garden news-more rainwater tanks

GARDEN NEWS-MORE RAINWATER TANKS

rain is scarce in this area
i am surprised that more people dont collect rainwater off their roofs to use in their garden and landscape

a  couple of years ago i found 2 rainwater tanks on sale online
i guttered our two chicken coops and fixed the downspouts so they would fill up those two tanks
later someone thank you hn gave me two more tanks which i hooked up to those other tanks
this gave us 240 gallons capacity 
then i put an overflow into a 60 gallon tank
that gave us 300 gallons off our coops

we use the rainwater to water in our new plantings


then a volunteer brought these three tanks to the garden
a  neighbor was throwing them away
these are food grade tanks that hold 60 gallons
they also were throwing away the concrete blocks and the old screen
i had the 2 in pvc left over from when i did the chicken coup guttering a couple of years ago

the tops of two tanks were open so i found trash can lids to use on top
i have found some mesh drawstring tops to use on these tanks that i will order

i got a vinyl gutter at a minimal cost and put it on the side of the storage shed which is 12 ft long and 10 feet wide
since its butted against another building we can only collect off of one side

i washed the tanks and pvc with soap and water then rinsed it well
before washing them i sanded them with a fine sandpaper so the paint would stick
i used a rustoleum spray paint with primer to put 3 coats on the tanks and the pvc
you dont have to paint them but it looks better if you do

if you get the white tanks you need to paint them a dark color otherwise you will get algae growing in your tanks
you also need to have screens on any openings to keep insects especially mosquitoes out
lucky for us mosquitoes arent common around here
sorry for you guys who live in texas and the south 

i used the pvc as a downspout which empties into the top of tank one
all three tanks are connected via a faucet at the bottom of the tanks
the tanks all fill up at the same time

i have had some folks that couldnt figure out how it does that

there are a lot of online videos on how to do this tanks for rainwater collection

a one inch rain will give us 36 gallons of rainwater
12 x 5 x 0.6 equals 36 gallons

during the foggy times of the year there is so much moisture in the fog that it partially fills up our tanks
our last rain was in february or march of this year 
in our chicken coop tanks we have about 50 gallons left from all the fog we had plus a surprise small rain we had this summer

the normal rainfall total here is about 13 inches but that varies from year to year
eg in central texas usually you get around 30+ inches a year but in a drought year its much lower

we now have 180 gallon additional capacity so it would take 5 inches of rain to fill up these 3 tanks
lucky for us our rain doesnt usually come in a big downpour like it does with the texas storms
ie gulley washers
our rains tend to me slow and steady so we dont lose too much water overflowing our gutters

this year we are expecting to have that atmospheric rain totals so our tanks should fill up several times this fall and winter

so now we have 180 gallons plus 300 gallons to give us 480 gallons of rainwater we can collect

also we can easily add these water tanks in a series as we find tanks

my rainwater brother would be proud of our rainwater tanks

now if more folks would collect rainwater here
rainwater collection education continues 


consider donating to our fundraiser for our community garden for which i am the volunteer garden manager 
even a $5-10 donation  will be helpful

go to this link to see our crowdfunding site
https://donate.seedmoney.org/8831/trinity-gardens
we get to keep all funds donated 
and
we also are in competition for up to a $1000 grant

all funds will be used in our garden to continue to grow produce for those in need and to do educational classes for kids and adults

the organicgreen doctor