I'm new and in need!

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Jo

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I'm new and in need!
« on: February 19, 2007, 13:58 »
Hello everyone!  :D

My hubby and I acquired a bramble patch last autumn and we have been busy clearing, digging and planning. We very nearly have a brambleless plot now! We don't have much veggy growing experience, just lots of enthusiasm ... so we are relying on books, watching and interrogating fellow allotmentees and reading sites like this one!

Anyway, the problem we have at the moment is no water on the site, only one servicable butt, and no money! Any ideas?

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muntjac

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« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2007, 14:41 »
get more butts / barrels ... old oil barrels will suffice  make a lid from cheap ply  carry a few milk bottles full every time you go down the site .or the 5 gallon containers you can buy at camping stores £6 ish . :wink:  has anybody else got water layed on ask if you can share n pay towards ? get a shed up with guttering also a greenhouse .run it to barrels , hope that helps  :wink:


oh and welcome to the gang  :lol:
still alive /............

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Celtic Eagle

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« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2007, 15:51 »
When you have some barrels put 'em close together and build a sideless shed over 'em put guttering on like a real shed to catch the water off the roof.  Someone told me the car valeting places get soap in big plastic barrels might be worth an ask also keep an eye on freecycle
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WG.

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Re: I'm new and in need!
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2007, 15:59 »
Quote from: "Jo"
the problem we have at the moment is no water on the site


A further measure you could take is to increase the organic matter in the soil as much as you possibly can.  This will greatly increase the amount of rainfall held within the soil.

Animal manure, green manure, compost, leaf mould, grass mulch, straw mulch; all help in the long term.  Mushroom compost is good if you aren't organically inclined.

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Jo

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I'm new and in need!
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2007, 17:22 »
Blimey! Thanks everyone for your quick replies!!!

Thanks Muntjac for your 'oil barrels' suggestion. Where could I get them from? We have got directional guttering on our shed, just nowhere to direct it too! Cheap ply lids is an inspired idea!

And thanks Celtic Eagle for your car valeting barrels idea. They could be just the job, and we've got a big valeting place just down from us. I'll go and flutter my eyelashes at em! I shall also look at freecycle! (sometimes the obvious escapes me!)

Thanks too, whisky-golf. We are working on our compost! It's a bit 'new' at the moment! I've had contradictory information about leaf litter - some folks say it takes too long to rot down, don't add it to your compost, and others say it's fantastic ... add loads. What do you say? I've also heard it is good practise to put old tea bags into your runner bean holes prior to planting - presumably for the moisture retention reason?!

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WG.

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« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2007, 17:30 »
Quote from: "Jo"
leaf litter  

Keep it separate from the compost heap, Jo.   You can use a ring of chicken wire to keep it all together.

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John

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« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2007, 17:33 »
I'd say stack your leaves separate to your compost and just leave them to turn into lovely leafmould.

I always compost my teabags and they rot down well. You can line your bean trench with newspaper to help hold in moisture, btw.
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ytyynycefn

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« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2007, 19:00 »
Welome to the loony bin, Jo!

I've got no water on my plot either, and had a lovely time last summer lugging watering cans the couple of hundred yards from my house.  :x

So.... I sold some old dodo on eBay, and bought a couple of those 1000 litre IBC containers for £35 each (some money, I know, but I bin dived some dodo out of skips and sold it to raise the cash).  One is at the back of my shed, collecting rain from the gutters, and the other is on the road side of my plot, at a slightly lower level.  The two are connected with hosepipe (out of the school bins!), so the lower one acts as an overflow, hopefully draining into the lane rather than down the back of my shed. The shed one is virtually invisible, as it's covered with some of that hazel twig screening that someone gave me - I'm looking out for some more for the other one, but I've only just got that second one.  The beauty of these is, as they hold so much water, there's a good head of pressure (when they're full!), so I can use a hosepipe for watering.  I'm also planning on running a spur into the greenhouse for a gravity fed watering system.  Lots of people use baths to catch water too round here.  Hope this helps!


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Gwiz

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« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2007, 19:20 »
owsabout chatting up a few local plumbers? they might be able to supply old household hotwater/coldwater tanks that could be patched up with a bit of fibreglass
yer never know, you might get them for FREE!
( oh, i love that word) :D

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Trillium

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I'm new and in need!
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2007, 19:54 »
I've read on other forums where lotty owners use 'retired' wheely bins as butts. If the wheels still work on one you can lay hands to, then until your butts fill, you could wheel a part load back and forth from your place.  :wink:

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fluffypebble

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« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2007, 20:36 »
Gwiz - you are a genius, I too have a plot wwith no water and thought I would have to fork out for a water butt (we have to pay here). My dad is a plumber - semi retired but still does the odd job and I never thought of a water tank.  Will be calling him to get him on the lookout.
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Jo

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« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2007, 13:31 »
THANKS EVERYONE for your fantastic responses! I feel all loved now ... buttless, but loved! But (ha!) I know it will come!

Terrific plot you got there ytyynycefn (which means? is pronounced?). I think ours is some way away from being so ingeniuously irrigated! Good idea about the big tanks though. Did you get yours delivered? I had a look on ebay and it's a fortune to get them delivered! I don't think they'd fit on my bike very well!

A neighbour allotmentee has a bath on his plot (not literally you understand). It does seem to take up a lot of space.

Wheely bins are a definite possibility, especially as I walk past the 'Sulo' offices on my way to work. Maybe a little enquiry in there ...

And if I can flutter my eyelashes at valetters, I can flutter them at plumbers (I ain't proud!).:wink:

Right, I'm off to follow up all my leads!

Cheers all!

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ytyynycefn

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« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2007, 15:02 »
Quote from: "Jo"
Terrific plot you got there ytyynycefn (which means? is pronounced?). I think ours is some way away from being so ingeniuously irrigated! Good idea about the big tanks though. Did you get yours delivered? I had a look on ebay and it's a fortune to get them delivered! I don't think they'd fit on my bike very well!


Thanks, Jo, I'm pretty proud of it myself, considering it was still wilderness last March  :shock:   The name is the name of my house, and is Welsh for "The House at the Back" - sounds like "a tea an' a coffee" with kevn instead of coffee.

The IBC tanks were from a bloke locally who sells them for £35 delivered to my gate - and he helped put them in place too.  I found his number in our local Ad Trader free-ads paper in either the gardening or building section.  Just as well, they wouldn't fit on the back of my bike either  :tongue2: So that might be worth a look.  I got the hosepipe attachments for the containers off ebay.

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noshed

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« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2007, 16:55 »
The council gave us old wheely bins for nothing. Mine holds 240 litres. Also in Bob Flowerdew's No Work Garden book he shows how he's got his butts all linked together in a siphon system. This look very attractive as an idea. I'm going to try it when I've dealt with some other pressing matters. The 99p shop sells hosepipe.
Our site has water but my plot is at the end so often there is not enough pressure to fill up the tank. This results in much grumpiness, especially if other people come and get water from our tank. So butts are a boon. I've got one on my shed and I had one on my greenhouse until recently...
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Plot No 2

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« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2007, 22:19 »
The other day i went nosing around another allotment site and saw a brilliant idea. One of the plot holder have stacked two IBCs on top of each other and then build a pitch roof with cuttering on top of the IBCs. Looked very neat and tidy. Any rain and water flows into the tanks. Imagine mounting some hanging buckets on there as well for those hanging tomatoes.

Going to take a picture and post it. A picture tells the story so much better.


 

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