Try looking at Craigslist. I did just 2 days ago and there were many vendors of finished barrels, and many vendors of inexpensive barrels that you could use to create your own. There were even totes, which are HUGE. Good for ideas if nothing else.

What do you mean "no reservoirs being built"? A new one has been completed in Canton, GA to supply water to Cobb County and the City of Canton (Hickory Log Creek Dam Reservoir, almost 6 billion gallons, filling up now) and another new one is in the works in Paulding County (Richland Creek Reservoir, 4.4 billion gallons).

I haven't made any rainbarrels. Fernbank will be having a make your own clinic on 3/15; cost is $80 for non-members and $65 for members - you can take the skills you learn to make additional ones for yourself. Space is limited. Here's a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Article about the Canton reservoir

My ignorance - sorry ! I guess I'm thinking more of the metro area. Maybe they will be inspired by Canton and Paulding!!!!! (And for all I know, they may be doing something too.) That is good news! Thanks for the info - I can't wait to read the article about the Canton reservoir!

No problem - perhaps the only reason I know about them is that the native plant society was given permission to rescue plants from both sites before they are submerged.

In addition to water, these reservoirs provide some measure of recreation space as well (like Lake Lanier, but much smaller).

Hopefully some rain barrel experienced folks will chime in on this thread, but there have been other threads on this forum; you could look over those in the meantime.

Thyme after Thyme sells them for cost because they are built by a master gardeners club or something like that. I think they were only $45 last year. Ive had one for a couple of years and it sure makes the summers alot easier..bobby

Here is the link for Thyme after Thyme

Here is a link that might be useful: Thyme after Thyme Rain Barrels

I have 8 rain barrels and I get them installed for my clients. Some just buy them, some want them custom painted.
Home Depot has had pretty wooden barrels.
My favorite place right now for really nice barrels is Rain Barrels in Georgia. Stands in a few heights, custom painted with Krylon, installed for $35 - if you can't or don't want to do it yourself, these guys offer it all!
I made my barrels for about $35 but they are no where near as nice.
I get my black barrels (I'm going to paint these to match my exterior) for $99 pre-made.
Creating height is the key for flow. I'm getting some stands for some of mine and also making "veils" to hide the white ones that are too flexible to paint properly (and krylon doesn't have my color!)

FL

Here is a link that might be useful: Rain Barrels in Georgia

I have four; DH and I made them. I got some plastic "car wash" barrels from a car dealership and cleaned them out. We bought all of the fittings and pipe from Lowes. Total cost was about $10-15/barrel. Of course, I couldn't have plain old white barrels, so I bought some red paint for plastic (krylon fusion) and then painted some colorful flowers and butterflies on them.

Google search "build rain barrels" and you'll get plenty of suggestions. While all are slightly different from each other, you'll start to see some things common to all, and then customize your own from there.
Good luck! No matter which route you go, it's a great thing to do.
~Michelle

The wooden rain barrels sold at Home Depot are made by TerraCycle Inc. We bought one for $129 (a gift from mom for my birthday, actually) a year ago, and within the first 6-8 months it developed large cracks on one side. Since I never seem to have time to call during normal business hours, I e-mailed the company about the problem. I never received a response. Consequently, I would not recommend their product.

I have 2 rain barrels. They saved my roses and trees this past summer. I've figure out that if I attached a hose to the lowest spout and run it to beds that I want to water that it takes about 30 minutes to drain the barrel (about 5 minutes on each shrub/tree). So I do this whenever I needed to water and had water. If the barrel is full and we are expecting rain, I also have many pails (from cat litter pails) that I use to drain the full barrel into so it can fill up again while it rains.

My husband was just putting together our yearly bills for taxes. We spent $800 on water in 2007 and $400 in 2008. So the investment of $130 in water barrels paid off!!! I want to get more.

Why waste your money on a rain barrel. A trash can will do just as well. 33 galion from Home Depot for about $14.00.

Check out my rain barrels at the botton of my Flicker photo's. Click on the photo that says "Rain barrel spout down.

My neighbor has two big trash cans he uses. He has a flexable down spout pipe that he just moves from one to the other. When one is full he just puts the lid on the trash can. He didn't even put a faucit on his. He just dips the water out. It's even faster than a faucit.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Rain Barrels

Bagsmom, here is the results of using some of a lot of opitions of a lot of "rainbarrell searches from the Garden Web":

{{gwi:33020}}

As you can see, there are 6 - 55 gal plastic barrells that are daisy-chained together, with shutoff valves every 2 barrells (in case you need to make repairs somewhere down the line). The system was assembled using 2" PVC pipes and fittings. There is an overflow pipe that runs underground 20 feet from the house and has a fountain outlet. Water is taken from the system at the end barrell in the chain using a regular house type faucet. All together the system stores 330 gallons of recovered rainwater. It has an insect screen which is covered with a safety screen that was made from 1/4" hardware wire clouth.

Gardening with love, Kiee

Hi Kiee 8 and all, Your barrels look good. I've seen that set up before. How do you water your plants? With a bucket, hose or both? You must have a big garden.

For two or three trash cans I believe they are much better looking than rain barrels if they are seen from the street.
Also they are much less expensive.

Some rain barrels are large drums that go up one or two stories tall. Others are under ground.
It all depends on what you really need, and want to afford.

