garden news-begetted another rainwater tank

GARDEN NEWS-BEGETTED ANOTHER RAINWATER TANK

when i started gardening at our community garden 7 years ago we had no rainwater tanks
i gradually changed all of that

i looked around thinking why dont we save rainwater from falling off sheds and buildings and letting it flow down the garden to the creek to end up in the ocean
why cant we save some of it to use in our garden

i found 2 rainwater tanks that looked like these two online for a good price
i looked around and thought why dont i collect the rainwater off our two chicken coops
i found some old gutter and some old 2 in pvc pipe and guttered both chicken coops
and put a tank at the back of each coop to collect rainwater
then
my daughter in law give me these two tanks above to use in our garden
i hooked them up to the two tanks behind the coops
leaving us with 240 gallons of rainwater capacity
i added the grey tub to catch any overflow from our 4 tanks
we mainly use the water to water new plantings and to mix with fish emulsion when we do our twice a month feeding to our vegetables

then someone gave us three 60 gallon tanks 
i cleaned them up sanded and painted them 
i placed them under a shed out front and put a gutter and downspout to collect 180 gallons of rainwater
this water is used out front to water plants and to use in our greenhouse to water our new seedlings

now we have 420 gallons of rainwater capacity

with a 1 inch rain we collect 120 gallons of water
it takes 3 1/2 inches of rain to fill them up
this year they filled up multiple times since we had over 30 inches of rain
the average here is around 12 inches of rain

my wife she is always looking at freebie websites like buy nothing
last week she found this 50 gallon rainwater tank online for free
it is shown in the top picture above

in the picture above in the distance if you look closely you can see the 3 brown rainwater tanks sitting against the brown shed
i ran a water line from these tanks down to the new rainwater tank at the edge of my garden
a distance of about 50 feet
the tank sits lower then the tanks along the shed

we plan to use it to access the rainwater tanks on my side of the garden for myself and other gardeners
we i will use the rainwater to water in new plantings and mix up my fish emulsion seaweed molasses solution in our gardens

also in that picture there are two grow bags with dirt in them
this is dirt from my walkways which will be used in the main garden to help build up our beds
the front 2 grow bags have fava beans growing in them
they are a good cover crop and fix nitrogen in the soil
i will harvest some this year to cook since we have never cooked with them before

now over the last 20 years i have begetted several rainwater tanks to school gardens neighbors friends and habitat for humanity recipients
most of them are probably still being used

i feel like they are my children

the organicgreen doctor