Sunday 29 April 2012

Drought proofing or art installation?

I'm sure most of us tend to have good intentions to install water butts but if you're anything like us, there is always something better to do in the garden and something a bit more exciting to spend your money on. But there's no point in pretending to be green and recycling as much as you can if you don't save some rainwater as well.

The current drought and hosepipe bans further south gave us the impetus and we duly ordered six water butts from Yorkshire Water, not expecting to receive them very quickly as sales soar in a ban. The guttering was installed on the summerhouse roof and we awaited their arrival. Not surprisingly it took almost four weeks. They arrived on Thursday and the sun shone on Friday, for the first time in a long time. Installed on Saturday we now have a water butt farm which will hold 1200 litres. It's rained incessantly today and two of the butts were a quarter full at lunchtime.

We had one water butt by the house but nothing further down the garden and wanted to ensure that the fruit trees planted last year, the grapevines and the newly planted border didn't run short of water. I'm pleased with how they look and if we find them intrusive, we'll just plant another hedge.

Of course, you don't have to buy water butts - ask around and you may be able to pick up some plastic drums. These work just as well, you will have to purchase connectors and diverters but at a fraction of the cost.

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