Is this practical? I have about 1 1/2 acres of lawn, but I only
expect to be able to keep the front and sides watered during dry
weather.

Are rain barrels even an option, or is it like spitting in the ocean?

If they are an option, what's the best way to use them? Seeper hoses?

wrote in message
...
Is this practical? I have about 1 1/2 acres of lawn, but I only
expect to be able to keep the front and sides watered during dry
weather.

Are rain barrels even an option, or is it like spitting in the ocean?

If they are an option, what's the best way to use them? Seeper hoses?

Sounds like an awful lot of work and you may be right about spitting in the
ocean. I'm in the GTA and was in the lawn care business for over 10 years. I
haven't watered my lawn now for years. It browns off in the heat of the
summer, but as long as the bugs are under control always comes back nicely
in September. If your weather there is similar you may consider dispensing
w/ the idea entirely.

Peter H

Xref: 127.0.0.1 alt.home.lawn.garden:4266

On Wed, 28 May 2003 13:11:18 +0000, wrote:

Is this practical? I have about 1 1/2 acres of lawn, but I only expect to
be able to keep the front and sides watered during dry weather.

Are rain barrels even an option, or is it like spitting in the ocean?

If they are an option, what's the best way to use them? Seeper hoses?

A 50 gallon rain barrel is just not going to cut it I'm afraid. For an
1&1/2 acre lawn, you'd need atleast 20 barrels to even get close to
watering that much square footage. Don't fear though, you can use your run
off for watering but it would cost you. Here's a lay out of a water system
I maintain on lummi island, where the water is always an issue.

All the house gutters are french tiled and they all meet at a 6 inch tile
that connects to a 3000 gallon tank buried in the yard. On the other side
of the tank is a 6 inch out flow pipe that goes down to the beach. At the
bottom of the pipe near the beach is a pelton wheel generator that
produces electrical power that feeds a 6 battery bank. In the bottom of
the 3000 gallon tank is a pump that feeds a watering system.

This is not a cheap watering solution but it is an earth friendly way of
doing it though. Over the life time of use the cost is not that much, but
who wants to pony up 5 or 10 thousand dollars up front???
Good luck...
--
http://yard-works.netfirms.com

There's a term for this: a cistern. When I was a child, a neighboring
house had a concrete tank underground. All the roof runoff was brought into
the cistern. It filled during the spring. A small electrical pump could
then operate sprinklers.

This wasn't used on a lawn, but on a fabulous garden and orchard.

Around here, the soil is already high pH and the water is correspondingly
hard. So, watering with well water makes the problem worse. City water is
the same. Rain water is very superior. So, if you want naturally soft, pH
neutral irrigation water, this is a great way to go. But your irrigation
needs may run into thousands of cubic feet (tens of thousands of gallons).
You may want 20" or more of irrigation water for a summer. Multiply this by
the square footage of lawn and divide by 12 to get cubic feet (and then
multiply by 8 to get gallons if desired). The necessary storage capacity
will probably deter you from going further. But the next calculation is to
see what the annual spring rainfall would be, multiplied by the roof aread
on which it collects. Would the cistern fill each year before summer? Do
you have enough roof area to collect the necessary water?

With the expense and effort of lowering soil pH, irrigation in this manner
may make sense. If you water container plants with well water here, you get
a crust of lime after a couple of years here. This isn't so bad outdoors
where rain carries some of this away. But it might be a good investment for
a high value garden. For a lawn, it would probably be prohibitively
expensive.

Alternatives include increased organic content of the soil, which will allow
storage of the water right in the lawn, and use of grasses that require less
water.

For an acre and a half, the house would have to be huge for enough water to
fall on it! So would the cistern. You'd need to collect water from the
driveway, patio, and more to even come close in all likelihood. Probably
you need in the neighborhood of 100,000 cubic feet of water (nearly a
million gallons) to water this area. The cistern for this might be 10' high
and 100' square. Pretty major!

But, for an acre and a half of garden and orchard, it would be a teriffic
thing!

Tom Ellison


"Timothy" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 28 May 2003 13:11:18 +0000, wrote:

Is this practical? I have about 1 1/2 acres of lawn, but I only expect
to
be able to keep the front and sides watered during dry weather.

Are rain barrels even an option, or is it like spitting in the ocean?

If they are an option, what's the best way to use them? Seeper hoses?

A 50 gallon rain barrel is just not going to cut it I'm afraid. For an
1&1/2 acre lawn, you'd need atleast 20 barrels to even get close to
watering that much square footage. Don't fear though, you can use your run
off for watering but it would cost you. Here's a lay out of a water system
I maintain on lummi island, where the water is always an issue.

All the house gutters are french tiled and they all meet at a 6 inch tile
that connects to a 3000 gallon tank buried in the yard. On the other side
of the tank is a 6 inch out flow pipe that goes down to the beach. At the
bottom of the pipe near the beach is a pelton wheel generator that
produces electrical power that feeds a 6 battery bank. In the bottom of
the 3000 gallon tank is a pump that feeds a watering system.

This is not a cheap watering solution but it is an earth friendly way of
doing it though. Over the life time of use the cost is not that much, but
who wants to pony up 5 or 10 thousand dollars up front???
Good luck...
--
http://yard-works.netfirms.com

" wrote:
Is this practical? I have about 1 1/2 acres of lawn, but I only
expect to be able to keep the front and sides watered during dry
weather.

Are rain barrels even an option, or is it like spitting in the ocean?

If they are an option, what's the best way to use them? Seeper hoses?

Water your garden and flowers with it. Do you have a sistern?

--
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