Posts Tagged ‘water butt’

My new dustbin, er, rainwater overflow container

On Saturday I went into town and bought a black dustbin (price: £12.99). I cut a hole in the lid. After transferring about a foot of water from the water butt to the dustbin, I was able to cut another hole in the side of the water butt, about six inches below the top. Then I connected the water butt and the dustbin with a length of hose pipe. Hey presto – massive transfer of rainwater from the former to the latter. I realised that there was a bit of leakage at the water butt end of the hose pipe, so I plugged it with an old plastic bag. Being able to fill my watering can by scooping water from the dustbin rather than opening the tap of the water butt will be an enormous time saver. And the lid will stop bits and pieces of detritus from accumulating in there.

Our landlords (who left us our previous, now defunct water butt), had got as far as drilling a hole in the butt and attaching a hose pipe, but they hadn’t thought of using anything bigger than a bucket to catch the overflow of water. Speaking of detritus, the picture above right shows the high tech filtration device that I use for the water butt, aka a 50p tea strainer.

The first job of the gardening year

…happened yesterday, when I turned over our compost heap. Which involved lifting the Dalek away, taking the top, virtually unrotted, layer off and putting it in a temporary container (a polystyrene fish crate), then transferring the more decomposed stuff underneath to the hole next to the Dalek. Then covering the hole and its contents with empty compost bags, and weighing them down with rocks. (This last step is vital, to prevent the compost from being used as a litter tray by cats – ours and our neighbours’.) All in all a very messy job, but a satisfying one.

In a month’s time, I’ll be able to use the compost in the hole to plant my first salad leaves, rocket and spring onions. In milder winters I’d consider doing this about now but it’s still mid-February and we’re not out of the woods yet as far as snow and sub-zero temperatures are concerned.

Speaking of sub-zero temperatures, I think these are what was responsible for the leak in our water butt. The water inside froze when we had our cold snap a couple of weeks back. Now whenever it rains, any water that collects in the bottom of the butt has leaked out within a few hours. Is it (a) possible and (b) worthwhile to repair a water butt, I wonder? Or shall I just get the credit card out and buy another one?