"Judy and Dave G" wrote in message ...

My rain barrels for watering are the 55 gallon plastic kind, with one large
plastic tank enclosed in a galvanized exterior that used to hold soda pop
syrup. In about a year's time, I get about 6 inches of crud from
leaves/dirt/roof buildup in the bottom of the barrel, I don't use any
diverter for these barrels. I have enough of a slope from my one barrel to
water my one front bed. However, I cannot use any type of irrigation
system. The reason is that the dirt/crud clogs up all those little holes.

Judy

Judy, this is similar to my barrell watering.. i access the water for
syphoning from the top of the barrel by attaching my syphone line to a
piece of styrofoam so it will float and secure screen wire over and
around it to form a fiter.. then what i did to my barrell was to take
a piece of screen wire and tape it with ,,,what else but the wonderful
duct tape!!!.. over the barrell to keep out leaves and mosquitoes. of
course you have to thread the hose through the screen before puttiing
the styrofoam and screen on it...

any way, this really worked quite well.. no mosquitoes.. no way for
the hose to clog and it got plenty of air to do it's thing. i also
added compost to the water at times to make it into a tea. wonderful
for the plants. didn't even have to have an air pump on it.
just an idea for you to kick around.
lee h