Roof rainwater for your garden — non-potable, ornamental garden and lawn use
Practical rain barrel guides for your garden — non-potable, ornamental garden and lawn use only.
A working rain barrel setup has four parts: a level stand, a spigot near the bottom, an overflow near the top, and a diverter in the downspout. Get those four right and a 55-gallon barrel will fill itself in the rain, give you water at the spigot with gravity pressure, and send the extra water […]
You can install a rain barrel in one weekend afternoon for under $100, with basic hand tools and no plumbing experience. Pick a downspout, raise the barrel on a level stand, cut the downspout, fit a diverter, add spigot and overflow hose, then fill it and check for leaks. Plan on two to three hours, […]
Rainwater from a barrel is fine for ornamental garden beds, shrubs, and lawns — but it is not safe to drink, and the CDC recommends tap or bottled water for watering plants you plan to eat. That one distinction, ornamental versus edible, is the whole answer. A barrel catches runoff from your roof, so the […]
For most homes, start with one 55-gallon barrel, and add a second if your roof is over 1,000 sq ft or you water ornamental beds often. One barrel catches the first 55 gallons of a storm; a 1,000 sq ft roof produces about 530 gallons from a single inch of rain, so even three linked […]
A 1,000 square foot roof collects 623 gallons from 1 inch of rain before any losses, and about 530 gallons after a typical 85% collection efficiency. Over a year with 36 inches of rain, that same roof collects roughly 19,000 gallons after efficiency. The key number is 0.623: every inch of rain on every square […]
A 1,000 square foot roof collects about 520 gallons from just 1 inch of rain, after an 85% collection efficiency and a 10-gallon first flush. That fills more than nine standard 55-gallon rain barrels from a single modest storm. The formula is simple: gallons = roof square feet × inches of rain × 0.623 × […]