(upbeat music) (rain pattering) >>At the Williams City Farm, we use rainwater all the time.

We know the benefits of rainwater.

Rainwater is the nitrogen in the air.

It captures that and it basically is our natural fertilizer.

But one of the key things too is it's free and our plants adapt so readily to rainwater.

We do have a setup now that allows us to use tap water.

However, the one thing about this tap water, it's cold.

It shocks our plants, and rainwater is softer water whereas tap water is a lot harder and it has more minerals.

Therefore, if we can use rainwater often as possible, that's the best thing for our plants.

Now, when we talk about our water collection systems here this is what we created and we have them located throughout the farm.

We're trying to create a roof just like at your house.

So we have our roof, we have our rain gutter here, we also have our downspout.

But the important thing is to have a type of rain barrel that will allow you to collect water but it's really going to be really important that it's food safe.

No harsh chemicals should have been inside it either one of these containers.

And then another thing is if it's dark in color that means simply less algae and less algae is your friend.

Over time, diseases can form in your water affecting your plants.

Now what we have to do periodically is we have to make sure that the gutters are clean.

We need to make sure that the screens are clean and we'll check inside of our rain barrels to also make sure that they're clean.

We might use a little simple bleach solution if we see that there's algae forming in there, less as possible.

Just rinse it, clean it out.

If you notice, this is approximately about two and a half feet off the ground.

That allows gravity to do the work for us and when I attach it to a water hose, gravity is going to help deliver the water to where I need it to go so we don't have to lug water all over the garden and it creates that water pressure that we need.

Think about the different types of water spouts that you choose to use.

Now, this water spout that we have here has a simple on and off shutoff, but some have the turn knob and it's always important to make sure that it's turned off and it's closed.

Sometimes when you have it twisted, you can't tell if it's turned off or on.

But here, simple.

We know it's on.

We turn it, we know it's off.

Always make sure that you're paying attention to this.

You're hate for it to rain on a hard day, heavy rain and then you don't capture all that rainwater that you would like.

As you think about using rainwater, it's simple and easy.

Attach one to your house or build a simple structure like this.

Capture rainwater.

Feed your plants.

You can do it.

I know you can.

You'll love it once you do and your plants will love it too.

Happy gardening.