Rainwater now makes Community Gardens grow

by Judy Williams
One man took a drop of ingenuity, a sprinkling of donated items and a small shower of cash to help the Stockbridge Community Gardens grow.

Merelyn Snider created a system to recapture rainwater for watering the garden plots. Thanks to his work, gardeners no longer have the chore of carrying water to the site. Mother Nature’s rainfall will do the job instead.

“Some people thought I was crazy and the plan would never work,” the proud Snider said. “My wife Kathy helped me finish up on Saturday, May 14. We finished about two minutes before the deluge of rain and hail hit.”

Snider used donated and repurposed items, plus about $80 worth of hardware to construct the watering system.

One person donated old gutters and another old boards from a deck. The collection tub came from a local company named No Drought About It, and the tarp and other items were purchased for the $80.

Snider only needed about two weeks to design and build the system.

“I had a little bit of help on the climbing part,” the 81-year-young Snider said. “Some people think that I’m too old to climb ladders.”

Snider’s design has tarps covering the roof of a storage trailer with a 6-inch raise on the north side in order to divert the rainwater to the eaves and downspouts on the south side. The downspout tubing leads to the 375-gallon retention tub.

Snider estimates the system will collect about 200 gallons of water per inch of rain.

Now, thanks to Snider’s creativity, gardening at the Stockbridge Community Gardens just became a lot easier.

Snider’s parting words were, “There are still available garden plots. Plant one row for your use and a second for the deer.”

Merelyn Snider proudly shows off his rainwater collection system.

A garden plot planted and ready for the growing season.