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RainWater Harvesting
isse watus
Posts: 1
Does anyone have a rainwater harvesting butt in their garden? If so, do you find that it supplies all of your garden's water needs throughout the year? Was it easy to install?
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Pretty easy to install unless you have a metal drainpipe. We have 5 and they don't even begin to supply our gardens needs. I'd still recommend everyone has as many as possible. Our water is metered so also good for the bank balance. If you have or plan to have a pond, it is better to use rainwater.
I have 2 at either side of my greenhouse and if I had the room I would have more. They will not supply all my garden's needs throughout the year but they are extremely useful for the greenhouse and my indoor plants which prefer rain water rather than tap water. I store water from the butts in old squash bottles indoors so that the water reaches ambient temperature and my indoor plants don't suffer from shock. They are very easy to install at the ends of the greenhouse and also can be used for catching rain from gutters through water downspouts . If - like me - you are on a water meter then thats yet another plus point.
Evergreener.com usually have good deals. I have 4 for a small garden. Even if you just start with one or 2 it will help. In dry spells the 2 in the back garden run out. I'm usually ok out front. It's very useful for my pond and my ericaceous plants. They seemed pretty simple to install--but I have to say my husband did the installation. Some councils will subsidize the cost. Check with yours or check on evergreener.com. I've not had a problem with mine smelling or anything.
Check with your local council and water supplier. Many offer good deals on butts.
I have 2 butts with a connection between them and the overflow going into the pond.
I use the rainwater for my toms and anything special as you can use more fertiliser with rainwater than with the hard tap water we have here.
My main gripe with all water butts is the 2 minute wait for a 2 gall watering can to fill up - why don't they put big-bore taps on?
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Two watering cans used here - one filling while other being emptied. Simples
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I do have a water butt but its never enough.. I have 2 plastic dustbins too and its still not enough. It is just enough to get my precious seedlings on the go.. I put out collecting devices when I can and every drop is precious..
Last edited: 23 June 2016 00:41:39
Yup we also have two water butts, one connected to the greenhouse in the back garden and one collects water from the drainpipe in the front garden! NO WHERE NEAR ENOUGH!!! (But then our garden is a fair old size!)
We have had a 350 gall Aqua Barrel at the higher point of the garden for 10 years now. We pump rainwater to it from a large water butt by the house using a £15 pump from Lidl (which has been in use for more 5 years and still going strong). Gravity feed fills the watering cans lower down the garden by the veg patch (there isn't that much of a slope, but enough). The neat trick is to empty one can before the next is full but it doesn't always work, so a third can is handy! I've also got butts at the greenhouse and shed and two more downpipes on the house. The aqua barrel has been well worth the money. It's hidden by variegated ivy climbing through netting which I wrapped round the barrel. I collect the cold water at the kitchen sink before hot comes through in a 6 pint milk bottle for use in the garden too. If needs be, I have a flexible joint on the outside waste pipe so I can divert the washing machine rinse water into a big tub. Gardening on light sandy soil means every drop of H2O is precious.....
Whenever I water pots from my water butt after a while the top of the compost turns green with algie why is this?
Yes, we have rain butts - 5 of them around house and outhouses. Recommend - definitely - in the driest of the summer months they are not enough to water all our garden, but go pretty close to supplying it all. That includes a large veg. patch, trees, flower beds, 30 + patio pots and topping up a small pond.
Good luck.