Hi Folks : I guess its about time to install rain barrels here..I have idea's on how to install them but i want them to be nice and blend with everything...I love to paint so I am thinking maybe nice tropical paintings on the barrels..I sure would like to see some photo's of some of the setups Y'all have here in Florida and everywhere for that matter..I am thinking 2 : 55 gallon barrels..Thank you in advance !! I like hearing ideas!!!

Painting the barrels is a great idea, Jeff although I don't find mine too intrusive looking. These are newly installed as the old ones had settled somewhat and were not standing up straight.


Showing you the support stands we made for these out of pavers and cinder blocks. Be sure they are level and well seated or they will tip, and a full rain barrel weighs 400-odd pounds. It's important that they are raised up off the ground because the barrels let water out via gravity feed, and if they're sitting on the ground, you can't get all the water out of them without a pump. I had my husband plumb them in tandem with two faucets like this because now it only takes half the time to fill a watering can.

Here's the old rain barrel, moved to a new location. Be aware also of where the runoff will go after your barrel is full - this one drains into a stand of bamboo that happily slurps it up.


I also have two 550 gal. cisterns out the back of the shop that are used for irrigating my edibles in the winter. Sadly, even those get used up fairly quickly if we have a run of dry weather in the fall. The fatal flaw of rain barrels - they run out and are not replenished when you need them the most!

Those barrels are very nice Elaine..If I may can I ask where you purchased those? also do you have a pipe between the two barrels at the top so that when one fills the rain water will travel to the other barrel or is the one at the bottom sufficient to fill both of them? Thank you for sharing!!

Hm, just went and asked my husband, and we got those two brown rain barrels off Woot! But he says he's seen them available elsewhere - try Amazon first.
Not sure but these might be the ones - they're available in other colors, too.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033VJ04K/

I also have two of this type, but they're dark green, 75gal capacity but much more expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033VJ04K/

Thank you Elaine !! There is a place not far from here I can get 55 gal plastic food grade barrels for $10.00 each...I'm thinking I'm a pretty handy kind of person and if I just buy the hardware ( spigots, piping and such) I may be able to use those and get things done cheap..I can paint them really nice...I need to go inspect these barrels...

They will work perfectly, Jeff. Have fun painting. If they're the ones I've seen before, they are bright, blazing blue.

Jeff, I am positive you can convert those 55 gal. drums! Go for it!

I Googled some ideas for you:
https://www.google.com/imgres?...

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Wow, that's some serious rain barrel art you found, Ann. Just beautiful!

I think I want an elephant in my garden . . oh and of course the tropical fish . . Hm, I may need more rain barrels.

Oh, I forgot about my cisterns - and I need to import my artistic niece to come and do the painting for me.

There are some very creative people out there aren't there? Sometimes I look at stuff like that & wonder what those people dream about when sleeping.

Thats what I'm talking about !! Thank you for the ideas Ann..I love messing with my paints when I get free time( well on canvas anyway)...This would be a new adventure!!! I seem to have a lot of those lately...Baby steps !!!

The more I look at them the more I like..Great ideas!!!

I got a food grade barrel from a car wash place. They sit on their sides in racks there and there was a spigot in the lid. I removed that and installed it down towards the bottom of the barrel on the side. I used it for years and just recently gave it to our library for their children's garden. We are getting so much rain lately and I needed to move the downspouts to direct the water further away from the house. Wish I had a spot for a cistern like Elaine.

Jeff, I know the (Hillsborough) county extension office here has rain barrel workshops sometimes, but I couldn't find any listed here, Pasco, or Pinellas. Here's their main page on rain barrels and it has a PDF file for how to make one yourself. Also, check out the rain barrel gallery for some artsy ideas!

http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.e...

I bought mine a long time ago from USF Botanical Gardens, but I don't know if they still sell them. I haven't noticed them for sale in a while.

Thank you Melanie !! I will inquire on that one....I have done some research on painting your own food grade barrels.,.Apparently you scruff up the surface ,spray a primer,then a base coat of the color you desire with the paint for plastics like for re doing plastic lawn furniture...Then I can use the acylic paints that I have and hand pain my design and then cover with 2 coats clear coat...Now if I can get the umph to do it...

Jeff, my Sherwin Williams sales rep just introduced me to a new primer called "Extreme Bond" It can be used on anything from plastic, mica, steel, anything. Same process, scuff the surface, apply the extreme primer and paint it with anything you like. The great thing about this primer, it's water based and has a low odor.

I have rain barrels here. Built them with the advise of Jeremy (FlaJaxGardener) We put a spigot on the bottom and one on the top for overflow. Even with the overflow open, with the hard rains, I still had a lot of overflow. You'd be surpised how much water can come off the roof and down the gutters of a single wide mobile home.

I don't have any art work on mine, but they end up being well camouflaged by the crepe myrtle, yellow cestrum and floribunda roses I have growing next to them.

Hi Molly !! Thank you for the info...I keep telling myself to get rain barrels going but I seem to just not have much time lately...Soon i will get on the bandwagon...I can imagine the overflow can be overwhelmed...I think i am going to setup a 3 -55 gal system all tied together when i do get to it...Thanks again !!

Just be sure to get them installed before it stops raining, Jeff. About mid-October. I finally got my cisterns hooked up to the gutters on our shop in the fall, and it rained once then stopped for 6 weeks.

Sunken Gardens is having a rain barrel and rain garden workshop if anyone is interested. http://events.stpete.org/event...

St. Pete only has the one event left (at Sunken Gardens) but here's more info for residents on how to get a FREE rain barrel. Be sure to click on the PDF flyer on this page: https://stpetedna.org/mar-19-j...

There's also a few pictures where you can see how people decorated their rain barrels.