Rain barrels?

coasterqueen wrote: Ok, so I decided this past weekend that I really want to have a rain barrel. I think it would be great to water the garden - much better than tap water. Ryan seemed to like the idea (since it would be better all around) except he commented about putting it out by the garden right smack dab out in the middle of the yard - which we are trying to beautify that area. He thought it might look odd with a garbage can out there. He's right. It would look a bit odd.

I'm wondering if I could come up with some sort of decorative rain barrel. Any ideas? I should have taken a pic of the back yard so maybe it would help for ideas.

Oh and you just stick the thing out there and let it collect rain? Right?

cameragirl21 replied: you could use a whiskey barrel, they're kind of pretty in a garden and you can hang plants off the rim of it. But don't you have acid rain in the midwest? That can't be good for the plants, can it?

coasterqueen replied:
Whiskey barrel - well I live in the country and well.....that would look even more country to me. sorry to anyone I might offend.

As far as acid rain? Well if it hurts the plants they'd get it whether I watered with rain or it just rained. KWIM? I don't think we have acid rain - but that's one area I'm not versed in.

cameragirl21 replied: ok, then maybe get a little well with a pump like thing. They're decorative and yes, a little rustic but I'm very modern and I like them. Or get a large, decorative pot and call it a wishing well and drop pennies in but then you'll have to use a bucket to get the rain out....
There are many options, the problem is the more decorative it is, the less functional it becomes...

PrairieMom replied: I just threw one together this season. I have a shallow window well, I guess its about 3 feet deep, and I put a 19 gallon bucket, ( $6.99 at Target) in there. I re-directed my gutter to dump into it. I wanted it out of the Kid's reach, since they can fall into the bucket and drown.
I tied a rope to a bucket and am able to draw water out of the barrel like a well. Its pretty handy actually. I can take pics if you want.

coasterqueen replied:
Yes, if you get time, that would be great.

I might be able to put a big large vase out there to collect water. I know I saw a place over the weekend that had the very very large resin outdoor vases - more for look. I'd draw the water out of the vase with a bucket anyways. No matter what I used to collect the water I'd do that. I was going to have the gutter directed into one - and could do that on the one side of the house so it's not really "viewable" to most people, but then to hall buckets of water from there all the way over to the garden area would be too much.

cameragirl21 replied: don't let the water sit around too long or you'll get mosquitos. And frogs.

coasterqueen replied:
Good point. I don't think, as big as my garden is and it being out in the hot hot sun all day, that it will sit around long. I probably would have more of a problem of not having enough rain water to water the garden plenty, kwim?

As far as bugs and frogs....I live in the country near the river....I have those problems anyways.

luvmykids replied: We don't get enough rain to simply let it rain and let the barrel fill....ours are under our gutter downspouts so they collect all the rain from the roof and snow melt too. I add a few drops of bleach about once a week, helps keep the water from getting stagnant. Don't have too much trouble with mosquitos, partly because of the bleach and partly because it doesn't sit there all that long. We have four and use the water pretty much as fast as we get it.

eta: You probably wouldn't want barrels like ours because they aren't pretty, but since they are "true" rain barrels they have a spigot and a faucet to hook the hose to.

PrairieMom replied: I have the play yard around my window well so the kids don't fall into it. It looks lovely I know.
My barrel fills very quickly, it will totally fill with one good rain.
you can also hook a sump pump or a pool pump up and put it in there so it pumps out for you. I have a pump that I use to empty out the kids' wading pool that I can hook to a hose and sprinkler and that works pretty well.

Cece00 replied:
Unless she has no grass and NO plants growing ANYWHERE in her yard, obviously the rain isnt hurting much.

Cece00 replied: I've been thinking about getting one too. DH doesnt want me to, he thinks it'll kill the grass & look bad. But I am still considering it.

