Here's My Great Green Idea!

Three years ago, I got the idea to make a rain barrel from a TV show. I went to the hardware store, bought the heavy duty trash can, some plumbing pieces and within an hour I had a rain barrel to catch rain water from my roof.

It was really easy, cut a hole in the lid for the intake, be sure to put a screen or something else over it to filter out leaves and keep mosquitoes from spawning in it. Cut two holes in the trash can itself, one for the spigot and the other for the overflow outlet (not pictured). Screw in and seal with silicone caulk the spigot and overflow valve. Place under a gutter and you are done.

I use the water on my garden and indoor plants. They really like the fresh rain water as it doesn't have the treatment plant chemicals like chlorine.

It is truly amazing how little rain is needed to fill my 30 gallon rain barrel. I liked it so much that I bought two more rain barrels when my town had a special.

The rain barrel not only saves me money by offsetting the water I'd normally use for watering the garden, but it also helps reduce rain water runoff that leads to water pollution. Every time it rains, I can get close to 130 gallons of fresh rain water to use on my garden. That water isn't running down the street picking up pollutants like oil from cars and fertilizer from other people's yards.

Rain barrels are a big win all around and I love how easy they are to make and install.