With the summer heat baking away at the garden, keeping the soil moist has been crucial. I noticed the air conditioner on the roof produced a lot of run-off: condensation that would drip from a pvc pipe onto the roof, down onto the patio and evaporate. It seemed such a shame to waste all that water when it could be used in the garden, so I set out finding a way to recycle it. I gathered the equipment I needed: pvc pipe and fittings, a saw, pvc glue, a plastic spout, bricks, a drain cover, and a large water barrel that we already had. The idea seemed simple enough, but fitting everything together, without leaks, took some doing.
But it worked out. Now, the water runs down the pipe into the top of the barrel. I have a spout at the bottom to fill my watering can. In a week, the barrel was nearly full!
I was worried about mosquitoes hatching in all that standing water, but I read an interesting tip online that is sometimes employed in rain barrels: goldfish. They eat the mosquito larvae when they hatch. At 27 cents a goldfish, I figured it was worth a try. So now there are goldfish swimming in the barrel eating fish flakes and, hopefully, mosquitoes. I haven’t been entirely successful at keeping all of them alive. But, it’s an experiment.
Jer's Garden Diary 
My Grandpa in Taiwan has a barrel with plants growing in it, he too has some fish that eats the larvae of mosquitoes! I think there are special one that actually feeds on it, I’m not absolutely certain though. You can try going to PetSmart to ask someone if you’d like.
My brother is the cleverest!
How Clever!
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