water at the farm yet. We had spent the previous year hauling all of the garden's water out from our house - and with the expanded garden -did not want to repeat that process again! It turned out to be the absolute best thing we could have done - and has carried us through this year's drought with all the water we needed. Best of all - it's using what Mother Nature gives us and cost zero to run. . Instead of directing the downspout into regular run off drains – the rainwater from the barn's metal roof is carried by a small diverter installed in the downspout to fill the water tanks.

Our system is really pretty basic and very simple. When both tanks are full – they hold 550 gallons of fresh water – enough to water our garden every day for nearly a 2 months if mother nature decides to stop sending the precious rain. We keep one tank at the top of the back hill above the garden hidden within the compost bin fence. The other tank is installed at the back corner of the barn. That tank is connected to the downspout to catch the rain water coming off the metal roof of the barn. A simple overflow tube is installed on the main rainwater tank that sends all excess water to the regular drains when the tanks become full. One inch of rain will nearly fill one tote completely.

You can see the full tutorial at http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/04/15-outd...