Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Plants

Last nights thunderstorms brought 1.2 inches to our area.  Soaking all of our new plants veggies and natives alike.  The gully between our house and the neighbors is once again filled with water.  The marsh marigolds must be happy.  Also, the rain overflowed our rain barrels who probably met their capacity fairly quickly.  I will have a good deal of water to use for those times when the rains just don't want to fall.  Although it is a small drop compared to the total amount of rain that fell and was then transported by the sewer system to the river.  I feel good to know that this water will make its way back into the ground and help to save us some money on our water bill.  Hmmm...think I am going to have to get one more barrel.

For a good film on how to make rain barrels your self check out this video.  

One Wet Week and a Short Case for Rain Barrels

In the past week we have received approximately 3.5 inches in the Grayslake area.  Rain of course is good, but getting all your rain at once can be a bit ironic for any gardener.  We would all like to have our rain spaced out evenly over the course of the spring and into the summer.  However it never seems to end up like that.  Therefore with all of the rain that we have received over the past week the majority of that water found its way not into the ground but into the sewer system.  

Now how much is exactly 3.5 inches?  Well if you look into our overflowing rivers you would know it is quite a bit.  But lets take just the rain that fell on the roof of my house.  Given one side of the house's roof that has a length of 40 feet and a width of 20 feet.  I can calculate the volume of water that fell over the course of the past week to be 403,200 cubic inches which converts to about 1,750 gallons of water.  This of course is just on my roof and if we consider the other house in the cul de sac well we are looking at well over 10,000 gallons of water falling just on the roofs of the houses.  It is due to this that we put two rain barrels out to collect some of this water.  The rain barrels themselves can only hold approximately 150 gallons of water.  But during the dry portion of the year this water comes in handy and allows us to water the gardens without fear of any drought restrictions and with the knowledge that what we are doing is good for the environment.  Help conserve our precious water resources and get a rain barrel for your home.  The money you save will add up fast and your conscious will feel better as well.

Currently we are thinking about getting another rain barrel to take just a bit more advantage of the rain that keeps falling on our heads.