Rain Barrels

There's been a lot of talk about rain barrels and what is and what isn't a good idea for them.
Most of what I read these days seems to be about how to make them atractive in your yard.  If you are so worried about how it looks that you never get around to actually getting any then you've already missed the point.
Personally I think if you have the chance to get rain barrels then you can worry about where to put them and how to decorate them later.  Right now the rainy season is starting and it's the perfect time to figure out placement of the barrels and of the collection point.  If you have rain gutters then using an existing down spout is perfect.  If there isn't a convenient one then you might have to divert the gutters elsewhere.  At my house there is a definite collection point that I can't move since it captures over half of the water that hits my roof and currently doesn't have a gutter.  It's nearly in the middle of my back yard but that's just where it has to be since moving it down near the fence would block the entry to the yard off from the side of the house.
I have obtained three 55 gallon plastic drums that can be connected, and were last year before cleaning the yard for the winter, by hoses.  It will be nice this summer when we need a constant source of water to keep things alive and don't want to run up the water bill or waste city water.  The garden will need much more than that really, last year about 500 gallons a month were used (about 16 gallons a day for all of the planting beds) and didn't keep up with the heat as well as I would have liked, but at least it helps.
If you need barrels you can get them at many stores these days or if you are cheap then you can contact car washes and usually get the old wax and soap barrels for free.  This method is not very reliable though and often takes a long time.  This is probably what I will do though for another 5-8 barrels rather than paying several hundred dollars for them.
On top of that I really need a consistant regimine of ice watering. This not only keeps water coming but cools the ground so there is less evaporation.  The coller ground also helps keep things lilke lettuce from bolting too soon.

Plenty of Rain

It rained for many hours between last night around 8:00 and didn't let up until after noon today. This has filled my rain barrels to capacity except for one which wasn't on the loop properly. I've fixed this problem since and they're evened out now at about 70% capacity.

The remaining tomato plants are shown here. The left one is a new tomato plant that somehow decided that now was a good time to grow while the right shows two already growing tomato plants that are putting out new leaves and with time should give some good fall tomatoes.

The onion patch has a single onion left wanting to put out greens but the green onion up front have grown all through the summer. I keep cutting off parts to use for dinner. There's a smaller one in the round planter that seems to need more light. Kind of a runt.

Wattering Restrictions

I know laws are there to keep people safe but watering restrictions really get in the way of keeping plants alive. Of course the restrictions are on sprinkling systems and such so hand watering and watering with water not from the city are still ok. This is why my rain barrels hadn't been used yet, granted they're only a little over half full now.
Another way to water is tossin the ice from your drink when you are done with it at the base of the plants. It waters them and cools them down, still 104 here.
With all of this I still have managed to keep my basil and beets alive and well along with a ton of weeds.

Summer Heat

The heat has been a bit hot recently and has made it hard to get any of my potted plants to produce anything. The large rain water reserves at the community gardens had a problem and started filling from the city backup line which made them overflow. They got the water turned off but a good bit of water had already escaped.
Just the other day I figured our yard had gotten plenty of rain but alas the rain stopped a block short. My yard was still bone dry when I pulled into the driveway.

Rainless Barrels

Last week it poured at the house. My wife and I sat out under the porch while we watched heavy rain and hail fall from the sky, which fortunately didn't destroy any of our plants. As the water gushed off of the roof in torrents I sighed wishing I had rain barrel. Then last Friday my inlaws were in town and picked up three blue 55 gallon barrels which now sit in the back yard.
I have one in place under the spot wheer most of the rain comes off of the roof. It's easy to tell where it is even when it isn't raining since there is a permanant hole there. It hasn't rained since, at least nothing to write home about.
So, I now have 3 mostly empty rain barrels. It's supposed to rain this weekend but the rain has missed my house in general even though it has rained all around our area in great quantities the clouds seem to split apart and let the sun shine on my house. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.