Topic: A watering tip if your plot is a distance to the troughs....

[chriscross1966]

Get an old central heating header tank from ebay.... 25 gallon is plenty, Use some adhesive selant to glue something suitable over any holes, I used the top of slug-pellet bottles that are sitting on top of canes now (or fit taps if it's the right size). When empty put it in your wheelbarrow, take it and a bucket to the trough. Use the bucket to put as much water in the tank as you can comfortably barrow (about 3/4 full for me). Put the bucket in the tank to act as a baffle. Push back to your plot, bucket out into the watering cans......  Instead of 15 trips to the trough with bucket and watering can I now make 3 and probably am pulling in more water, and it seems like no more effort per trip.....Make sure you have a fairly smooth run from the trough and sort out any serious unevenness in your paths....

chrisc

[grannyjanny]

Very good idea Chris.

[lincsyokel2]

I have two  250 gallon blue polypropelene barreals and four 50 gallon plastic cold water tanks. I fill them with a enormous hose late at night, then i use a foul water barrel pump from wickes to drive a water sprinkler or hose. Same as watering with the mains water, doesnt break any lotty rules  8)

[Old bird]

Hi Lincsyokel2 (I feel like an Ooooo arrhh coming on!)

Sounds like a great idea how does your pump work though?  Is it petrol or electric?  I have an enormous 1200 gallon oil tank which I have up at the top of my allotment and which I have attached various guttering from some garages which fills the thing - but currently am having to fill it every so often from the tap which is about 50 metres down a hill.

I have no electric at the lottie but would consider something petrol if it isn't too complicated or heavy!

I would be very interested to hear how it works!

Old Bird

 :)

[lincsyokel2]

Hi Lincsyokel2 (I feel like an Ooooo arrhh coming on!)

Sounds like a great idea how does your pump work though?  Is it petrol or electric?  I have an enormous 1200 gallon oil tank which I have up at the top of my allotment and which I have attached various guttering from some garages which fills the thing - but currently am having to fill it every so often from the tap which is about 50 metres down a hill.

I have no electric at the lottie but would consider something petrol if it isn't too complicated or heavy!

I would be very interested to hear how it works!

Old Bird

 :)

its an electric pump (£34)



about 200w and i drive it with an 800w petrol genny from MAchine Mart



its adequate to pump all the way up about 150 foot of hose with a reasonable usable pressure at the end. The advantage is i can use an electric strimmer, and a small 800w hand circular saw, and electric drill, making it multi use.

[Old bird]

Looks great but probably a bit too technical and "machiney" for me.  I would probably have to leave the generator up the lottie and I wouldn't think it would stay safe for long.

Brill idea tho!

O B

[Vinlander]

Going back to the original subject - if your only water source is a trough then siphons are still an option provided your plot is below the tank.

They will even work if the ground is entirely flat because the water level in most tanks is 60cm above the ground (raised beds could negate this however).

It's a fair comparison because the barrow idea would become an exhausting task if you are actually uphill.

Pumps and such are pretty much essential if you are uphill without access to mains pressure - but can be a needless complication otherwise...

Yes siphons can be slow if the drop is tiny, but that just means you can do quite a bit of work before you need to move the end down the row.

If you can leave the siphon in place overnight then you can fill a dipping pond...

If the distance isn't great you could even consider making up a pipe from 40mm waste pipe - which would pull out nearly five times as much. Obviously you'd need something like an old vacuum cleaner hose to distribute the water. Guttering is also useful for moving lots of slow water about.

Ordinary hoses are also available in larger sizes - 25mm is fairly common and draws twice as much as the standard stuff.

If you're wondering how you start a 40mm siphon - a good option in a solid pipe is a piston on a broomstick - push it in slowly, yank it out quick and you're there.

[brownowl23]

ive got one of those bath siphon things as advertised on a gardening program last year, useless for emptying my bath, as I haev to have the hose going up hill to the window but have wondered if it would work on the lottie.

Will have to dig it out when we go up at the weekend and see if it will work down there, would save a few treks to the trough, and I could dig whilst it is watering.

Hubby normally does a big trough bucket and 2 watering can in a barrow but our barrow has a flat.

as an aside question how is the best way to fix  a lfat on a barrow is it to get a inner tube from a cycle shop?

[bionear2]

I finally got fed-up with fixing punctures on my wheelbarrow, went to B&Q and bought a replacement wheel with a (bright green!!) solid tyre on it. £16 and worth every penny....

[Vinlander]

ive got one of those bath siphon things as advertised on a gardening program last year

I can see why it is tricky to get a siphon to work out the window!

But with a tank it's much easier - get a conveniently short length of hose (between 1m and 2m) and have a simple connector ready on 'your' end (siphon pressure is so low you can get away with just pushing a bit of 15-18mm plastic or copper pipe in your end ready to push the main hose on to).

Push the whole hose into the tank until water appears in your end. Put your finger over your end and pull it out fairly smoothly and lay the end down (don't let the other end come out of the water).

The siphon will flow and you just need to connect your hose to it.

[brownowl23]

ok I think its one of those green wheels for me, I hate doing punctures such a waste of my precious time.

[chriscross1966]

I finally got fed-up with fixing punctures on my wheelbarrow, went to B&Q and bought a replacement wheel with a (bright green!!) solid tyre on it. £16 and worth every penny....

My plot wheel barrow is a Ryland Nippy.... not as big as the Chillington which I'd like but having had one nicked last year (in fact all the big barrows were nicked last year the same weekend all the big pumpkins were stolen) .... but it has a solid tyre as stadnard..... works well with the tank though so I'm happy....

chrisc

[brownowl23]

Ive just got myself one of those green solid tyres, its going to go on my bright orange B&Q wheelbarrow. Somehow I dont think anyone would be as stupid to nick that as its going to be lary and bright and will stand out like a sore thumb  ;D