Right! Hosepipe ban tomorrow.

[tim]

For those with electricity & MONEY - Ferndale Lodge do a butt pump which sounds useful?

[tim]

[adam04]

:o

[tim]

What? You mean ban or money??

[adam04]

i mean 'butt pump'  ;D

[tim]

And now - back to the subject??

[MrsKP]

i mean 'butt pump'  ;D

i had visions of an episode of Southpark there.

:o

[amphibian]

We've had a ban since last July.

[waggi]

does a but pump hurt

sorry could not help myself

waggi

[adam04]

Tim has come up with the best thread ever...  ;D

[Roy Bham UK]

;D Don't think I can Barium this ;D sorry Tim. ;D

[tim]

Well I'm buying one!

[MikeB]

Hi Tim, I've already ordered mine, got mine from :-

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=123690&Referrer=AffWindow&source=affwin

Cheaper than Ferndale Lodge, only £33.95, hope this helps.

[tim]

WOWEE!! Thanks for that. What a difference.

[derbex]

If you want 12v versions you can try

http://www.lvm-ltd.com/water%20pumps.htm

[scotch-mist]

You have got to be kidding about the bann,

I can't get anything into the ground for the b****y rain here ,
the ground is that sodden ,anything I put in will drown or rot.

I had to cover my beds with weed supressor to keep the weeds at bay until the
ground dries up.

I'm soooo fed up waiting to start.

Sorry for the rant,  I think I'll go eat chocolate

[MrsKP]

the OH was over in Larne on Saturday S-M and got absoutely soaked.  :'( :(

Meanwhile it was brilliant sunshine here and the two large bags of compost i bought from a certain well known DIY supplier was bone dry  :o, so once i'd dug it all in gave me a reasonable texture  ;D   Did my back in though  :'(

i don't know which is worse, wet or dry  :'(

[moonbells]

I could do with one at the lottie - but all the spare cash was earmarked for the raised bed construction this year.

I have settled for a trio of butts connected to the shed roof, with manure and leaf mould to mulch plants once they're in.

For those of you who want to save more water but don't like the idea of siphoning bath/shower water into the garden, bailing it into the lavatory cistern for flushing helps.  That way it also gets used twice, and loos are one of the largest users of water.  I've now got a bucket by the bath (and an absorbent cloth for drips!). Seems to work very well. 

Admittedly it does mean if you don't empty the bath out completely between showers, you get cold feet!  :o :o

moonbells

[keef]

I wonder if its actually against the law to use one of these butt pumps with a hosepipe if there's a hosepipe ban???

I understand that the water authority will still charge you for water from your own bore hole, river or pond?? what about if you lived off water collected in butts??

Is'nt the ban on using a hosepipe, no matter what the source is.....

[MikeB]

The hosepipe ban was discussed at lunch time on ' You and Yours ' with no firm conviction on wether a ban applied to allotments or not.  What did come out of it which maybe of help to some members is that it is OK to fill water butts by hose, ??? ??? the ban dosn't apply to this usage.  You could then if you wish connect a hosepipe to your water butt and then water your allotment.  Thinking it through, if you made the water butt totally watertight (includes the top) fiited a hose connector to the top and then a hose from there to the water tap, another hose from the water butts' normal tap connector, you should be able to run a sprinkler at mains pressure and still comply with the law. ;D ;D ;D

[sallylockhart]

3valleys official stance is:

"the ban applies to the watering of a private garden and allotments do not fall within this category. However, we would encourage allotment holders to act now to install water butts for collection of water and think about other ways that they can mulch and use biodegradable gel to retain the moisture within the soil."

but I don't have an allotment  :-\ so am off to buy 3 water butts this weekend (one for the back, one for the front and one for the greenhouse  ;D)

not sure what 'biodegradable gel' is - sounds a bit sci-fi to me  ???