It’s summer in Florida you know what that means… rain nearly every afternoon. This is a good time to install a rain barrel to harvest rain water. We may not be thinking of watering right now but soon the rain will stop & out will come the hose. Most rain barrels are made out of 55 gallon drums & don’t take up much room, like the ones you can purchase from Eco Essentials in Sarasota. A small rain barrel may not provide all the water you would need to sustain your garden but it will help to supplement your watering schedule. Imagine this, a 1” rainfall will generate roughly a half gallon of water per square foot of roof area, or 1000 gallons of water for a 2000 square foot roof, that’s a lot of water! You can save a substantial amount of water over a period of time using stored rain water. Jodi John of Eco-essentials has even teamed up with a local artist to paint the barrels she sells so they will fit in to any décor. She tells us that larger barrels are also available for people with large yards. Personally we have two 55 gallon barrels & a 150 gallon container that we use for our ponds & gardens. It does help. Jodi has kindly donated one of her rain barrels complete with spigot, overflow hose & mosquito netting. Eco Essentials also offers earth boxes, worm farming & an Organic Shitake Mushroom buying club. You can contact Jodi at jjecoessentials@gmail.com or at 941-954-6035.
Don’t forget to enter to win our fabulous backyard makeover contest on www.wqmag.com