Has anyone ever used large trash cans for water collection barrels? It seems I cant find used barrels locally, the ones I have found are around $10 but to ship them probably costs $90 because of UPS rate change based on size and not weight.
Does anyone have any other cheap recommendations?
water barrels
Thank you girlgroupgirl.
Thats close enough to drive to.
I thought I had posted this a day or two ago but I guess it fell through the cracks (won't be the first time).
I was at a house Thursday to give a lecture to a small garden club in Roswell and got a tour of their gardens afterwards. They had set up a rain collection at two locations using trash cans and watered most of their woodland garden using this. They had a small submersible pump attached to garden hoses. Still labor intensive but their plants really excelled. Here is a begonia of theirs to give you an idea of how well they were keeping things.
Collecting rain water for gardening is ideal. I haven't gotten a setup yet, although I do have a large blue barrel and I printed off GGG's instructions several months ago. It's the getting started part that's the hardest for me.
That begonia is knock-your-socks-off goreous!
Riversdale,
How far are you from Athens? There's a bait shop on Lexington Rd. that always has industrial barrels for sale for ten dollars. He's got both metal and hard plastic. About a month ago I bought a white plastic barrel. I read that a white one will reflect the sunlight and keep the water from turning green too fast. Anyway, I went to Lowe's and bought a hose bib spigots (I guess that's what you call it) and my DH installed it toward the bottom of the barrel for me. I jigsawed a large hole in the top and hacksawed off a portion of our rain gutter and stuck the barrel underneath it. Topped it off with a piece of old sheer curtain to keep mosquitoes from breeding and debris from falling in.
JoAnn
This message was edited Sep 26, 2007 10:02 AM
Wouldn't it be easier just to dig a small pond and line it?
CoreHHI,
I don't know about easier but it was something I was thinking about as well since farmers and other gardeners with large lots seem to have one or more ponds and use for irrigation when push comes to shove. It certainly would hold a lot more depending on how much space you have but I envision problems with frogs/toads and other critters, falling debris, algae buildup, etc.
Back in '86 (the year they cut off all watering in June or July) some people were using their ponds to irrigate but the drought got worse and worse which caused the death of a lot of fish in stocked ponds. What a dilemma - fish or plants?
Thank you all for your responses. I am afraid a pond would not do the trick, ponds around here are pretty much dried up. Unless you have one that is spring or creek fed and even those are getting low.
I am probably 2-3 hours from Athens, but if I know I could get some I would make the trip.
What was originally in the barrels? I dont think I would want one that previously held chemicals. The ones that are approved for food are the ones I am after if they are plastic. I suppose metal barrels would not retain what was previously in them if washed throughly.
The label on the outside of the barrel had been blackened out with a marker, but I could still read the word, "Coke" under it so I figured it was OK. The plastic ones sell pretty fast, but he usually has a lot of metal ones. I want to get a couple of black ones for the hoop house I'll be building in the spring. Filled with water, they will retain heat during the day and keep the hoop house warm enough for the plants at night. I had a hoop house at my other house and really miss it. Made it out of cattle panels and 6 mil plastic. That bait shop I was talking about is called Marion & Buck's Bait & Tackle Shop on 2365 Lexington Rd.. 706-548-6714. It's approximately 1/2 to 1 mile from the loop exit. I'm not very good at judging distances, but a MapQuest search should be more accurate.
JoAnn
P.S. - I just realized you are from 'Summerville' and I am from 'Winterville'. Cool!
This message was edited Sep 28, 2007 7:21 AM
JoAnn, would you mind letting me know where you found the plastic for the hoop house?Also, what mil is it?I only have the 4' wide type, and it is 6 mil.Thank you, Mike
Mike,
Believe it or not, I found the 6 mil plastic at my local Wal-mart. Comes in a couple of different sizes, too.
JoAnn
Thank you, that would be the E.side@ whitt davis Rd.Mike
Yep, that's the one. I didn't look to see where you are from and it caught me by surprise that you knew which store it was!
Actually I'm closer to hull, witch puts me through winterville to get there.I have a friend on candy cir., I think with a winterville addy.Mike
Riversdale, have you tried contacting any of your local restaurants to see what they do with their empty barrels? I think places that sell fried chicken, etc. buy their vegetable oil in 55 gal drums. Then you would know that you had food grade barrels. Just an idea.
Not contacted any restaurants, but I did get a barrel from a chemical company. It did have alcohol in it that they use to mix with other chemicals to make their formulas. I thought it would be safe enough, once cleaned well. Do you think it will be ok to use?
Alcohol is no problem. Barrels will be safe to use.