Hello garden gals and guys! My garden project is finally finished and I am so excited! I, of course, did a video for you, but I wanted to show you how we built this step-by-step first. So, sit back and relax and let me show you what we did.
I wanted to modify the original design of 10 foot gutters so that I could fit more of them in my 300 square foot garden. So, I bought six 10-foot gutters and cut those into 8-foot sections. This way I could get six of them into my space. Cutting them into 8-foot sections allowed them to fit the 8-foot 2x4s we bought to fasten them to. Next, we put end caps on the gutters using pvc cement:
Next, we placed the 2x4s on either side of the gutter, and screwed the gutters in place. We used roofing screws since the screws are going to be submerged in water all the time.
After each section was finished, we cut another 2×4 into 2-foot sections to make feet for each gutter system.We put those on the bottom of each gutter:
This is what the gutters look like put together:
The next step, which I don’t have pictures of, was to drill a hole in the end cap (only on one side of each gutter system) to install the float.
Then I took my old hose and cut that into sections to make smaller hoses that will run from each gutter to the manifold. We used plumbers tape to ensure that all the connections had a good seal.
Finally we got to the buckets. A hole was drilled in the bottom of each bucket so that a 3-inch net pot could be dropped into each bucket, with the lip of the net pot creating a seal on the inside.
The next steps, which I don’t have pictures of, were to put the rain gutters in the garden, hook up all the hoses and test. I also had to make the potting soil mix. I used well-composted manure from a local farm, perlite, sphagnum peat moss, and lime. This mix was then put into the net pots and those were put into the bottom of the buckets and the buckets were then also filled with the mix. Then I planted and the end result looks like this:
So that’s it! Okay…now you can watch the video:
I’m still tired…but I am so happy with this new grow system…so happy, in fact, that I wet my plants!
I must give a huge shout-out to Larry Hall in Brainerd, Minnesota who is the inventer of this system. You can see his instructional video here. It’s funny because I know Brainerd well, since it is the next town over from Crosby, Minnesota, where my paternal grandmother had her farm. That makes this system really special to me.
Well, that’s all for now. Until next time garden gals and guys…
Happy gardening!!
Does the rain gutter grow system attract a lot of mosquitos?
Hi, I am going to be making one of these this year too. I live on a property that has large black walnut trees. Those trees have a toxin in them that spreads through their roots, leaves and every part of them all the way around their drip line that inhibits many things from growing around them. So I have to grow the things that I want in this same manner that youre doing. I really like your system you have there and I hope mine turns out as neatly as yours is. I don't have any even ground to work with or concrete and I hope I wont have too much trouble leveling the area I choose for these to go. I love your blog. Thank you for your example.