Juuuust, when the rain barrels have started to pay for themselves, I get the brilliant idea that I need a water pump to get the water out faster. The pump wasn’t that expensive–only about 30 dollars, on sale. Which is probably about how much I save in water bills in three months (if it rains.) That might be pushing the savings. It might take more like…4 months. It depends on the month. I water at different rates depending on the weather, how much is in the garden and so on.

Thirty dollars, not so bad, right? Except we needed hose end parts, power cords, and more quick release connectors…and suddenly it was another 30 dollars in the hole. So…for this year, the water barrels are going to be lucky to get back to even.

I didn’t mind watering by hand (moving the hose from plant to plant) in the spring. Yes, it takes at least a half hour, but when the weather is nice and the plants are relatively small, moving around the garden, inspecting the plants and just being outside is fine with me. But when it’s 80 degrees first thing in the morning, with humidity that slaps you hard in the face when you step outside…not so great. Moving around the plants to water each one is a lot harder also. The leaves pick at you, the bugs pick at you, the hose is harder to move around…the water barrels don’t provide enough flow for me to hook up the leaker hoses. There simply isn’t enough pressure. Thus my brilliant idea to get a pump…

And so the project goes. Or grows.

Now that I have a water pump, maybe I can handle more barrels??? You think?