[Growster...]

I bet that was fun    So, did you manage to extract any water then ? 

I could have done CQ, but the water had turned a bit murky with my dam-construction, and was taking some time to clear, so I didn't get any, but will next time.

Mrs Growster has said she will come down with the loppers, and make more headroom soon, so we'll have our own 'private' stream!

Of course, we'll only charge a minimal turnpike rent to anyone else...;0)

[compostqueen]

that sounds lovely 

[Growster...]

that sounds lovely 

I may have to alter the wheelbarrow we use down there CQ, because the wheel is bent and goes along with a 'thunk', every turn...

But at least we'll be able to get 5 gals at a time, which should see us through!

[gavinjconway]

I have a 200 lt water butt which collects water from one 2' roof strip of the greenhouse and a 1000lt IBC tank which collects water from the shed, large upright cold frame and the rest of the greenhouse. I calculated that for every 10 mm of rain I can collect 85 lt. so I only need about 140 mm of rain to fill everything.. thats only 5.5 inches so not too much needed to fill up from scratch. I have had the IBC half full but needed to move it so emptied it - now its got about 100lt in. Today it will get more from our spot of rain we are having. 

Here is the installation..

[Growster...]

Those IBCs are pretty good aren't they Gavin. I like your set up there - very neat that!

I share an IBC with the chap next door, and we have a piece of profiled tin to funnel it all in. There is about 25sf of area to drain into a gutter straight from Heath Robinson's book, but it works!

It really will be a fight this year, as we lost so much in the dry spring last year!

[angelavdavis]

Dead jealous of the bowser setup.  I have been trying to get hold of one for ages - the only ones I have managed to find are on ebay and too expensive for my pocket.

We have a standard (patched up with silicone) water butt on the shed at the allotment and I have just managed to get hold of a blue storage container through freecycle which I plan to set up on the greenhouse.  I also got some guttering, but no clips, so am trying to work out how to fix guttering to the greenhouse without parting with £6 for four clips and two end caps (the gh is an old aluminium freebie without guttering).  Not worth using tin or similar as scrap metal is nicked on our allotment (a neighbour had an old bit of lead in their water butt used to weigh down the lid and someone nicked it - who goes poking around inside water butts!!)

I do have some old corrigated plastic sheeting knocking around and an old brewing bucket that I am thinking of rigging up on the compost heaps too.  Maybe this is a project for this coming week - surely it will rain at Easter? I thought it was a bank holiday rule!!!

My hubby's grandparents had allotments at Motspur park next to the river hogsmill and they used to have to bend down in the water and collect their water from there - almost certainly banned since privatising water!  We have a tap and my plot is closest but we have never used a hosepipe even to fill our water butt, once the plants establish, we only water once a week if its dry and use lots of mulching.

[grendel]

just did a panic run (initiated by the wife) down to b&q 3 slimline waterbutts, and since they hadnt any joining kits, some cheap hose joiners looked like they would fit the bill, so since 6pm a plinth has been raised tio stand them on, 3 butts have been joined, and 'tested' before the hosepipe ban comes into force. the downpipe from the conservatory shortened to point into the butts. now at least we have 300 litres of water storage for the garden (veg seedlings and veg in tubs).
Grendel

[Growster...]

Angela, 'Blackbrooks GC' just outside Sedlescombe used to sell plastic containers for a few pounds apiece. They were originally used for fruit pulp, and the one I bought in 1987 is still working well...

I haven't been there for a while, but it may be worth a peek!

[Growster...]

just did a panic run (initiated by the wife) down to b&q 3 slimline waterbutts, and since they hadnt any joining kits, some cheap hose joiners looked like they would fit the bill, so since 6pm a plinth has been raised tio stand them on, 3 butts have been joined, and 'tested' before the hosepipe ban comes into force. the downpipe from the conservatory shortened to point into the butts. now at least we have 300 litres of water storage for the garden (veg seedlings and veg in tubs).
Grendel

Man after my own heart Grendel!

After all the rain today, I reckon we needn't worry until about June...;0)

[Growster...]

Actually, to grow my own post - apols - I'me getting a bit fed up with hearing each day that it rains, that 'it won't make any difference to the reservoirs'...

Of course it damn well does! We don't use watering cans, there's no need to flood the patch, the streams get fuller, the rivers grow as well, and there's always a bit which actually falls on the places themselves!

The media reporting is so negative on these occasions, and they should just realise that their case is pretty thin! I never take much notice of the reports anyway...

I'm also glad it's not like last year, when we lost lots of crops because there was absolutely no rain for weeks.

[Madame Cholet]

I got 2 1000L  ibc's off ebay for £50.00 in dec I have about 1,400l off the shed roof since then. I have found the bottle rain water well at home in my Victoian garden which now gives me water via a pond pump through a repro cast iron pump. I've got so mean-skint I carry it to the cistern in a can to flush the loo.

The ibc's were from milton keynes if it helps any one they have a regular supply the guy told us he donates the money to chartiy.

I agrre with Growster also what about the amount of water the farmers don't need to use if it rains

[angelavdavis]

Angela, 'Blackbrooks GC' just outside Sedlescombe used to sell plastic containers for a few pounds apiece. They were originally used for fruit pulp, and the one I bought in 1987 is still working well...

I haven't been there for a while, but it may be worth a peek!

Thanks Growster, just spotted your suggestion - will give it a try!  There has been one languishing at the public tip off Bexhill Road for months and I keep offering to take it off their hands, but they aren't parting with it! 

Am I the only person who ends up helping themselves to items in the landfill section and ends up with a full car when they leave the tip?!?  It never ceases to amaze me what people throw away!  I picked up 30 plastic saucers for 12in pots the other day - all clean and new - just dumped!

My husband is always so embarrassed by me!

[Dopey113]

Its surprising how little water you use from a butt, i have a 50 gal one and when i water it seems like i use hardly any at all, i have a hoselock fitting on the tap, i plug the hose on to it turn the tap on and the hose is then gravity fed, OK its not a gush, but you can water the plant at the bottom on the stem, so it will drain directly in to the roots, instead of spraying everything (including weeds) even if the hose pipe end, i think i will keep using this system, after all rain water is a lot better than hard London water

[grendel]

well so far today, the old spare wheelie bin is 3" deeper than before, roughly calculated at 250l that beings us up to probably about 600 l capacity in the back garden.
Grendel

[GrannieAnnie]

We've got an IBC tank and 2 x 200lt green water butts.  I've also brought into play the smaller blue butt that Joyfull gave me, and lots of buckets.  The buckets do collect a little water in each, but each time it rains and water collects in the wheelbarrow, Brian empties the wheelbarrow into a bucket for me.

I've also got a collection of around 12 (at the moment) 5ltr plastic containers that had things like vinegar in them, which I keep filled up in the little greenhouse.

So doing quite nicely at the moment!