OK, Froggy. Pay Attention! There may be a test later. :)
Rain Barrels. I strongly recommend them. You need to have rain gutters, as the rain is collected from the roof and needs a way to flow down into the barrel. For some reason, I can't get the pictures to load so here's the original post where I have the pictures:
You can reroute one of the down spouts to the barrel. Bill cut a hole in the top of my barrel, then he pushed the end of the downspout into it. There is a filter at the top of the downspout - a knee-high hose works really well and is easily replaced because it will get dirty. The filter is to keep leaves and debris out. The hole the downspout goes into is also a possibly entry place for mosquitos, so you can see if you can rig up some type of a filter at that point as well - again, knee-high hose work great.
Rain barrels can be made out of a couple of different kinds of barrels, but a big 55 gallon one works well. You can probably find a supplier of barrels just by looking on the internet or possibly in the phone book. He also installed a twist spigot. You can have the barrel sitting on the ground, and it can be sitting up or laying on it's side. It's going to depend on where you want to put it and how much room you have. Mine is on it's side. You'll want to have the spigot towards the bottom, since gravity will be how the water will leave it. The spigot is sealed around the edges, Bill might have used silicon caulk. It's pretty much a necessity to seal it, otherwise it will probably leak.
My barrel was originally white, the "natural" color the plastic was that it was made from. I painted it a dark green because I was having a problem with mold caused by the sun/warmth and dark colors will block a little of the sun's light. At times, the water will still develop a smell and discoloration. When that happens, I usually drain it then it gets rinshed out. To rinse it, it just has to be moved away from the downspout and then Bill sticks the garden hose in the hole where the downspout goes. You can use things like bleach, but that pretty much defeats the purpose of having natural rain water to water your plants with. The best place for one is probably a shady area, since the sunlight will help mold/mildew grow but I didn't have a spot that was shady enough.
Bill built a wooden frame for my barrel, but they aren't necessary. We didn't want it sitting on the ground so he built the frame/stand out of some scrap wood he had.
I strongly, strongly suggest a product called Mosquito Dunk.
You can get it at any hardware store and possibly also at places like Walmart. Put one in as often as the directions say to - I think it's 3 months for the type I use. It will dissolve and the water will still be healthy for plants, but it will kill any mosquito larvae that hatch from any eggs that survive.
You can also buy a pre-made rain barrel, I've seen them at Lowe's and places like that. But they might be pricey. I don't remembe what my barrel cost but I'm thinking it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 or thereabouts.
As of this morning, my rain barrel is pretty much empty. We've been using it to soak the morning glories since the summer heat is here already. But I think it's down to the last few drops so Bill's going to take it off the downspout this weekend and we're going to rinse it out. It needs to be rinsed out periodically.
Also, if you ever do get a hard freeze (yeah, I do know where you live!), they can freeze. Mine is usually dry by the time winter gets here, but any rain in the winter will flow right into it. I don't usually worry about it in freezing weather, but I would imagine that if it were 100% full it could be a problem if it were to freeze because the plastic could split. But it would be easy to replace.
Bat Houses:
Contrary to popular belief, bats are not evil! The are actually very good animals to have around. They eat all sorts of unpleasant bugs, but they seem to really enjoy snacking on mosquitos. This is not my bat house, I couldn't find a picture of it. They are available at a lot of hardware stores, and they can also be ordered online. They come in a couple of different styles, but this one is a lot like mine. They have to be put in an area that the bats llike - they prefer eastern/morning sun and shady afternoon/evenings. They have to be put fairly high up, I think it's somewhere around 12 feet but you can look that up on the internet and there will probably be directions with anyone you buy.
It can take the bats a few years to find the house. They are natural survivors and they have places to roost, but they will eventually move into the bat house. You may not ever know that they are there. Sometimes, birds will build nests in them but not if there's a bat in it.
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