Grow Your Own Magazine

well, that's it - our hosepipe ban comes into force next week it seems.

any advice for me???
we've got one waterbutt at the moment, just kind of dumped, so I need to get that up and running.

b*gger, b*gger, b*gger, just as I am starting to get into the veggie thing!!
(sorry, appreicate that I'm not looking at it from a global perspective!)

Do you have an allotment or garden?? Would make a difference to some ideas.

As you have a kitchen garden I would fill the water butt up now with the hose pipe. I know that water will not last forever but each day I would fill up a bucket or two from the house and top the water butt up. Keep a cover on the butt to stop the water evaporating. The one in our garden is connected to the guttering on the greenhouse so it can collect the rain water. On the allotment we just leave them open to collect rain water. The last time we had a hose pipe ban we were still allowed to water the vegetables with a watering can.

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If you have the room and the readies, buy a second butt and link it to your existing one.

Mulch everything possible with a good deep mulch as this will help conserve moisture in the soil too.

If growing veg in pots or baskets, use water retaining gel or crystals.

If all else fails, move to the Highlands !
Rat

Have contacted Ecover...and awaiting advice... our daughter went to the Amazon last year researching'new' bird species etc etc and lived wild for 2 months....native ++++++ ( wonderful photos!!!) and nearly died so.... they were advised to take eco-friendly soap/shampoo etc and so I have asked this company about their soaps etc for pouring directly onto an allotment as the only source of water.......dishwasher/washing machine/bath/kitchen sink.... as I have excema I was cautious with their washing up liquid and have no problems at all.....(excuses...excuses!!!!!) Will post their reply!!!

Thank you for contacting Ecover.

Grey (waste) water is safe to use to water your plants and garden. However we recommend that if possible you allow the water to 'settle' for 2 - 3 days first.

During this time the process of biodegradation will have already started to happen, minimising further the impact to the environment.

If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind Regards




Emma Roberts

Care Line: 08451 302230

www.Ecover.com

If one of your New Year Resolutions is to become more ecological what could be more easy than to switch your household products to Ecover - it's as easy as starting with the washing up!


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I did say it was water for use on allotments, so I presume it would be OK on crops. Had thought people could catch their dishwasher/sink/washing machine/bath water if using their (or similar biodegradeable) product by using a device attatched to the drainpipe/outlet pipes. Hope this is helpful

You're now getting water meters according to the news. Some mad puppy said "We should tap into the resevoirs in the North, that will help the situation". Until someone pointed out that the pipework to do that has yet to be invented and it would cost millions. So, come friends of the North, send water parcels to our brethren in the South. They need to reassess how they collect water, instead of putting the blame on someone else. Think of all those roof in suburbia and across the South, why don't they collect water off them to use in households?

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

I've got the answer!

We all move up north or to Wales!

That would do wonders for our house prices!

I use bath water to water the houseplants and have been doing this for years with no bother at all. I occassionally use the same water to water the garden, but only when I can be bothered to carry buckets down the stairs to fill the water butt up. I use e-cover products as well as natural soaps and shampoos and toothpastes, so think it's ok.

There wouldn't be a hosepipe ban if people didn't waste so much water every day. It's amazing how much the average household go through, because they don't think. My biggest annoyance is when people let the tap run whilst they're brushing their teeth - it's wastes litres and litres! I have no idea why people do it...guests in our house get a lecture about it and soon change their ways...

My oh my I sound really millitant!

I guess I am when it comes to waste....sorry!

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Don't forget though that alot of the extra housing that has been built down south has been done on flood plains and areas where rain water was naturally collected. Extra housing means thousands of extra families using the dwindling water supplies. Installing water meters in houses is not going to increase the water supply - people will save a bit. What is needed are new reservoirs and government funded schemes to enable households to recycle their own water without it costing them any money.

Lesley now steps down from her soap box.

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I agree - recycling is the key issue here! and government funded schemes that help people help themselves!

