[Trikidiki]

We ar e very lucky, we have four mains fed water tanks for when the water butts run out. I feel sorry for those of you with no tanks - speak to your councils as they should provide them, even a small increase in rent would be worth it.

Unfortunately ours are private allotments. The landowner agreed to extend a pipe from his nearest trough on the agreement of no hoses and everyone on the site would share the cost of installation and the water costs. A couple of the old guys didn't want to pay so it was a non starter. As it turns out I'm happy with my hoses from home which should be cheaper in the long run nd I can use a hose.

[Yorkie]

We ar e very lucky, we have four mains fed water tanks for when the water butts run out. I feel sorry for those of you with no tanks - speak to your councils as they should provide them, even a small increase in rent would be worth it.

Always worth speaking to councils but a) many councils are in fact withdrawing publically provided water butts because of H&S; and b) there is no obligation on councils to provide anything such as water supply etc.  And in the new austerity climate, I suspect that provision of extra things like water tanks will not be high on a council's priority list.

[Antonius]

I am amazed that there are so many allotments without running water Watering is a chore at the best of times,but to have no tap on site and having to bring water to plots from home is ridiculous. What are people paying rent for on these sites if it is not to have running water?

[mobilekat]

Good luck to you all with you water lugging- whilst I complain about only having a hilly garden, it makes me realise how lucky I am to have a hose and no water meter!

Simple way of working out the weight of a full container- 1 litre of water is 1Kg (2.2lbs in old money!)

Hope the weather could provide us with a few wet nights to help everyone!

[kari]

I am finding it really hard to get the water up to the allotment every night, its too hot to be lugging barrow fulls of waterbottles

I find myself logging onto the met office site many times each day, hoping to see some rain on the way.

Our plots were donated to the church via a covenant, so there is no one to contact to ask for water provisions, but the upside is that the rent is only £8 a year & my plot is lovely & big.

Its looking like some water companies are considering hosepipe bans already, so maybe its best that I get used to lugging water, plus am developing some fantastic muscles 

[Antonius]

our allotment houses 90 plots and we each pay £40 per year. For that we have 12 watering points and these are taps with 20 gallon barrels sunk into the ground under the taps. We cannot use hosepipes apart from filling our own water butts,we must use watering cans to water our plants. This,on the whole,works well although we do get the odd idiot who tries to mess up the rules....usually the older guys who moan about not being able to use hosepipes to water plants. I shall point out this fabulous site to these guys because from what I'm reading we are very lucky,very lucky indeed.

[Christo]

I take a 35 litre jerry can every time I go to the allotment and fill up the water bins. I'm using more than I can carry at the moment though. I'm trying to get hold of an Aquaroll. My parents used to have one for the caravan.

[Lulu]

My allotment is water from a run off from  the Oxford Union Canal.  I have to sieve it to prevent killing all sorts of wildlife and to stop bunging up the watering cans.  I actually had a leech in my bucket the other day - never seen one of those before in the 'wild' so to speak.  From the bucket I fill the watering cans and lug them around the allotment.  Took me 1hour 15 mins the other day.  Some of the other allotmentters actually go to the canal to get water which is quite a hike.  The run of is actually at the bottom of my allotment thank goodness!!
Tell you what though - getting some good arm muscles - who needs the Gym!   There is a saving grace - Clay soil.  Never thought I would be grateful for Clay soil. .

[mumofstig]

While hoeing this evening I had the hose filling up my 2 water buts, I think I had better keep them full from now on in case they turn off the mains supply

[izzy]

we have tanks provided and are in the process of putting in taps on our own plots

[Togalosh]

I am finding it really hard to get the water up to the allotment every night, its too hot to be lugging barrow fulls of waterbottles

I find myself logging onto the met office site many times each day, hoping to see some rain on the way.

Our plots were donated to the church via a covenant, so there is no one to contact to ask for water provisions, but the upside is that the rent is only £8 a year & my plot is lovely & big.

Its looking like some water companies are considering hosepipe bans already, so maybe its best that I get used to lugging water, plus am developing some fantastic muscles 

You really do have my sympathy .. I'll never moan about lugging my hosepipe all of 30 meters to an unlimited volume of tap water straight from the Welsh hills.

Is there really no plan that can be made? Where is the nearest mains water supply? would they not help you out if you did all the donkey work- you'd have to be a really horrible person not to help you out. Running an extention is so easy & the parts are cheap (eg 50m of plastic pipe is £30).

Failing this I'd get a 100lr IBC on a trailer or if you live nearby & don't have a car I'd go all Scrapheap Challenge & put some wheelchair motors under it.

Growing my own has really made me see what volumes it takes to run just a small plot ..and how really tough they have it in places like Africa...then to think I flush my loo with drinking water...

[Steve.B]

We are lucky to have a tank at the end of our plot which we share with our neighboring plot holder, we each leave a half tank full just incase the other comes down to water.
The plot holders below us has 9 wheelie bins full of mains water, we are not allowed to take water from the tank to fill our whellie bins but that does not stop some! Our tank will only fill if the tank below us is full and not filling as we are last on the line. These lovely people will take water from the tank before they touch the bins..... leaving us two with half a tank each!!
I would love to fit a hose to the tank to my bins with a float switch so they would fill over night and stop when full. Wishful thinking.

[flitwickone]

ouch some of you have it real bad at the end of our lotties the river flit runs so ita 100 metre walk an then i tie a rope to the watering can and throw it in and we do it in relays

so in some ways we are blessed as for those who guzzle the water above all others i hope your veg wilt  

i think thunderstorms are on there way to me cos one of my labradors  is sitting in my office