Use Rain Gauges To Save Water

A rain gauge is a device you place in your garden to see how much rain has fallen on your landscape in a given period. There are simple rain catchers as well as wireless electronic versions.

They help you accurately determine how much rain has fallen on your property which will help you save water. If you followed my advice on how to water your lawn, you already know how much water your lawn needs. A rain gauge will tell you how much rain fall you had so you can adjust your watering cycle so you can subtract the amount of time necessary to account for natural rain fall.

You should empty your rain gauge every time you water your lawn or weekly, whichever comes first.
Below are some of the nicer rain gauges I have seen that also have free shipping:

One should be enough if you just want to measure rainfall, but if you're putting them in the path of your sprinklers one per zone would be better. If you have an area that gets less water, for instance under a group of trees, you might want a separate rain gauge there as well.

If you like to electronic toys and don't want to bend over regularly to check or empty rain gauges, there are electronic weather stations that will allow you to check how much rain you had. There's the Honeywell TC150 Wireless Rain Gauge but Oregon Scientific seems to be the leader in home weather stations and I'd probably go with them. I've had one of their weather stations in the past and was very happy with it. Unfortunately it was damaged during a move because it wasn't packed well.

I'm trying to be frugal but I do love toys so it's just a matter of time until I break down and buy a Oregon Scientific RGR126 Range Rain Gauge.