by Jerry Veltri, Fulton County Master Gardener Extension Volunteer
This article is part of Garden Buzz, a series from Appen Media and the North Fulton Master Gardeners, where rotating columnists explore horticulture topics like herbs, insects, and wildlife conservation. Find all Garden Buzz articles here.
Did you know that mother nature provides the metropolitan Atlanta area with over 50 inches of rain per year? Would you like to use rainwater when you need it for plants around your home? Rain barrels catch the water coming off your roof before it hits the ground and turns into runoff.
Benefits of Home Rain Barrels
Rain barrels provide financial, environmental and practical benefits to homeowners. Rain barrels offer a free resource for watering your lawn, garden and container plants. During the hot summer months, water consumption can become a significant portion of the city water usage and costly to many homeowners. Rain barrels offer water during critical summer months free of unnecessary chemicals, such as chloride, fluoride and salts. It is a naturally soft water source with nutrients that are beneficial to your plants, providing an optimal growing environment.
Rain barrels reduce stormwater runoff by capturing water from your roof, thus reducing storm water drainage issues. Pesticides and unabsorbed fertilizers do not get carried away into our waterways when less water is flowing from your home into the stormwater drainage system.
Ground erosion is impeded since it reduces water rushing down from your drainage system.
How to get started
Rain barrels are easy to install. Just follow a few steps.
First, you should find a suitable location to source your rainwater. Identify a gutter downspout that will provide a good supply of rainwater. A roof area of 250 sq. ft. can fill a 50-gallon container in less than two hours of moderate rainfall. Place the barrel on level, sturdy ground.
Next, determine the type of rain barrel you want to use. You can either build or buy, depending on your needs. To build a rain barrel you will need, at a minimum, a 30- to 50-gallon barrel, a way of collecting water from a gutter downspout and a spigot to get the water from barrel. Next, you need a way of funneling the water into the barrel. This can be as simple as redirecting your downspout into an opening at the top of the barrel or implementing a water diverter. Lastly, you need a way to drain the water by installing a spigot near the bottom of the container. These materials can be purchased at your local hardware store or online, usually sold in kits with all the materials and instructions needed for basic installation.
If you want more guidance, there are several online articles and videos showing you how to make one. Rain barrel-making workshops are offered by local municipalities as well as City of Atlanta Watershed Management. These are fee-based workshops typically offered in spring and summer months, requiring pre-registration. Be on the lookout for a workshop near you.
Part of home landscape
Some gardeners have shied away from rain barrels because they do not fit in their home’s landscape. The good news is that there are plenty of attractive barrels that can complement your home. Designs ranging from attractive terra cotta, Tuscan stone and modern containers are available from home stores or dedicated e-commerce shops.
Take it up a notch
If you are into home automation, you can really go wild with your beautiful rain barrel by adding an irrigation system. This will provide hands-free watering for your outdoor plants. During the summer months, you will not have to worry about when to water those precious summer blooms.
I implemented solar-powered, programmable irrigation systems, drawing water from the rain barrel, to supply over ten plants per system. The programmable systems power the water pumps to distribute the water to the plants and have day and time duration settings, so the watering is automated. This is especially helpful when I am away from home for an extended period.
Considerations
There are some considerations that you may want to address.
Many homeowners are concerned about the infestation of mosquitoes during the growing season. Because the containers have water that may remain in the barrel for several days (or weeks), there is the possibility of a mosquito breeding ground. Mosquito dunks are doughnut-shaped, biodegradable tablets containing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), a naturally occurring bacterium that kills mosquito larvae in standing water without harming pets, fish, wildlife, or humans.
The rainwater that deposits in the containers contains natural bacteria, aiding plant nutrition, and possible contaminants from the roof. However, some horticulturalists advise harvesting three weeks after rain barrel watering on the soil surface, as bacteria may get absorbed into your fruit and vegetables. To remediate, you can add a small amount of unscented bleach or calcium hypochlorite and let the chlorine smell disappear before watering (maintain a chlorine level of 0.2 mg/L of water). Avoid overhead watering onto crops, especially leafy greens, etc., with rain barrel water.
Some barrels could crack during winter freezes. To avoid potential damage, you should drain the container before a forecasted cold spell or just empty for the winter months.
So, when you are watching the Georgia rain from the comfort of your home, think about how you can capture this free resource from mother nature. You help your plants grow healthy, improve the environment and save money. All while having a Rain Barrel of Fun!
Happy Gardening!
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About the Author
This week’s “Garden Buzz” guest columnist is Jerry Veltri, a Sandy Springs resident. Jerry became a Certified UGA Master Gardener Volunteer after a lifetime of household gardening. He enjoys growing many types of plants and trees, especially citrus and fig trees, using rain barrels as the main source for watering many of his garden plants.
