We got our water butts free on local Facebook groups or marketplace. You’re right though, they don’t store a lot. Our outside tap is somehow unmetered so i mostly use that anyway. The water butts ran out weeks ago. No hosepipe bans here (north west).
Comment on Water companies in England and Wales explore ‘surge pricing’ during drought
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
Wouldn’t mind if we got cheaper non surge rates tbh. Looking at my garden or allotment and hosepipe bans I was thinking what if I was to store up water in an IBC tank before a drought.
So far I haven’t really done anything to reduce water usage, it just doesn’t seem worth the cost. Underground rainwater tank, even if I dig the hole for it myself, would require filling and emptying 1000s of times to pay for its self compared to just using a hose pipe. Or if there is a pipe ban, filling a wheelbarrow a few times.
Garden came with water butts so I do use those. But looking at how little they hold for their price I can’t see how it is worth it. Even the large ones hold less than £1 worth of water. Plus a house uses as that much water each day normally anyway?
Grey water collection could be interesting. I have loads of grey water waste during drought that could potentially be useful. Can that safely be dumped straight onto the garden though? Most things I find suggest not to, shame as it would be fairly easy. Even just plonk a gutter under the pipe exist points from the house and direct it to the garden.
Buckshot@programming.dev 2 days ago
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
Yeah there are no hose pipe bans where I live too, although I am somewhat aware of trying not to use it excessively too.
My garden the grass can die and will come back when it rains so that gets nothing normally. In plant beds its all drought tolerant stuff like rosemary, its doing OK though I am giving them a little water once or twice a month.
Saving the water butts for plant pots and newly planted cuttings. For that they seem to be lasting OK. We are expecting rain this week at least. I suspect things like rosemary would have grown a lot more if I watered them more, but they will survive just fine without too.
Grey water collecting feels like a more sensible option to look into. Most households use over 100L of water a day, only the toilet being water you don’t want to reuse could give you a small water butt per day in water. If I do I hope it can be a DIY project.
Denjin@feddit.uk 3 days ago
As long as you’re not using antibacterial agents, bleach or things with parabens and phosphate you’ll mostly be fine.
Its pretty minor to switch to “biodegradable” soaps if you don’t use them already and then you can just dump your bathwater straight onto the garden no problem.
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
I had always heard you shouldn’t eat stuff watered with grey water
Denjin@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Looked at a few sites talking about using bathwater on the garden and as long as you’re watering the roots and not edible leaves directly it’s perfectly fine. You also want to use the water immediately rather than storing it.
gardeningbeyond.com/can-i-water-my-garden-with-ba…
gardenadvice.co.uk/…/bath-water-for-watering-my-g…
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
Ahh right, that makes sense. For my garden it would be bay, sage and rosemary.
Immediate use could actually be achieved by piping it straight to the grass next to the garden beds and let the roots get it through the soil. Probably through a filter somewhere along the line.