressure, elevating them uses gravity to push water through the hose. We decided to make our stand about 2 ft high.


Supplies:
1 - 4" x 4" x 8'
2" x 4" (we have a bunch of these that were used for a project & then disassembled. We ended up using about 28' worth.)
Outdoor rated screws - 3" long
Wood stain/treatment - we used a color called Canyon Brown
Table saw
Drill/screwdriver
Paintbrush
Measuring tape
T-square (or something that helps you see when things are at nice 90 degree angles)

Unfortunately, Lowe's can't cut 4" x 4"s. We used our table saw, but quite possibly you could find a local lumber yard that would be willing to help you out for a small fee.

First, we built the base. Obviously, the 4" x 4"s were the legs.



We left the front bottom open because eventually, overflow from the gutter will end up coming out there. Our cuts weren't perfectly straight, but they were close enough. Even though we used our angle checker thing-a-ma-bob, we still had to tweak it a little - but that was easy enough.




Then we added the top. We left spaces in between the 2" to keep the weight down a little, and to keep water from puddling up on top. I'm sure you could use 1" x 4"s instead, we just have the 2"x 4"s already, and we like to reuse.
















Finally, we stained the whole thing - we want it to be pretty water-resistant & last a long time, so we covered the stand pretty thoroughly.
Huge thanks to Steve for all of his work on this project. He is patient & thoughtful, and I couldn't ask for a better partner for any kind of project!

Up next: Installing the rain barrel!

An eco-tip that's a little ... batty.

Yesterday, my honey and I installed a bat box! (And by 'I', I mean that I handed him tools while he was 10 ft. up on the ladder.) We are really excited about this because in past summers, our yard has been overtaken by mosquitoes. Since we live in an urban area, it's hard for us to control things (like standing water) that encourages mosquito breeding.

A few bat facts ...
Most US bats eat insects. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in one hour.
Fewer than 0.5% of bats have rabies. Since 1960 there have only been 40 reported cases of humans getting rabies from bats.
Bats like to come out to eat at night around dusk. Bats flight pattern is much more erratic than birds so look for this pattern.

We bought our bat house at Lowe's, but there are plans to help you build your own! Here's a link to several plans: http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat_house.asp