Rain Water Harvesting Garden Use

Many folks these days are growing their own vegetables alongside their flower beds and rock gardens. Food is getting expensive and so are hobbies. Vegetable gardening can be a very affordable and a very rewarding hobby. There are a few things to consider when you begin vegetable gardening. We're going to focus on water consumption and efficiency for your garden.

When it rains, nature rejuvenates its underground water supplies and greens up vegetation in the process. What happens is the rain falls, some is taken in by plants, but most seeps into the ground and is filtered through the dirt and rock before ending up in large underground lakes known as aquifers. These aquifers slowly allow their stored water supplies to seep out in the form of springs, creeks and in turn streams, rivers and lakes.

Things are not what they seem any more though. Due to the amount of roads, parking lots and buildings that we now have, the rain simply drains by traveling along these impermeable surfaces and ending up in the river. Which seems all fine and dandy, but it does nothing to recharge our ground water supplies.

Now, back to the whole gardening thing.

Rain barrels are an excellent alternative to using your hose and your municipal water supply to water your gardens. By placing a rain barrel under your downspout, you can assist in recharging ground water supplies. Rain falls on your roof and is sent streaming through your eaves trough and down spout into a large rain water storage device. Not only does this assist in getting some of that water back into the ground, it also saves you a few bucks throughout the growing season by removing the need for using perfect drinking water from your tap!

Try it out, the plants will love the rain water like they always do, and you'll feel great helping out in so many ways!