It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Compost tumber he made in 2011

May 4th and we are still wearing winter coats. That isn't stopping me from gardening though! The seedlings are looking good, and are waiting for the ground to be ready. I decided to work outside though!

Those way to energetic folks over at Young House Love have issued their Spring Pinterest Challenge. You know I love a good challenge, and I am addicted to Pinterest so...

My Vet was able to procure some food grade barrels that we've been using around the house for a couple of years. Today I turned one into a rain barrel. It was actually pretty simple.

 

I did need help from my Kindergartner to hold the spigot in place while I crawled in the barrel to hand tighten the washers and nut in place.

 

If you are shorter than me, or you don't have a long plumbers wrench then you might want a helper for that part too.

 

To make the stand I just grabbed some left over pressure treated lumber.

 

My scrap lumber already had a lower shelf so I just cut them off.

 

 

I then cut the longer board to my desired length. Length was determined by the pre-cut length in my boards and the diameter of the barrel.

 

Attached boards to the top. You could probably use nails, I just suck at hammering them in, so I like to use screws.

 

 

A little bit of water to test. A fuller barrel will have better water pressure so that I can use a hose. In hind sight I would have made the stand a bit taller so that a 5 gallon bucket would fit under the spigot.

 

I still might paint it like I did the compost tumbler, but the weather will need to cooperate first!