Capture the rainwater from your rooftop.
Rain isn't a reliable way to water your garden, but catching the rainwater coming off a roof top and channeling it toward the garden rows can help offset your water bill. Before rainwater can be used to water the garden in a meaningful way, it must be collected. Water-collecting basins, such as 55-gallon barrels, can be installed at the base of the gutter downspouts around a home or outbuilding used to store the rainwater until it is needed for the garden. Another alternative is to use flexible gutter-hoses attached to the bottom of the gutter downspout. As the rainwater comes down the gutter, it travels through the hose and out onto the garden. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Using a Water-Catching-Basin
1. Most downspouts can be found near the corners of the home.
Cut the top off of a plastic 55-gallon drum using a circular saw. Roll the barrel toward the saw blade to cut all the way around.
2. Remove the bottom 2-1/2 feet of each of the gutter downspouts that will be used for the collection of rainwater. Use a hacksaw to cut the spout straight across in a back-and-forth motion.
3. Tilt the 55-gallon drum until the lip is beneath the mouth of the downspout. Pull the downspout out from the wall of the house and then bring the lip of the drum up between the downspout and the wall. Do this until the drum is sitting flat on the ground and the spout is inside. Repeat this step for every downspout used for catching rainwater.
4. Wait for rainwater to fill the drums.
5. Dip a watering can into the 55-gallon drum and fill it with rainwater.
6. Use the rainwater in the watering can to water the garden.
Using Flexible Gutter Hoses.
7. Attach the hose to the gutter spout.
Measure the distance from the mouth of each gutter downspout to the designated row in the garden with a tape measure.
8. Cut pieces of flexible gutter hose to the appropriate lengths using a utility knife.
9. Slide each hose onto the mouth of a downspout about four inches up the spout.
10. Screw in one-inch screws, two inches below the lip of the flexible gutter hose on all three outward-facing sides. Hold a screw in place with your left hand and then screw it in with the electric screw gun.
11. Place the end of each flexible gutter hose in its designated garden row and wait for the rain to fall.
Tags: 55-gallon drum, flexible gutter, flexible gutter hose, gutter hose, catching rainwater, designated garden, each gutter