Jeff Thies wrote:
I'm a small gardener and I've heard anecdotal evidence about using
rain water rather than tap (city) water. If nothing else it would be
free of chlorine.

I've found a source for free rain barrels (55 gallon plastic drums),
so I'm thinking about this. Other than hand watering, I'm unsure how
you would get this to work. Last year, with help from these groups, I
put in a drip irrigation system. I don't want to go back.

It looks like each foot of water height yields .43 psi and the pc
emitters need about 10psi, so that is about 25' of height to get this
to work gravity fed. That is impractical for me and probably for most
people. Seems like it would have to be pumped.

Anyone using rain water for other than spot watering? Is it worth
it?
Jeff

You are going to waste your time with little drums like that if your garden
is more than a few pot plants. They hold too little and as you have already
worked out getting the water out of them to the garden is a problem. If you
really want to use rainwater and don't want to make your life's work
scurrying back and forth with buckets you should be collecting in a tank at
least 1,000 litres and 10,000 l would be better and you need a pump.

David