Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: mysticmog on November 11, 2003, 21:32:46
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As the last thread re: water butts kind of tailed off, does anyone have any idea how you can collect water in a water butt with the lid on....and no shed....but stuck and need to sort out butts for rainy season (ie now till July ;)
All suggestions welcome...
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Without a reasonably large collecting surface such as a shed or greenhouse roof it would be impossible in this country to collect the quantity of rainwater that you`re talking of. Without such a collecting surface you would require 36 inches of rain to fill a 3 ft. deep butt, so unless you are prepared to construct a 6ft wide funnel I`m afraid that there`s just no way.
Of course, you could just syphon a few gallons at a time from everyone else`s butt when they`re not looking!
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Oooh, Hugh, that's so eeevvill....seriously, could maybe fix the top of one of those silver bins with the funnel lids (for burning?) upside down to the top of the butt....hmmm
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Well, just check the arithmetic. I don`t know what size your butt is, but say it is 3ft. high and has a diameter of 18 ins. this gives a surface area of 1.76 sq. ft. Assuming a rainfall of 12inches over the period you mention (which is probably overgenerous), you would need a funnel with a total area of at least 5.3 sq. ft. - i.e. a diameter of at least 2ft 7 ins. If your area`s average rainfall for the period is normally less you would have to increase the diameter of the funnel accordingly.
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My lord, fantastic mathematical calculations, and of course youre right, but my butt is definately not 3ft high! It's quite pert actually. Maybe I should build a shed then.
Ta 4 the info anyway.
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Got me thinking, this one. I don't have a shed - can't have one (six on the site burnt down, in two years).
So how about a really daft idea? Do you use plastic sheet to control/kill weeds? Let it also harvest winter rain water into a sunken barrel? You'd have to lift the rainwater into however many above-ground-barrels you'd need (could be VERY cold and unpleasant in winter? Hmmmm!).
It'd work for me - a length of plastic the length of a path, and up the sides of the raised beds would be like a gutter. I'd have weed control on the path, but rain still falls on the beds. ;D
I'm almost tempted to try it! I've got it all mapped out - a couple of gentle slopes to use; a bit of ground ideally placed to take the sunken barrel; three or four spots for convenient above-ground barrels (could even link them with hose, I think, so I only fill one - and the water levels out across the network). ;D
It's (almost!!!!) a pity that we have water taps AND can use hoses. :) Just as well I'm lazy. :-[
All best - Gavin
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Much simpler Gavin. You simply dig a hole 6ft x 4ft and 1ft or more deep and line it with your plastic sheet. 12 inches of rainfall would provide 12 inches of water - 24 cu. ft, or 150 gallons in total, as much as 2 or 3 butts - as well as a permanent supply of frogs to deal with your slugs
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That would be a pond then ;D
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Or a network of ponds - I can see this turning into an entire irrigation system.....unfortunately I would have to go back to the whole concept of coverage - aren't water butts supposed to be covered over - wouldnt you end up with yicky water full of green algae and other such plantlife?
Maybe could have a sunken butt/pond with a lid? Anyone got any ideas on how I might do this?
I could always just look for the water tap that is supposedly hidden somewhere on the allotments....
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Water diviners required for Christmas Mysticmog?? ;D may fine the water supply then! Dottie P.
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My water storage system consists ot 2 x 300 gallon steel tanks (actually an old oil tank cut in halves) each on 4ft x 4ft area, as well as 4 x 45 gallon plastic butts (all fed from my garage roof). I`ve never covered any of them over, and no, Ive never got `yicky` green water full of green algae, but I do have 780 gallons of clean rain water on hand for whenever I want it. Admittedly I put a few pieces of oxygenating pond weed in each tank/butt, and as there are no minerals or chemicals in the water the algae can`t breed.
On the same basis a pond full of rainwater, with a small quantity of oxygenating weed, but no minerals or chemicals should also stay relatively clear. It`s all the junk that goes into garden ponds (tap water, plant pots full of soil, decaying leaves, fish, etc.) that provides the nutrients for the photosynthesis to take place and algae to form. You may get a few mosquito larvae, but the first colony of tadpoles will sort most of them out.
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- talk about squeezing the lemon?? - Tim
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Don`t you mean `sucking` :( :( :( the lemon Tim? - Hugh
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Aha - thank you Tim. I was wondering about this business of algae, cos I don't get in my uncovered barrels (not to see anyway). But then the water doesn't really stay long enough (I thought).
But - a question; is algae that bad? Unsightly and problematic in a (fish) pond, yes - but on a plot? Just some more green vegetable matter? I'm not drinking the stuff - does it do any harm to the plants or the soil?
All best - Gavin
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Gavin, no use thanking Tim, he was only the bloke pulling the face. I wouldn`t want to use algae affected water under glass, but outdoors in dry weather I cannot imagine it doing much harm.
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Sorry, Hugh! :-[
All best, Gavin
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I think mega's idea is a mega idea ! 4 posts and some sheeting not only provide the rain collection but also a dry storage area or somewhere to hide from the rain :)
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You're not wrong Beer Belly, Mega's idea is spot on....I can feel some constructing coming on. Will also create inspired sunken barrel/pond concept as lottie is on a major slope. Will also attempt water divination - should be good 4 a laf
Ooooh, all excited now.
M xx
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Mystic,
How interesting to hear that you may have a bash at water divineing. I used to make divineing rods for the chaps at work, they used them to check the ground before they put telegraph poles in. At our last "Open afternoon" on the site I made a couple of sets as a bit of entertainment for the visitors. They do work, and proved to be very popular. We have an underground spring on our site and this was detected several times. The results are not good for everyone though and they have to be held properly. Give it a go, you may be suprised.
Cheers
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Lo Lamplight - have tried divining, but not for water, for aura/energy field on people. It works really well. Same principle as water divining. You start off a long way from a person, and walk towards them, from the front, the back and the sides. When the poles/sticks cross, you've hit the start of the energy field...
Tis v interesting, some people have little fields, some have HUGGGGEEE ones. Mine is massive at the back, and not v big at the front. Think this stems from always thinking me brother was going to jump me from behind ;D
Works, really, try it :D
Have found water on the site now, but might still have a go at divining for extra water on me plot, ya never know..
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Hiya mistic
How interesting. What do you use to make your rods? I have read about divining or Dowsing for things like energy fields but never realised you could do it for peoples Aura's. On old mate of mine used to be a Goth and he was into things like etherics and aura's and he had a ghost in his house. ( I would add a scary smiley but dont know how to put them on ).
Talking of water on plots, at the our is well water logged and I find it very helpfull to dig a trench all round to at least help it drain, problem is it tends to wash out all the nutrients.
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Spent the weekend digging a water catchment pond type thing - bought me pond liner, measured out me hole, dug it (bludy hard work too) put in the pond liner and the hole was bigger than the liner!!!
Obviously need to brush up on my maths...spent 1/2 as long again filling the hole back in so the pond liner was the right size!!!! :-[
Hope it works after all that - looks a bit sad at the moment, just a big black plastic hole...
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Have created pond of death!!!!
Just a warnin to anyone thinkin of doing the pond style irrigation system....
Water catchment pond thang worked well over snow/rain time, and has a nice bit of water in it's bottom, sadly, 2 meeses must have fancied a bit of a swim, cos they were floating, in a sort of solid, frozen way, in me pond!!
So sad!! Felt terrible - extracted them with me riddle me ree, now they are being fertilizer....
Sorry from me to meeses, so sorry :'(