rain barrel project.

PrairieMom wrote: We spent all weekend out in the front yard setting up my rain barrels. This is the finished product.

This is Ben "testing Out" the gutter system.

PrairieMom replied: We got about .25 inches of very very light rain saturday, and off one side of the garage ( which is the smallest surface on our entire house, we collected 55 gallons of water in about 3 1/2 hours. I couldn't believe how fast! It was barely raining. We were actually out playing in it, it was just a little more than drizzle.

coasterqueen replied: Ooh, I love the look of those barrels. Where did you get them?

PrairieMom replied:
YOU DO!?!?!?!!
After I put those in and was taking pictures of them I was literally thinking, "Karen would never use these, but they really don't look that bad! " then I got proud of myself.

I got mine at the Tractor supply store here . (TSC)
They are called "rain wizard" I spent $99 a piece and got 3.

coasterqueen replied:
Well, honestly after I told myself they looked great, I then thought to myself "oooh how well would these actually look at my house? hmmm, not sure...maybe not". BUT they might work nice - I'd be willing to give it a try.

BTW, I found a compost bin system, that I might have actually convinced my Dh to get one. Especially after he paid what he did to get more organic dirt bought for our garden beds. He was very interested then.

PrairieMom replied:
yeahhhhh, thats what I thought. LOL

just wait till you see the 4 barrel system we are rigging up with the hideous blue barrels. You will really think those are sexy.

coasterqueen replied:
Can't wait to see them.

You know living out in the country means not a perfect yard. Especially when you have 3.5 acres, lots of it either woods or weeds. So I don't vision "perfection" in my head when it comes to our land, but I'm not trying to make it less, either. Now you have to give me some credit, though, because I am going to hang a bunch of upside down tomato buckets in my back yard. It's not going to look pretty whatsoever, but I'm going to let it go and just do it. So maybe I'll get to that point with the rain barrels. Although, DH is more against it than I am just because I'm not sure he understands how they would work well for our yard.

PrairieMom replied: Thats why i splurged on the "pretty ones" the the front yard.
We have a spot in the back where the house juts out a bit where we are going to put the blue barrels, so they won't really be able to be seen from the side walk. I think the only people who will be able to see them are the 3 houses who's back yards over look ours. you know, the few people who will have to see it ALL THE TIME. DH plans on building a lattice enclosure around it to pretty them up a bit.

CantWait replied: Those are nice. I thought they'd be real eyesores.

PrairieMom replied:
I was worried about that too. you can get some really pretty ones if you would just pay 3 times as much, and I'm not willing to do that. I tried to fix it up best I could. they will be better in the summer when my plants are alive, there will be something more to take your eyes away from the barrels themselves.

They are calling for light rain this morning. i hope so! I want to run out and watch the barrels fill!!

CantWait replied:

luvmykids replied: They look great, Tara! 55 gallons, that is A LOT of water!

Karen, this is OT but I have a yard question for you....is it true that if you cut your lawn a few times in quick succession (like every week for three weeks) the weeds will thin out? Our yard is all grass (and weeds ) and it's driving me crazy because I know it's too much to spray or pull by hand and everyone is telling me to just mow three weekends in a row. But there is NO WAY I am doing all that work if it's not going to give me reduced weeds

coasterqueen replied:
You think I'd know? I honestly have no clue. With all the land we have we can't combat the weeds. It's too much work and we barely have enough time to take care of and be with our kids, let alone the yard. Now, we do have to mow every week, and I've not seen that combat the weeds anymore than normal so my guess is no. I mean, some weeks we have to mow 2x a week depending on the rain situation - and we still have a lot of weeds. Ryan says zoyza (sp?) grass is the best to plant in a yard because you'll never have weeds. You can seed it right in with your regular grass and apparently it will kill out the grass and all weeds. It stays brown longer than regular grass does (at least in our seasons) and the grass is really soft - golf greens like. We have zoyza (sp?) grass in one area and it is really nice. I hate how it stays brown longer (doesn't green as fast as other grass) but there are absolutely NO weeds in it and apparently it takes care of bug issues as well.