Preventing Drought - Installing Rain Barrels!

A gardener is lucky if he or she has a good source of water. If the area where you live is a drought zone then there would be many limitations in using excess water due to the lawn watering rules. Many people lose hope and give up their wish of gardening fearing about the lack of water. There are ways of gardening where you would need very limited supply of water. Thus there are chances for a green and lushly garden to be grown.

The first one to give a thought about would be drip irrigation. This is where you provide a hose or a pipe with tiny holes carrying water. Thus the roots will seep the water gradually and there will be no wastage. The plants that would need the same quantity of water can be grouped together and irrigated to avoid wastage of water. The use of mulch or compost can be done to insulate water and even prevent drainage.

Prevention is better than cure. To not suffer from drought you can take preventative measures. The areas under drought will definitely have a period of heavy rain and this is when you have to use the opportunity. You can have many rain barrels set up in your locality. This is not a tough job and it is very beneficiary for the seasons of drought you will face. None of your gardening procedures will be interrupted due to the drought.

Probably the only tough job would be to fetch barrels. You can use the stock at home like garbage cans or you can even get plastic drums from provisionary stores nearby. They are difficult to transport and hence remember to avail yourself a facility to bring it home. The barrel must be kept close else there is all chance of dried leaves and debris to fall into the barrel. Thus close it with a sheet or a grid of some sort.

One you are done with buying the barrels you will have to take a decision to try placing it somewhere. In every corner of a shed or the catchments areas you will have a small pipe for the outlet of rain water. The barrels can be placed in areas such that it receives this water from the pipes used to drain the open areas like that of a terrace. Probably they can be placed where ever high a volume of water is drained. Thus a good amount of rainwater can be harvested and can be used during drought.

If you like to work more on conserving the rain water then you can probably tweak the gutter and slightly slant it. This will help in accumulation of a lot of water to a particular area where the barrel can be placed. Instead of placing shingles you can empower this so that every corner of your house is used for water catchments.

After the rainy season you will find water accumulated in every single barrel. Now its time for you to preserve this water during drought and now how do you do this? You can have a storage barrel and empty all the small ones to this central barrel. Later seal it and open it only when in need. So next time it rains you can easily place the empty barrels in place than emptying them in a hurry which might even lead to wastage. These are the essential procedures to be followed when you go for harvesting water.

This type of preservation might seem to be a great deal of sweat and energy but once you put it in action you will realize it is nothing much than just a few trips in your backyard. You experience its significance only when you have a drought and still be a happy person enjoying gardening without any troubles of water scarcity. So preserve rain water and be a happy gardener.