Ideas For Naturally Collecting Rainwater

Recycling rain water makes sense on so many levels – it’s eco-friendly as you will use less standard water, itís great for the plants as they love and thrive on rain water, and youíll save money because rain water is free for all to use.

One of the easiest ways to collect rain water is to build a proper rain water collector but you can also use all sorts of other items to collect as much as you possibly can.

Here are a few ideas:

#1 – Build a rain water collect by using an old barrel and guttering. Youíll need to attach an extra guttering pipe to your gutter which will drain into the old barrel. Ideally you will want the barrel to have a cover ñ especially if you have young children as this could be a drowning hazard. The cover also helps to keep the water cool, which means it will last longer as it will evaporate slower.

Once it rains the water will go into your standard guttering then diverge into the extra guttering and straight into the barrel.

You can also buy several specialty made rain water collectors at many garden centers but making your own is easy and using an old barrel is the most eco-friendly option.

#2 – Collect rain water for the plants with old plastic bottles. Simply cut the bottom of the bottle off. Then stick the narrower end of the bottle (the part you would drink from for example) into the soil. You now have a funnel and when it rains the water will go into the funnel and drain into the soil slowly. Once the soil has soaked up enough water the remaining water will stay in the funnel for a day or two and slowly drain into the soil as needed.

#3 – Use garden pots to collect rain water. When it rains simply leave old wide top pots out in your garden and let them fill with water. Once filled, you can cover these with an old thick cloth so that the water doesnít evaporate too quickly. Then simply use the water for your plants as needed.

#4 – Dig a large whole in the garden and make a make-shift ìmini lakeî to collect additional rain water. Once you dig the whole line with pond plastic which is readily sold at garden centers and simply let the water collect in the ìlake.î You then have a ready-source of water to use. As always, do take care to cover this especially if you have young children.

Collecting rain water is an easy way to become more eco-friendly in the garden. Not only will you help the environment but youíll also help your plants as rain water is what they love most.