So my sister, gardening mother and I were all delighted when he rigged up an irrigation system for the Sutton garden out of rain barrels, PVC pipe and a sump pump. I'm not quite sure how he got ...

Rain barrels may be able to produce enough gravity to push water out of a soaker hose very weakly, but probably not enough for most drip irrigation. “It’s just a nice soft water,” Dorsch said.

Portland Purple Water offers cisterns from 550 gallons -- the equivalent capacity of 10 rain barrels in a 7-by-7-foot space -- to 50,000 gallons. Prices for a 550-gallon cistern, installed ...