Roll out the (rain) barrel

This article from HGTV.com, Building your own rain barrel, makes me wish I had gutters on my house. I have a few, but they are poorly designed and ineffectual. Worse still, the large number of trees in the back garden yields huge piles of leaves that clog everything in site.

The real pity is, I would really like a rain barrel, but I fear that here in Los Angeles, the rain comes too infrequently to make it worthwhile. I would need a much larger cistern in order to catch enough for even part of the dry season. Then again, any water I can get for free would be dollars off the water (and the sewer) bill.

If you can make use of good rain barrel, the step-by-step instructions might be the way to get things rolling.

Via Gardening.About.com