Hello, I grow some stuff via hydroponics on my patio but for
my larger vegetables that will be grown outside I am working on setting up an
automated method of watering my garden for up to a week at a time without
maintenance. I have a 55-gallon rain barrel with a spigot that I want to have
flow into a 5-gallon bucket which will house my submersible water pump which
will be turned by a digital outlet timer.

The thing I can’t quite figure out is how to have the water
flow from the 55 gallon barrel into the 5 gallon bucket without overflowing,
due to the power cord for the water pump I would have to make about a 1 inch hole at
the top of the 5 gallon bucket.

Thanks in advance.