See my trash can rain barrel on my Flicker photo's.
Karyl

Here is a link that might be useful: Trash Can Barrel

K2Marsh, As you can see, I am in a wheelchair. I lost my right leg in May 2007. Thought I'd never be able to garden again, then in 2008 I heard about gardening with "EarthBoxs". So, a long search of the net brought me tons of info on making homemade SWC's.

{{gwi:7114}}

Now, I garden from Self Watering Containers. And, I am having a ball at it. This year I plan expanding as I have dusted off my "Grow Lights stand" and am currently growing my own seedlings. I am even thinking of starting a container as a Worm Composter.

Well, now where was I? Oh yeah, rain barrels; the set up in the photo (of my container garden by the fence) was using 10-12 gallons of water per day. That's a lot of city (you pay) water, so, now I store my own recovered rain water. BTW the barrels were only $5 each.

Gardening with love, Kiee

Hi Kiee 8, It looks like you have a good set up.
There is nothing more refreshing than to see new life spring forth in the spring.

I hope we have a little more rain this year.

See my tomato plant on my porch from last year.

Karyl

Here is a link that might be useful: My Tomatoes, and Seedlings

K2Marsh, I looked at your fliker photos. I'm impressed. You seem to be doing something right with tomaotes. On your post where you said,"blossom drop"; you might try spraying once a week using 1 tbs of epson salts in a gallon of warm water.

I too have just started my seedlings. Some new and some very old seed. I am surprised to see one lonely "BigZac HYB", must be 5 years old (Totaly Tomatoes) does not date their seed packets and I havent gardened for about 5 years prior to 2008. I am going to baby that seedling and pray that I can eat a slice of it in a Tomato Sandwich this summer? BTW, that 8 you see after kiee is my zone 8 Harlem, GA 20 miles west of Augusta.

Gardening with love, Kiee

Kiee! I am impressed with your total set-up! Rainbarrels and everything else! Walter Reeves should come out and do a show at your place! Seeing your multiple barrels has inspired me - I need to do this this year!!!!!!!

Love the pictures everyone has posted. I live in DeKalb and Keep DeKalb beautiful is planning a rain barrel workshop also.

If you try to make your own, I caution you to use good SHARP tools. These barrels can be difficult to cut through. A cordless drill with attachments won't bore a hole for anything larger than a screw.

If you don't want to make your own, there are lots of places to buy them locally. I sell them for $80, which is less than they are most places. Take off the spigot and they are great for compost bins as well.

Wow! I am so impressed with all of your ingenuity!

Hi Kiee, The drout has become much worse this year. I am going to need more rain barrels. Your rain barrels are the best looking that I have seen. I will make one change with mine. I will make my over flow coming from above the barrel so that the barrels will be completly full. The barrels will need a small vent, 1/4 or 1/2 inch to let the air out. If you don't have a wash problem you can let the water just flow out. Other wise the vent will have to be above the over flow.

I have a drill pump that I bought at Home Depot for $6.97. It pumps 225 gallons per hour, 3.75 gallion per minute. I pump my water up 10 feet. Works great. I connect my rain barrel to the pump with a washer machine hose. Then the pump is connected to a 50 foot hose. I use a drill that is pluged in to a socket. A cordless drill would have to have the trigger held down with a bag tie some how. Harbor Freight has a drill pump for $2.99. If you are close to them.

Do you know where I can get some free or very cheap barrels?

Click the link below to see how I will connect my overflow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Down spout with overflow

Kiee, you are an inspiration to me! After losing your leg you did not give up but just found different ways of doing things... many would have just given up. You have an amazing setup. I agree that Walter Reeves should film a show at your place. I am blessed to have 'inherited' 3 nice, big rain barrels from my now-deceased parents, who were great gardeners, plus a good pump. When one barrel gets full we just move the downspout to another barrel.
I did see some rain barrels at Pike's. I don't know how many gallons they hold, but they looked really small and cost $99, if I remember correctly.

Impressive! It would behoove more folks to take the iniative to follow suite. Our changing climate is going to require much more forethought on our part.
Most drums have UV resistance built into them as do many trash cans. 5 gallon buckets do not and only last a year or so outside. Most white PVC does not have UV inhibitors, the black drain pipe does.

Kiee, your installation is certainly safer than most we have see. Especially your barrel stand.

Many of the soda pop makers have the poly drums available for around $5. State surplus too.

This link below shows some rain barrels and safety concerns about installation.

Here is a link that might be useful: rain barrels $99 or less and installation tips

After the big switch in garbage companies (Gwinnett County) a lot of folks have their 'old' wheeled bins that the former garbage hauler refuses to pick up. Could these be used for rain barrels???

Rosie, in Sugar Hill

The Upper Etowah River Alliance - UERA - (a community based watershed protection group for the Etowah basin, upstream of Lake Allatoona in North Georgia) has periodic rain barrel workshops. I found out about the last one through their facebook page. I believe the price was $25 for all the parts.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Upper Etowah River Alliance

Kmarsh, very impressed with your result. That's the kind of thing my wife would let me get away with. My first idea involved raised barrels (hadn't thought of pumping) and she didn't like the eyesore of raised barrels. Your low profile drum would pass her standards.

two questions:

* Why just one? I see lots of barrel systems with 6-8 barrels - are you finding one to be adequate. I was thinking to try two myself in a system similar to yours.
* Did you consider a spout/in-line pump, rather than inserting one at the top?