My rain barrel experiment after a dry July surprised me

I set up a 55-gallon rain barrel back in May thinking it'd just be for my garden, but after that three-week dry spell we had, it kept my tomatoes alive while neighbors were running sprinklers. Has anyone else found their rain setup doing more work than expected during a drought?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_burns1mo ago

Did you have any issues with mosquitoes breeding in the barrel? I was surprised when I set up a rain chain instead of a downspout, it actually slowed the water down enough that my garden bed stopped flooding during heavy storms. The dry spell was bad here too, but that barrel kept things alive longer than I expected.

jade_hernandez1mo ago

oh man, i gotta call this out. i set up a rain barrel a few years back and it barely made a dent in my water bill. sure, it kept a few plants wet but my neighbors who just hooked up a soaker hose to their spigot did just fine. @iris_burns i think the mosquito thing is overblown too, like, are we really acting like a bucket of water is gonna bring on the plague? if your barrel has a screen on top you're good. i just think people get dramatic about a little dry spell and act like they're surviving the apocalypse with their fancy rainwater.