Rainwater collection for my garden – barrel size question

[odessawannell]

I've been trying to set up a decent rainwater harvesting system for my vegetable patch over in Al Ain, but I keep going back and forth on what size container actually makes sense without taking up half my yard. I started with a couple of small 50-liter bins and they filled up way too fast after one decent shower, so now I'm thinking bigger but I don't want to go overboard and end up with stagnant water sitting around for weeks. I came across this open-top drum that looks like it could hold a pretty good amount, and the 120 litres drum seems like a sweet spot that wouldn't be impossible to move around if I need to reposition it later. My main concern is whether the lid design keeps out mosquitoes and debris properly, because we get those tiny little flies that breed in standing water and I really don't want to deal with that headache. Also, has anyone tried connecting two of these together with some piping to increase capacity? I'm no plumber but I figure if I get one working well, I could always add another down the line. Would love to hear from anyone who's actually using these for their garden setup.

[uncommonguy]

Setting up a rainwater harvesting system for a vegetable garden in a climate like Al Ain is a smart way to manage irrigation, but finding that sweet spot for tank capacity can definitely be tricky. Moving up from small 50-liter bins makes total sense since heavy downpours fill them almost instantly, but balancing capacity so you avoid storing water for too long—which can lead to stagnation—requires looking closely at your average rainfall and garden watering frequency.

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What size storage container or tank capacity did you end up considering to properly match your vegetable patch's watering needs?