Rain Barrels
Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ in a Minute
Episode Archive
Episode #74 | Original Air Date: June 11, 2020
Related Resources
- Rain Barrels
- Gardening Solutions: Capturing Water with Rain Barrels
- Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Handbook for Home Landscapes - Rain Barrels and Cisterns
Transcript
Rain barrels are a great way to capture and save rain that falls on your roof. And they can help reduce stormwater runoff that can pollute our waterways.
If you’re building your own rain barrel, one or more 55-gallon plastic drums are the best containers. Make sure the barrels have only held food or other nontoxic materials.
The simplest system is to put the barrel under a downspout and let gravity do its thing. Install a faucet about 6 inches from the bottom to access the stored water to irrigate your plants..
Make sure the rain barrel is covered with a screen or lid to keep mosquitoes from breeding in the water.
Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ in a Minute is a production of the University of Florida’s Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program, IFAS Extension, and WUFT-FM in cooperation with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
