xp w/ The Nest - NWR - Rain Barrels

wittyschaffy

Hi all - this is not at all wedding related but I am hoping that some of you might have experience with rain barrels and would be willing to share your knowledge! 

Does anyone have good recommendations for a place that sells rain barrels?  DH and I had our house re-sided and we're going to be re-hanging gutters this weekend.  I want to add a rain barrel to one side of the back of our house to use for watering my vegetable garden.

Does anyone have a rain barrel and have good tips for using/maintaining them?  I do know you have to be a little careful about mosquito larvae but that is about the extent of my knowledge.  If you have one - do you love it or is it more of a pain than its worth?  I'd love honest feedback!

Steph0871

We're going to do this!  This is one of the sites I found:

http://www.recycleminnesota.org/

I think I got it from TN a few months ago, so hopefully they'll have more suggestions!

saintpaulJess

I saw some for sale at Whole Foods.

brink131

I found this (<<clicky) super helpful pdf packet all about rain barrels and where to buy or make them around here (you can make your own in a group workshop). There's also this post from one of my favorite blogs all about making your own rainbarrel along with some helpful tips for using them. Scroll through the comments for even more tips from readers.

beka0404

We installed two this spring - I bought mine from Amazon because I have free shipping through my Prime membership. Here'sthe link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NURRZA. I know that Home Depot sells something similar - I didn't look around too much, I just wanted to compare them online and be done with it.

I'm surprised at how quickly ours fill up. Since they're covered, I'm not sure if mosquito larvae will be an issue, but I'll definitely be looking into it.

Tip for installation - if you don't have a hacksaw, get one. My husband tried to use a skil-saw on the gutters for the diverter and it was a nightmare. Finally he bought a hacksaw and things went much more smoothly.

One thing I wish ours had was a pump or pressure regulator. I wanted rain barrels for watering my vegetable garden. I installed soaker hosing in my three raised beds and prior to the rain barrels had run a hose from our outdoor faucet to the soaker hose connector. My hope was that I'd be able to run a hose from the spigot of the rain barrels to the soaker hose connector and everything would be groovy. However, that hasn't been the case and I've had to hand water using a watering can filled up via the barrels. Not something I want to keep doing all summer as I have a big garden. My dad told me to check Northern Tool for exterior pumps (no clue - totally my husband's department) so I'm hoping that will solve my problem. If you're fine with using a regular hose or watering can, you won't need a pump.

ETA: Even with all the current mini-issues, I'm still REALLY glad we installed them. Though we're not on city water, I wanted to use rainwater for a number of reasons (less strain on our well, fewer minerals in the water - we live in an iron-heavy water area) and I'm glad we have another option.