AlexsPajamaMama replied:
and where do you get one of these I want one!!

luvmykids replied: We bought ours at our water/sewer office but I've seen them a few other places too, I think Lowes or Home Depot had them and a few of our little hardware stores.

AlexsPajamaMama replied: Oh I'll def have to look at home depot and lowes!

MommyToAshley replied: Tara has a pretty good point, I wouldn't want a barrel sitting out in the middle of the yard just because if the kids fell face down in it, they could drown.

What about something like this: http://www.rainsaverusa.com/
You could connect a hose to it to reach your garden and it looks safe. And, you could probably paint it the color of your trim (or it might come in other colors?)

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Just paint the garbage can!

coasterqueen replied:
What Tara has IMO is more like a bucket. A barrel is much higher. If a child falls into it face down they are out there climbing on something to get inside, KWIM? For me, at least, I see that not a big chance of happening. Even if my kids are out playing alone, I'm right there at the window watching them.

coasterqueen replied:
I know you are puzzled, but IMO a painted garbage can wouldn't look much better sitting out in my yard. It would still stick out as "oh, why is there a garbage can sitting out in the middle of your yard.

luvmykids replied:
FWIW, you can also get screened lids that screw on for the rain barrels, they're pretty sturdy, I think even if a kid was standing on something it would be hard for them to fall through, it would take some work to get through it.

PrairieMom replied:
yeah, it is def. More of a bucket. It was a cheap way to just see if it would work out with out a huge investment. (more than the $10. i spent on the whole set up)

When the kids get bigger I plan on redirecting a few more eves into much larger buckets that are sitting out more, but I have a place in the yard that is tucked away where i can do that and it would be out of sight. I am also blessed with a small yard, so I only have 15 feet or so to haul buckets of water.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Well not if you paint it pretty, silly!!

Seriously though..

Have the kids dip their hands in different latex paints and make flowers out of their handprints... likea each handprint is a petal. You can paint a nice border on it, and if you're really feeling creative you can cut some holes near the top and insert a few plants in there... hang (or screw in) the plants basket either inside so that the plant comes out of the hole or outside the can and forget the holes... so it looks a little like a multi-level planter.

Put a few bricks around the bottom of it, the nice white ones, make like a little border around it... you can paint it to look like a well... you can do all sorts of things. You can really make nice stuff. I'll see if I can find or draw a pic of what I mean. I have this image in my head and it looks great.

MommyToAshley replied:
I agree, I'd get something like the link I gave or if I had something in the middle of the yard, I would have a sturdy screen over top of it like Monica suggested. But, that's just me... I am over-protective. I always go by the rule that you can never be too safe as things happen in a matter of seconds and it only takes a few seconds for you to run and answer the phone or get the laundry.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

coasterqueen replied:
Ok, I should have said I'm going for a more elegant look in my back yard, if that's even possible to do. We are trying darn hard, though. I have enough things in the house decorated by the kids and they have pinwheel things all over in my flower beds.

I'm looking at, I think, something like these containers Sophisticated Containers but I'll need to find one with a wide enough mouth to get a bucket in.

PrairieMom replied:
You could sink a water pump into one of those, and just pump the water, you could hide the power cord behind some flowers or something, then you wouldn't need a bucket at all.

coasterqueen replied: That's a great idea, but that would also require me to sweet talk hubby into putting electricity at least 60 to 100 feet from the house. He may go for it. I'll have to ask.

I am doing a water feature up closer to the house that will require electricity to it, so maybe he can split right off of that out there to where it would need to be.

PrairieMom replied:
Yikes! you must have a TON of land! my whole property is only 80X90. and it has a house sitting in the middle of it! It def. Makes things like that easier. There isn't a thing I can do that wouldn't require just a plain-ol extension cord.

coasterqueen replied:
Yeah, we have 3.5 acres. It's hard to get an extension cord anywhere around ours, unless we use many.

PrairieMom replied:
that would be so awesome... what I wouldn't do with that much land...