Rainwater Harvesting: It can be functional and beautiful!

October 15, 2013 | By webadmin

Look at that, it’s raining outside in DFW! We always welcome the fall rains after our hot dry summers. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could save some of that water for use later in the garden when it’s not raining? As we experience more restrictions on irrigation in our area, rainwater harvesting will become more important to all of us. It’s a great way to keep your landscape looking healthy during times of low rainfall, save water, reduce storm runoff and save money on the water bill!

So what exactly is rainwater harvesting? Basically it’s using your roof and gutter system to collect natural rainfall in some sort of collection contraption. These contraptions can be any sort of water-tight tank or barrel that holds the desired amount of water volume for you.

While there are a number of commercially available rain barrels for you to buy these days, not all of them are terribly attractive. Sure, you can camouflage them with landscaping, but then it can be tough to get to the rain barrel to use it. When we started installing rain barrels for our customers, we thought, why not use materials that are also attractive? Turns out, you can use all sorts of containers to collect rainwater, as long as they are water-tight.

Fun fact: Did you know that natural rainwater is better for your plants than the chemically treated water from your irrigation system?

Check out this beautiful wine barrel we converted into a rainwater catch barrel for one of our customers. Functional and beautiful!

Here is another rainwater harvesting set up we created using wood barrels. We even created it's own enclave surrounded by vines, drought tolerant plants and a stone pathway. So as you can see, the setups can be quite attractive!

It’s a good idea to get your rainwater harvesting system set up in fall or winter, so that you can capture spring rains to use during the summer months. Don’t wait until the rain dries up in summer!