Good Ideas Rain Wizard Urn 65-Gallon Rain Barrel - Dark Granite

I have wanted to install a rain barrel every since I installed rain gutters after my house remodel, but the price kept me away. I considered making my own, but the DIY 55 gal drums from food grade containers just look too ugly next to my newly renovated house. Then I stumbled on some info about my local water utility offering $75 rebates/barrel (up to 4 barrels/ home) and the decision was a no brainer. I wound up purchasing four of them. These barrels look great and work well. I bought flex hose from my local HD to connect to my down spot. The size fit perfectly into the barrel once you remove the mesh screen that comes with the barrel. I had a bunch of leftover red bricks that I used to build a platform to raise the barrel up. The terra cotta colors looks good. I'm not so sure I'd use the planter on the top of the barrel. Even though there are drainage holes, I think it makes more sense to get a small pot and place it in that space. It'll be easier to re-pot/switch out plants should the need arises and if drowning your plants' roots is a concern, it would be easy to put some gravel or a few small bricks or something to help raise your pots above the level of the drainage holes. As for the spigot...it works well (not as heavy duty as a 1/4 turn hose bib), but this is for a rain barrel and is more than adequate. The fact that it's brass says something-I've purchased a rain barrel for my in laws with plastic spigots that reeked of cheap (local stores only had one type of rain barrel in stock). The only thing I'd caution is to be sure to thread the hose bib/spigot onto the nylon opening slowly to carefully check you don't install it crooked and end up creating new and crooked threads. I'm considering connecting another barrel to help increase the capacity. I think I'm going to use one of the two overflow ports in the back, but I'm not sure if this is the best way of accomplishing this. Maybe I'll have to update this when I'm done.

Th 65 gallon rain barrel is very sturdy and the medal spout is much better than the plastic ones. The only change that would be nice is having a removable top as an option for filling waterers.