I put in a couple of raised beds this year for our vegetable garden and what better way to irrigate a garden than a rain barrel or rain water catchment system. Rather than putting in a single rain barrel off the side of our house, I thought I needed more water for the garden and chose to put in a system of rain barrels that would provide all the water my garden needs. I did some research online and found that the best bet for my system was to capture the rain water off of my shop metal roof and use that for irrigation. There is an on-going debate as to the "cleanliness" of rain water gathered off asphalt shingle roofs versus a metal roof. So in the off-chance that I decide to put in an ultra-violet light and filter system to make the rain water potable (drinkable) I decided to capture water off of my shop roof (metal) and put it to work in my garden. This also hides the rain barrels behind my shop. I bought 4 - 55 gallon drums from hogeye rentals for $13 each. They are food grade 55 gallon drums that I washed out with water and a mild bleach solution. Then I put in guttering on the back of my shop. Thanks Glen! I needed help putting up the gutters and Glen volunteered. Then I built a 4 ft. platform for the barrels. My father-in-law came for a visit while I was building the platform and was recruited to help. Thanks Bill! I figured based on my research that water builds 1.5 PSI per foot of elevation, so with 7 feet of elevation I should have about 10.5 PSI with full barrels which should push the water where I needed. This worked well for short distances, but my garden was about 150 feet away from the rain water catchment system, so realized I needed more than 10.5 psi. I picked up a small DC powered water pump at Harbor Freight tools. Then I bought a small lawn tractor battery, DC switch, battery box, and solar battery trickle charger at wally world. 
I wired them all together so I would have a water pump to push water out to my garden and viola! It worked! Now I have plenty of pressure to water my garden. The battery is topped off every day by the trickle charger so it rarely needs attention. I use the rain water system to water my 2 raised beds and herb planters everyday and water the fruit trees, and our plants on our front porch once a week. So far this year, I have had to water the garden from the house 3 days when we had a week or more of drought. The system has a "first-flush diverter" as part of the water catchment system. The first few gallons of water from the roof that washes the all of the gunk off the roof is stored in a 3" standpipe in the system, then slowly drains while the rest of the water is diverted to the 4 - 55 gallon storage tanks. The tanks are plumbed together at the bottom of each tank and combines at a single spigot. I've put screen at the top of the bung holes of the tanks to equalize pressure among the tanks and prevent mosquito infestation. The water has been adequate this year, but next year I'm planning on expanding the planting beds and will add to the system. This system cost a couple of hundred dollars for the guttering, barrels, platform, PVC piping and pump system.
I wired them all together so I would have a water pump to push water out to my garden and viola! It worked! Now I have plenty of pressure to water my garden. The battery is topped off every day by the trickle charger so it rarely needs attention. I use the rain water system to water my 2 raised beds and herb planters everyday and water the fruit trees, and our plants on our front porch once a week. So far this year, I have had to water the garden from the house 3 days when we had a week or more of drought. The system has a "first-flush diverter" as part of the water catchment system. The first few gallons of water from the roof that washes the all of the gunk off the roof is stored in a 3" standpipe in the system, then slowly drains while the rest of the water is diverted to the 4 - 55 gallon storage tanks. The tanks are plumbed together at the bottom of each tank and combines at a single spigot. I've put screen at the top of the bung holes of the tanks to equalize pressure among the tanks and prevent mosquito infestation. The water has been adequate this year, but next year I'm planning on expanding the planting beds and will add to the system. This system cost a couple of hundred dollars for the guttering, barrels, platform, PVC piping and pump system. Here are a few links if you are thinking about rain barrels of your own:
http://home.comcast.net/~leavesdance/rainbarrels/myproject.html - rain barrel project
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/audrey/water_barrel.htm - a larger rain barrel project
http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf - The Texas rainwater development board PDF on rainwater harvesting
http://www.hogeye.biz/ - Hogeye Rentals
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