Review: To Catch The Rain by Lonny Grafman

Continue ReadingReview: To Catch The Rain by Lonny Grafman

To Catch the Rain When Humboldt State University Press contacted me with a review copy of Lonny Grafman's To Catch The Rain, I couldn't resist the appeal of this nerdy water catchment book. Drought and aquifer depletion continue all over the world, so capturing water for reuse is more important than ever. Grafman's book "looks at real, practical, global experiences of rainwater harvesting on individual, financially constrained, and community based levels through academic, mathematical and practical perspectives." His work in…

Read more about the article Ask Gardenerd: Using Rainwater
Food grade barrels are best for use in vegetable gardens.

Ask Gardenerd: Using Rainwater

Continue ReadingAsk Gardenerd: Using Rainwater

A great question came into Ask Gardenerd this week: "Is it safe to use rain barrel water on the organic vegetable garden? My first concern is that the plastic the rain barrels are made of. My second is that we have several of the barrels catching water from the composite roof. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you, Tia" Yes, you can use rainwater to irrigate your vegetable garden. We've been watering with rainwater exclusively since December. Veggie gardens…

Read more about the article Scoring Big with the Rain Barrel Rebate
Photo by Andrew Cheeseman

Scoring Big with the Rain Barrel Rebate

Continue ReadingScoring Big with the Rain Barrel Rebate

We try to write blog posts with a nationwide focus, but every once in a while, something with a local flare is in order. This is one of those times: Los Angeles is finally seeing some rain, and our rain barrels are full once again. We just wish we could get more rain barrels for a decent price. How about free? Yea, that would be great. Well, if you live in the Metropolitan Water District area of Los Angeles, you…

Read more about the article Fountain Pump for Rainbarrels
A small fountain pump is a great garden helper

Fountain Pump for Rainbarrels

Continue ReadingFountain Pump for Rainbarrels

Our rainy season appears to be coming to a close here in Los Angeles, but before we turn on the irrigation, there's still a little bit of water in our rain barrels. It's hard to get every last drop out from the bottom, so we've employed a little ingenuity to help us along. Fountain pumps come in handy to extract the last bit of water out from your rain barrels. They can also help pump water uphill to your plants.…

Saving for a Rainy Day

Continue ReadingSaving for a Rainy Day

It's raining in Los Angeles today.  A glorious, drizzly rain.  While most Angelenos would complain about the gloominess, Gardenerds rejoice!  There is something about rain that nourishes the soil and plant life more than any irrigation system could do.  Even more importantly, it helps to ease the drought conditions all over. 

One of my goals as a new home owner is to incorporate a rain barrel into our water management system.  Rain barrels collect runoff from the roof and rain gutters, which funnel the rainfall down drain spouts.  The drain spouts usually feed to a pipe that takes the runoff out to ...

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