Last year I installed a rain barrel for watering the garden and plants in and around the house.  We love it and it saves a lot of water!  The only challenge we had was generating enough pressure to get a good stream from it's location in the back to the garden in our side yard.  The valve being close to the ground was a bit of a hassle too.

My solution was to elevate it and I used an old pickle barrel that I picked up the farm supply store a couple years ago.  I added some 2 x 4's for reinforcement. 

It seems to work fairly well and we now have space inside the pickle barrel to store extra hose and attachments.

Note: I drilled holes in bottom of pickle barrel to allow drainage.

This is the rain barrel we use - very durable and we've been satisfied with it: Sterling 156501 Rain Wizard 50, Oak

I had written a post about learning to garden and why we were doing it.  Now that I'm midstream, I'm compelled to share some other benefits I've discovered.  Maybe some of these things will resonate with you and I care about promoting it because I believe the personal and economic benefits of people collectively practicing organic gardening is good for society.  There is an interconnectedness with growing food and health as well as environmental and economic impacts.  I recommend reading Michael Pollan for an extensive and insightful view into humanity's relationship with food.  I'm going write about why I like it on a personal level and maybe one of these will resonate with you and get you growing.
 

Stress Relief
Spending time in the garden is meditative.  Particularly after long stretches of working at a desk, a trip to the garden and mingling with the plants in the fresh air does the body and soul good.  It doesn't usually take long for me to forget all the clutter that piles up in the mind over the course of a day.

Science & Learning
I enjoy learning new things and we have two young, curious daughters that are ever interested in making new discoveries.  Together we've learned about plants, insects, animals, and the ecosystem.  Actively growing and observing a garden is a way better method of learning than simply making an intellectual exercise out of it.

Strategy Game
The original post I called Gardens and Generals and went into some examples of developing allies to combat enemies in the garden.  The strategy side, if that's how you want to look at it, is about manipulating the environment to produce maximum yield.  This includes controls for water, sunlight, soil, competition, and herbivore predators.  There are a lot of variables to consider and tweaking for optimal growth can be a challenge.  I tend to view this aspect as a game so not to get too frustrated when things don't go as expected.  Instead, I remind myself to check the variables, do some research if necessary, and apply a counter-measure.  Like any strategy game, the more engaged you are and the more you play, the better you get.  Parts of my garden are dismal but this line of thinking is why I don't give up; I know that I need more knowledge and practice and that I will be a successful player in due time.

Tinkering
I am a tinkerer; have been as far back as I can remember.  Putting in the garden gave me lots of fodder to satisfy the tinkerer in me.  Planning and digging, fencing, installing rain barrel and getting compost bin going was a start.  I'm thinking and experimenting with ways to automate irrigation when needed.  I'm also thinking about organized and space-efficient ways of storing seeds, garden tools, and next year's starter plants.  This is garden 1.0 so I'm sure there will be a lot tweaking and upgrades to systems as I go along, providing tinker material for years to come.

Health
This is an obvious one but still bears mentioning.  Aside from the healthy food growing in your yard, the exercise, fresh air, and sun that you get from tending it will leave you feeling pretty good.  Getting the garden area prepped this past spring was just what I needed to get out of the winter funk (or seasonal affective disorder for some).  During the growing stage there's not a whole lot of physical effort involved but I'm out walking the garden frequently to take a mental inventory of the state of things.  Depending on how you garden, there can be as little or as much labor as you want but either way I'm a believer that every little bit of being outside and moving around is good for human beings.

I'm sure that if you ask other gardeners why they enjoy doing it, this list would be dramatically expanded.  My perspectives may change over time but these reasons, in addition to being kinder to Mother Nature, are why I'll continue to garden into the foreseeable future.