Friday, May 29, 2009

Rain barrels and mosquitoes... and goldfish, all in or near Georgetown

I was surprised to read in today's Georgetown Independent that the town's rain barrel sale created havoc on town roads due to the incredibly high demand for the at-cost pricing of some rain barrels that the town had set up an event to sell. Apparently, they came stocked with 300 barrels and were sold out within 30 minutes.

That is a very nice thing to hear, though I wonder why there is so much interest. Clearly the town was not expecting it. But you can't water your lawn with a rain barrel and you can't drink the water, so what are the intentions, I wonder? Are vegetable gardens really making that much of a comeback?

On the topic of rain barrels... obviously, mosquitoes are a concern because rain barrels are a body of water that sits still for quite awhile -- until you use some water or it rains and starts to fill up again. You can get closed barrels and install screens, but did you know... that you can put a goldfish in your rain barrel and it will eat mosquito larvae? As long as there's oxygen going in and out of the barrel and you don't completely drain it and run the poor goldfish dry, you can do this, apparently.

In other news... the house next door to me hosts drug dealers and the house across from me has now been condemned. 2 down, 1 to go... maybe the fact that they just busted a $1 million grow-op just outside of town will keep things at bay for awhile. Honestly, I would not be surprised if half the rural area was hosting grow ops. It is happening in BC.

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2 comments:

Gravity Gardener said...

Sounds like a mess although collecting rainwater for my bucket garden is a great way to help conserve water.

I created a rain barrel using a vinyl trashcan and a few tools.
It cost about 10 bucks and is working nicely. You can take a look at my step by step pictures if interested.

Mosquitoes are always something to keep an eye on when you have a rain barrel..

http://gravitygarden.com/rainbucket/?page_id=46

Gravity Gardener..

mattbg said...

Sounds good, GG. I am using a very thick plastic industrial barrel for my rain barrel at the moment, based on a similar technique, with a metal ball valve. These barrels hold a lot of water.