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.
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 […]
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 × […]