I haven't done much in the garden since late March, its just been too cold or rainy (I was also traveling for some of that time). With spring here a bit late, I dedicated a lot of my time to helping my wife get her vegetable garden up and running.
With the garden shed attached to her garden, I decided to take some time to get the new rain chain properly installed. To start, I had to realign the drainage pit and bucket at the base of the chain. After the gutter instal back in the fall I realized that the bucket was off-center.
First I determined the landing-point of the chain and dug a new pit for drainage. The pit was dug to approximately 3'. I then filled two feet of it with drainage rock. Then I place the bucket into the whole on top of the drainage rock. I then filled the bucket about 30% with additional drainage rock. The soil in our area is very sandy, so the empty space in the bucket and the drainage rock below will suffice for drainage, especially given that the roof of the shed is not that large and will not displace large amounts of water.
Next, some additional soil around the bucket was removed to make room for the stone edging and smaller 3/8 gravel that would be used as a based to contain the crushed granite that would be installed afterwards.
I also laid down a double layer of weed fabric around the bucket.
A metal screen was attached to the top of the bucket to limit any debris getting into the bucket. The screen has to be strong enough to hold the weight of the crushed granite that will rest on top. I also screwed it into place to help ensure it remains in place.
I tried several combinations of edging stone before I settled on a design. However, I did make a change to the design later in the process after I tested the water flow (see below).
The crushed granite was then added to cover the bucket and surrounding drainage pit.
Before testing, I did wash most of the granite stone dust away. Doing so helped reveal the color of the stone.
Using a garden hose I spayed water onto the roof and watched what happened.
Unfortunately, it did not go as planned. Most of the water exited the down spout and spayed outward due to strong winds (edited out of the video clip above). Eventually the flow slowed a bit and it worked somewhat better.
The downspout is simply to wide and allows too much water to exit at once, especially if there is going to be a strong rain. A light rain might prove better. Additionally, the small flower cups are too small to handle a large amount of rain. They are also spaced too far apart. As a result, much of the water splashes out-and-about and does not flow evenly down through the cups. The larger rain chain on the back porch, with its large cups, handles rain much better.
I may have to change the downspout to a narrower diameter, or add a collection cup between the downspout and the first flower cup. It will take some experimentation to solve this problem.
I really like the look of this rain chain and its small flower cups, but I also have to find a way to make sure it works properly as well.
I also adjusted the look of the crushed gravel by modifying the edge by taking an elongated stone and placing it within the crushed granite on its own.
I think it looks more natural. I will continue to tweak this look over the next few weeks as some of the nearby planting emerge. The chain, stones, and plants need to compliment each other. I also have to paint the shed corner foundation brick - in its current state it looks awful.
Its a work in progress, but it is getting closer to completion.
