What's your weather right now? 2024 Edition

[dragnlaw]

A lot of people have rain barrels attached to their gutters. Only problem you have to watch for is skeeters love to breed there. That's mosquitoes for you non-southerners .
For my horse water tanks to help keep them down I bought some 10₵ goldfish. For you to water would work two fold, one for the plant water, two fish poop as a fertilizer.

 

[larry_stewart]

We visited a Japanese Gardens over the summer, and they had a Tea House that had gutters, but instead of having downspouts, there is a hole at the end of the gutter and chains hanging from them. so when it rains, the water trickles down the chains. It just happened to be raining the day we were there, so it was kind of cool to see it in action.

 

[dragnlaw]

How beautiful, lucky you to have been there to see it work! That would be a great idea for someone's garden gazebo. To and sit out in the rain and calm/relax oneself.

along the same lines, my daughter showed me a trick for a dripping tap. Tie a string around the tap and the water then slides right into the drain or bucket without going drip, drip, drip and splashing everywhere.
Can't remember if I had a leaky tap above the sink or below but which ever it was it worked. Even the plumber was impressed when he got there to fix it.

 

[caseydog]

We visited a Japanese Gardens over the summer, and they had a Tea House that had gutters, but instead of having downspouts, there is a hole at the end of the gutter and chains hanging from them. so when it rains, the water trickles down the chains. It just happened to be raining the day we were there, so it was kind of cool to see it in action.

I've seen people use chains as downspouts. I saw a home show about a house in Austin that used chains to channel water into rain barrels.

CD

 

[caseydog]

I wonder if there's some other option, other than gutters. In CA, we had a piece of metal flashing over the doors, that would direct the rain away from the doors/walkway. It worked well for that limited space...and any winds took care of any debris that might collect.

I have metal flashing to divert roof water over my doors. It would not work for filling barrels because the aim is not good.

Gutters would not bother me in the garage, because the garage is a separate structure behind the house. I'd barely see the gutters. I'd use a leaf deflector system on the gutters to keep them clean.

CD

 

[caseydog]

A lot of people have rain barrels attached to their gutters. Only problem you have to watch for is skeeters love to breed there. That's mosquitoes for you non-southerners .
For my horse water tanks to help keep them down I bought some 10₵ goldfish. For you to water would work two fold, one for the plant water, two fish poop as a fertilizer.

Mosquitoes are an issue. We have West Nile mosquitos in North Texas. I'm sure there are ways to deal with them with rain barrels, other than goldfish. There are probably solar powered circulators that stir up the water. Mosquito larvae need stagnant water.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

For mosquitoes, as well as fungus gnats, the method to prevent both of them is something with Bt israelensis in it. Those mosquito dunks are what I use in my rain barrel, sub-irrigated planters, and hydroponics - all you need to do, since one of those little disks is good for a pond, with 2-5,000 gallons, is crumple some of one and put 1/8-1/4 tsp of the crumbs in whatever it is you are protecting, and repeat every 30-40 days (they have a granular form, but it is much less concentrated). For indoor plants, against fungus gnats, I use the liquid form - Microbe Lift - and it is also very concentrated, and only 8 drops is needed to a gallon of water, to water the upper 2 or 3 inches of soil. Again, repeat maybe every 30-40 days, and you won't have any fungus gnats!

It got to 74° later today (after 57° yesterday!) about 17° above average, and tomorrow it is forecast to be below average by a few degrees! And the wind is kicking in again, hopefully blowing all the rest of the leaves down. I'll go out tomorrow and drain the pipes - today I got the rain gauge inside, the hoses, and the last of the drip lines drained, and just one 20' hose I can hook up, if necessary (hopefully I won't stay in a draught, like this again, but if I do, I'm ready), and tomorrow the copper pipes get drained. But then, after 3 days in the 50s, it's well above average again, for the rest of the 10 day forecast!