Truth is I don't even want to go outside here now. I can only water 3 times a week...don't think I can have my hose on even on low...plus water is expensive here...I worry more about my water bill then my electric bill. I'd have to look into it...the issue here is always water. When I first moved here water was unmetered but that changed a few years ago. You can only water 3 times a week and only after 9 pm and before 6 AM. Also only a certain number of minutes for each station.
You are probably just as well off to buy your veggies from the store, Chrissy, since it gets too hot to be outside much. The watering should not be an issue if you used the barrel because you can fill it up during the days that you can water. Early in the morning would be a good time to do it because you can see better than you could at night. But for someone who didn't have good soil to grow in, and needed to conserve water and not have to spend time in the garden weeding and watering, I think that this system would work well once it was set up.
It does sound like the best system for me... I wonder how people who have pools adhere to the strict water guidelines here?
@Yvonne Smith , I've been using five gallon buckets for container gardening for a long time, and they tend to get very brittle in two or three years. But if you have a Shipley's Donut or other such place, you can generally get them to give you there three to five gallon buckets for free. Way back when, I worked for Shipley's for three years, and that's when I found out that their icings and fillings came in buckets. You could also check out your local bakeries for buckets. I think I once had to pay 50 cents per bucket, but generally I've gotten them for free. At one time young Michael worked for a roofing company, and most of the time, they throw away the old gutters. We just asked for permission to haul them off, which just made what they had to haul off less. Around here we have to pay to dump old construction materials. This way you don't have to worry so much about your start up costs.