It's hard to imagine now that we've just enjoyed a few days of full on hot sunshine, but this winter/spring was one of the wettest on record 'round these parts. And when you live in city that used to be a rain forest, that's really saying something. As our rainy, cold days stretched well into May the only bright spot for me was seeing our spanky new rain barrel out in the backyard. We were gifted this very fancy City of Vancouver-issue rain barrel by a friend who wasn't able to use it at her condo and I'm awfully pleased with it. Martin set it up to collect water off our garage, which granted isn't the source of a tonne of water, but with the way it comes down here in Vancouver I think we'll do just fine. For example, over the course of about 5 rainy days in May it filled up to about 1 inch below the top tap there. By positioning it on the garage we also put it right in the midst of the veggie garden which is really the area I water the most attentively. It is also, unfortunately no where near our regular outside water tap which is up across the yard, up some stairs, around a fence and on the side of the house. Now that we have had a week of heat, and watering my seedlings is something of a priority, having a water source right out there is just the bees knees I tell ya. I don't have a separate hose for the rain barrel yet, so I've just been using the tap and a pail to water, but it's working great. I think I'll probably just get a good watering pail and hang it on the garage next to the rain barrel.
Not surprisingly, Gayla has some awesome info on making your own rain barrel over at You Grow Girl as well as links to municipal rain barrel programs.
Not surprisingly, Gayla has some awesome info on making your own rain barrel over at You Grow Girl as well as links to municipal rain barrel programs.
. How nutty is that? 
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Oh, yes, you'll enjoy having the rain barrel. I made mine out of an old whiskey cask (from the local WalMart, believe it or not) and put it in about three years ago. I only wish I'd installed a second one at the same time for an overflow.
Posted by: Kate H. | May 31, 2007 at 10:49 PM
That's great that the city of Vancouver has these available, and they look nifty. We just assembled ours this spring and so far it's been getting so much water (1 rain = full rain barrel), that we're thinking of adding another one.
The only thing I did hear though is that if you have an asphalt roof, you won't want to water your vegetable garden with the water because it may carry toxins from the roof. Just in case you didn't know.
Posted by: Rosemarie | June 25, 2007 at 12:34 PM
That's one good reminder, Rosemarie. It's good that you have one of these rain barrels installed for your home. But take note of Rosemarie's advice about having this rain barrel system installed for certain types of roofing.
Posted by: Santo Caridine | September 20, 2011 at 11:08 AM