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eskymo - are you happy eating veg which has had this water poured over it? I think I would as it's a biodegradeable soap.
Can anyone recommend a particular product they use or know about which is attatched to the drainpipe to divert rainwater or bathwater into a butt? For xmas our kids bought us a water carrier from a caravan centre which is like a barrel and pulled along by a handle.The heavy bit is lifting it into and out of the car. It's called an aquaroll and holds 40 litres.Am looking forward to using it as our greenhouse is at the far end of the allotment.

Nicos
Not sure about the bath or sink waste water diverter as in most houses this runs into the same downpipe as the toilets so you couldn't use it anyway -kitchens may be okay though, so long as you are, as you say, using biodegradable soaps and detergents. Recently whilst surfing for a holiday lodge for my forthcoming honeymoon, I came across a 5 star resort of 18 lodges which do not allow guests bring their own soap / shampoo / washing powder - they supply it all as they insist on phosphate free . Maybe more resorts / hotels should do this.
Anyway, back to your question - there is a device that i bought when I got my water butt for diverting rainwater from the downpipe into the butt. It requires you to cut the downpipe and slot this into place on the end of the pipe. When the water butt is full, the excess rainfall comes down the original pipe and flows right through the device. Can't remember the name of the device but it cost just over a fiver and should be readily available from a local GC - especially if they sell the butts. Hope this helps
Rat

A hosepipe would allow you to siphon water from an upper floor to a water container in the garden. Once you have started the water moving from the bath to the garden gravity will do all the rest. People used to siphon fuel out of their petrol tank years ago. I can’t imagine bath water being nastier than that.
Jax

Not sure I've got a hosepipe that long as the garden is quite a distance from the house. I was thinking of getting another water butt closer to the house, but need to negotiate that with the neighbour as it would be sitting just outside his window - I was thinking of putting a water butt on wheels, but then I couldn't move it up to the garden as there are three steps to get up and a lawn to cross...it'd be a bit of a nightmare - so I thinks it's buckets for me!

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mmm, read with interest. right, got to get the butts sorted, which should be easy enough - I can put one by the garage to tap into any rainfall, and I'll put an open one in the kitchen garden
in terms of the garden itself (flowers/shrubs), I usually just water 'new' things during their first season, after which I reckon they should be established enough to cope, and if they're not then they're probably not for me!!

as for housing on flood plains - tell me about it!!! Ashford (15 miles away) is expected to have something like 100,000 new houses under Prescott's masterplan (read SNAFU!) - where are they going to get their water from? not to mention the fact that the hospital cant cope at the moment, the schools are already over-subscribed - yet they want to put up more rabbit hutches. lunacy.
*gets down from soap box*

We have a problem here where we live but not a water problem, its the power supply, its a small town that been here for years & over the last 10yrs or so they have built a housing estate that totals more houses than what was already here but no one thought about having enough power supply! the result, Lights dim when you put something high powered on (microwave) & during ad breaks of any popular tv programme, we don't watch coronation street but we know when the adverts are on!!!!!!!!!

Building houses on water/flood plains is indicative of this government's short fall policies. They are doing it in the North as well as the South, creating long term problems for short term gain - the big housing companies care little about the environment, the average house they build cost roughly 10-20K, which they then sell for 250K - working wages. This is a disgusting profit in the name of progress. The answer by a certain company is our area, who is building on a flood plain (250 houses, raising the village population by 20%) was to raise the doors, can you believe that? The water that floods there normally is around 4' deep, but they raised the doors by 18" and it got through!

You can repipe your baths out into the garden, just disconnect them from the soil pipe and/or put a two way tap in the bathroom to funnel either down the greenwater shoot (recycled into your garden) or down the soil. You can now get some great gizmos for you drainpipes too, that divert into the butts.

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

any web sites for these??

Nicos
Try the following
www.greengardenshop.co.uk
www.ferndale-lodge.co.uk
www.twowests.co.uk
Alternatively google "water butts" and spend hours wading through the results
Rat

Thanks!! Is that how you spent your day off????

Nicos
I know these sites of old. I spent my day off getting scalped by an septugenarian barber, buying seed tatties for me , a sledge for my daughter , and then sledging for the rest of the afternoon.
Rat

I take it you've had a light sprinkling of snow then Rat

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

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