Collecting this water has almost been an accident. One day last fall when I had good intentions, I saw this huge planting pot on sale and bought it on an impulse, hoping to use it to grow tomatoes this summer. I can't remember how much it holds, but it was so large I had no room for it in the garage, so I put it right outside the garage door. Then I forgot about it. I don't go into that side yard very often.
After the last round of rain showers, I had occasion to go into the side yard for something and I saw the pot almost full of water. I recalled that my husband had emptied a lot of gallon distilled water bottles, and I had put them in the garage, in case we might ever need them for something. I saw all that water collected in that planter as a need, so I grabbed about eight of the bottles and filled them before I got tired. That still left a few inches of water in the pot.
It was sprinkling when I woke up this morning, and I knew the rain had started last night. I decided it was time to check the water level in the pot again and it was overflowing. With more rain expected over this weekend, I knew I had to act. I grabbed all the bottles I could find in the garage, including some old two-liter soft drink bottles I hadn't recycled yet and filled them from the pot. You can see the almost five gallons barely made a dent. The two-liter bottles are out of sight behind the pot. You can see how much the water level has gone down in the planter.
As I was filling the bottles, I was sure there must be a better way to collect this water. Sure enough. I checked out Home Depot and saw many different water collection systems that are easier and more efficient than mine. Home Depot had many of the same products as its competitors and its rain barrel prices were as low or lower than the same rain barrels with or without diverters at Lowe's and Amazon when I looked. Home Depot was offering free shipping. I will be discussing with my husband, who would be in charge of getting them set up, which he thinks would work best in our situation. Many barrel systems collect rain straight from the rain gutter downspouts. If you need to store rain water, why not check these out now so you can be ready next time it rains?
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