dirtlooter
Gold Member
- Jun 5, 2014
- 8,889
- 13,497
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 3
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus with 9"LF and 9" HF Coils and 600 Equinox with stock and 6" coils
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
With all of this extra time stuck at home, I decided to go ahead and build a rain barrel system for the garden. I had 5 plastic barrels already, two with the tops already cut out so that was a good start. I set the 2 open ones under two different rain gutters at the end of the house. They were placed on cinder blocks stacked 2 wide and 3 high. I set the other 3 barrels on cinder blocks but only 2 blocks high (all that I had). We had quite a few old rubber garden hoses so I simply used the female ends and about 10-15' of hose to go from one barrel to the next barrel. I used pvc 3/4 2" nipples to actually go into the base of each barrel.
On the catch barrels, I used the garden hose straight to the nipple and ran it to the next barrel. On the 3 middle barrels, I simply attached a hose divider at each one to attach a hose to and to go to the next barrel. I cut the hoses to be a very loose fit for ease of unhooking and draining for the winter. At one pont towards the very center barrel, I used an old washer hose to go from one divider to another and attached a spigot to it. I placed window screen over the open barrels to keep trash out plus mosquitoes out. on the top of the three center barrels, I drilled a 1/64 hole to vent air out of. The water will seek the same level in all barrels and any excess will simply run off. All we have in the garden is a big patch of strawberries, blueberries, two rows of watermelons, one row of cantalopes, ten tomato plants and a bunch of peppers. So we should be set now for free water for a long time.
On the catch barrels, I used the garden hose straight to the nipple and ran it to the next barrel. On the 3 middle barrels, I simply attached a hose divider at each one to attach a hose to and to go to the next barrel. I cut the hoses to be a very loose fit for ease of unhooking and draining for the winter. At one pont towards the very center barrel, I used an old washer hose to go from one divider to another and attached a spigot to it. I placed window screen over the open barrels to keep trash out plus mosquitoes out. on the top of the three center barrels, I drilled a 1/64 hole to vent air out of. The water will seek the same level in all barrels and any excess will simply run off. All we have in the garden is a big patch of strawberries, blueberries, two rows of watermelons, one row of cantalopes, ten tomato plants and a bunch of peppers. So we should be set now for free water for a long time.
