On my walking travels in Melbourne, this time, I am seeing lots of rain water tanks hidden in gardens and sometimes not so hidden either. Collecting rainwater for the garden is the best thing.
The rain water tanks can be connected to your garden hose and in some instances connected to the toilet and laundry water. Imagine that. (though you would have to have some kind of override when the tank was empty but I am sure that is a thing too). In my perfect house I would also have a rainwater outside shower for hair washing.
Isn’t that just the best sign!
So maybe this initiative has something to do with the really lovely gardens I am seeing here. Like most cities, they do pay for their water here and saving rainwater for the garden would allow for more sustainable watering.
Annual average rainfall for Melbourne is around 649 mm. This time it has not rained since I arrived. Last time I was here it rained every day.
The water tank here is collecting from a play house roof. That won’t be as much water but it is better than a poke in the eye with a charcoal stick.
And rain water is so much better for – well everything – my Mum heated rain water to rinse our hair when we were little and we always used rainwater for making her tea. It came straight off a tin roof! God help us. At least it was not an asbestos roof.
We have a few water tanks at the farm but I think it is time to upgrade them to these closed tanks with a tap at the bottom. Yeah?
Have a great day.
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
27 responses to “Rain Water Tanks for the Garden”
My father had lots of these and they are brilliant, but beware of the mosquitos that breed in the still water. Never take the lid off!
Agreed. Our water barrels on the farm have mosquito net on top but I am not sure how effective that is. Going for fully enclosed this round.
They seem to be OK, as long as you let the water out from a tap below, but if you take the top off you’ll get bitten half to death!
Everything old is new again!
Isn’t that just the way!!
In the UK we call them water butts, l love mine. Also haven’t heard charcoal stick in that phrase, we always say sharp stick. So interesting these slight differences.
One of my favourite sayings! Good morning!
Yes! A great saying! And it always calls for thankfulness, as being poked in the eye with a sharp stick would be very painful indeed!
We have two rain barrels with hoses attached at the bottom. We use mosquito dunks of environmentally correct Bti. Works like a charm.
I think saving our rain water is just plain sensible. Glad you found a way to alleviate the mosquito threat.
We have been using rain tanks for a number of years. We are having to rethink our setup now though … our tanks have an open grate on top – about the size of a mail slot – to allow for overflow. When working in the garden last week we realized our tank which sat up against the house had hidden how the wood siding was rotting behind it. We have had so much rain this spring and summer we’ve often had overflow. Will have to figure out a way for the overflow to escape to the front and not the top …
I had one like that too – it is not wood next to it but I am sure it is not good having the water flow back to the house – now I have a soft hose running the overflow through the garden and into the trees. Water is easy to direct but so destructive if it goes the wrong way.
We have a big tank in the back yard which catches all the shed water and is there for the chooks and the garden. I really should hook one up for the house roof as well, but the amount of rain we get in the Wet means I’d have to dig a ditch for the overflow when it inevitably fills up. It’d be great to have rainwater for the laundry, too…
Yes ! Washing clothes in rainwater would be great! You must get a lot of rain in the rainy season.
We get absolutely masses, a real excess, and much of it is pouring away. Our neighbours have commented how much greener their grass is these days since the rain washes all the chook poo out of our grass and into their yard… I really must look into getting another tank for the side of the back porch…
Hi Cecilia!!!! Yes, I am still around, just not on the blog much. Love rain barrels! I remember my grandmothers well. It was rusted metal and she said it provided iron to her garden. She always had the best tomatos.
Question: What is the board with the colorful flower things on it? Is it a frog ladder by chance?
Safe travels….. P
Oh it is a little kids climbing wall – what is a frog ladder?
It is something to help frogs escape. Instead of a flat piece of wood – it has something on it to help them down. Who wants to watch a frog fall butt over head all floppy and such. My grandmother had them on her large planters back in the 70’s. (Now how a frog got into the planters….. I think she put them there so the kids would have a giggle)
My parents always collected rainwater. They also melted snow for our baths and for washing our hair. Water was scarce where we lived.
It is only when you live in an area where you have to consider every drop of water that we truly understand how lucky we are to have running water – melting snow for the bath must have taken ages! There is just not a lot of water in snow!
Mom filled a huge canning pot with snow and melted it on the coal and wood stove before she poured it into the bathtub. Since I was a girl, I got to have my bath first. Then my brothers each had their bath in the same water. I think she added a bit of fresh water each time. Then she poured the water back into the pot and reheated it along with fresh snow, and she and my dad would have their bath. Yes, the water was recycled! Different times.
Rainwater for her tea?!!! Wowza! Kinda wonderful, but yet…!
We had two rain barrels growing up in Washington State, but only used it to water the garden. And to breed mosquitoes, inadvertently!
The mozzies will always be a problem! Here in Melbourne all the tanks are airtight and plumbed so no mosquitoes can get in there at all. But on the farm I often see mosquito larvae in the cows water.
I dislike chlorinated town water… when we lived in the city I’d boil and filter our tap water for drinking. Now we only have rainwater supply I love our rainwater tanks, concerningly the levels are getting very low. We’re using as little as possible but need rain or we will have to buy water.
I remember that from when we lived on farms – the tanks were all rain water – we took it as a personal failure when we had to get the water truck to come out.
Yep. It’s personal!
Wonderful idea!!