Tag: rain

Diverter fail

On By CarynIn Garden

I’ve known for a while that the downspout diverter for my rain barrel wasn’t working. My rain barrel wasn’t filling, and even when it did the algae growth was so vigorous that the barrel wouldn’t drain. The design of the “barrel” mimics a giant rock, but there is no way to get in and give it a good clean, so the system sat until I could formulate a plan. Then I noticed that the soil was washing away from around the barrel. Hm. When it rained, no water was going down the spout. I took out the diverter and found an entire tube full of dirt made from decayed leaves and roof tile grit.

Photo description: failed plastic diverter (bottom right, rock rain barrel (left side), unassembled downspout (middle), and about 10 gallons of dark dirt (bottom middle)

I reassembled the downspout without the diverter and spread the new dirt where the rain had washed away the soil. I found it interesting that there was enough to fill the space.

I’m still working on a plan for the rain barrel.

Spring rain storm

On By CarynIn Coop

Well that was a gully washer. A right spring storm (and yes, it is January). Almost three inches in about two hours. And all those fallen fall leaves ganged up with the twigs and dammed my drainage, flooding the chicken runs. My poor wet chickens were blocked out of their coop. I opened the people door and they all ran back inside. The coop stayed dry (except for beneath the window I left open, sigh).

Covered run flooded

It took about 30 minutes with a hoe and a rake to clear the ditches and let the water drain. My Fitbit says I burned 1,000 calories. Not bad for 30 minutes.

Covered run after the water drained

I cleared the drainage just in time, since the water was almost to the bottom of the feeder and rising. I found a nice sturdy rock to put outside the pop door so the chickens have a landing spot, even if it floods again, and I pushed all the detritus against the run thresholds and packed it down to help redirect water. When it dries out I’ll have to haul in some more dirt to replace what washed away.

Captures from the outside camera

The outside camera caught most of the action. I combined pictures from 5am dry, 7:48am wet, 8:05am completely flooded, and 8:39 when I had at least found land even if it was muddy. I took pity on them and strung up a feeder inside.

Temporary inside feeder while the water receeds

Rain barrel

On By CarynIn Garden

For Mother’s Day I received a rain barrel rock. I set it up just before the rain came, and now it is full!

Rain barrel

Let me tell you that it was a pain to get set up right. Everything was going well, I leveled a space, put a layer of sand, leveled again, set brick, followed all the instructions on measuring (even measuring thrice), cut and installed the diverter, tested by running water on the roof… nuts. The tube was about 1/2″ too high on the barrel side. I had to remove and reset the brick three times to get it to the right level. Ugh. But, when we had an inch and a half rain fall, it filled my 80 gallon barrel all the way up! So it was worth making it right.

I even used a 4’ level to check my work!!

Now I can use the water for my old garden (not the failed garden in the chicken run). I have strawberries, carrots, and rosemary that I’m sure will appreciate it!