solar water pump, solar irrigation, water butt pump, automatic irrigation. This is a simple guide to building your own rainwater harvesting and storing raised beds. Raised beds are widely acknowledged to provide great growing conditions for plants. They warm up quickly in the spring time, are perfectly drained and are easy to reach for weeding, cultivating and harvesting. Rainwater harvesting beds add a new dimension - they are built over a reservoir which collects the drainage from the bed and stores the rainwater until it is needed for plant growth when the weather is hot and dry. These raised beds will collect rainwater through the winter time and hold on to it into the summer. Then in conjunction with a WaterWand solar garden irrigation pump they re-apply the water to your plants roots exactly when and where they need it. Build your own raised bed frame Make your own rainwater harvesting underground reservoir The photograph below was taken in July 2008. All the beds have underground rainwater reservoirs which filled from February onwards with rainwater percolating through the raised beds. These crops were grown without any fertiliser or pesticides. Vegetables growing in rainwater harvesting and storing raised beds  Related articles How to build a self-watering bed with integral reservoir and rain-saver (for collecting roof water) The WaterWand solar powered garden irrigation pump The WaterWand 2009 vegetable garden diary |