saving water

[fat larry]

someone kindly gave me a water butt and i have various other receptacles for catching rain, but I'm worried about the rust/oil residues in an old oil drum I acquired last year. we burnt it out to get rid of most oil (phew!) but water is rusty wth a thin haze of oil still. am i best scrapping it alltogether ,or will my veggies not mind (will I get tetanus from my veggies!!)

[fat larry]

[fat larry]

someone must know, surely? although with a forecast for snow by the weeekend, my efffort to save water in case of drought in summer could be a bit premature

[Jesse]

I don't know the answer but if it were me I would not use it. Snow for the weekend  :o, my local forecast says -1C on Friday night so perhaps it will be snow again, I hope not!

[tim]

We were snowbound at this time a few years back!

[Garden Manager]

Isnt there some product out there that the drum could be sealed with to stop it rusting into the water?

Failing that find something better to save water in. such as a plastic drum or a cheap purpose made butt (from local water co if they have such a scheme)?

Just a thought....... ???

[rosebud]

Fat Larry , i would say do not use it it could ruin all your veg etc, if in doubt DONT

[derbex]

Cut it in half & call it a bbq  ;D

[Apple Dumpling]

I agree with Rosebud. I don't like the sound of the oil residues. It's just not worth risking it.

I also have an oildrum as a water butt, but it was only ever used for transporting components for a local double glazing company, and even they were in plastic bags. It cost £2 from a scrap merchants, and they could tell me what it held. After two years of use it's a little bit rusty inside but I figure that the rusty water can't be bad as iron oxide occurs naturally in soil anyway.

[slugcatcher]

I'm with "derbex" cut it in half and make it into two BBQ. Or make yourself an incinerator for the lotti. Bash big air holes round the side

Ron :)

[Doris_Pinks]

You could start a steel band! ;D

[tim]

Council compoxst bin? Or would that be naughty??

[kenkew]

Come to Antwerp, I'll get you a 240ltr plastic bin on wheels for £1.50.

[Ceri]

tim, I'm now absolutely kicking myself - what a brilliant idea.

Our local authority have just been delivering the compost wheelies and I made them take mine away - with the garden and lottie heaps, plus wormery I'd never have anything to put in it, and my front garden already has an unsightly normal wheelie bin and recycling box as it is.

If only I'd thought, I could have had a free water butt.

However I'll still be in the 'nothing to declare' channel at the pearly gates!!!

[slugcatcher]

Come to Antwerp, I'll get you a 240ltr plastic bin on wheels for £1.50.

How much is P&P from Antwerp I'd like one hehe ::) ;D

Ron

[Moggle]

Will a waterbutt work okay without any roof to collect runoff from?

I have been promised a second-hand waterbutt for the plot, but don't have a shed roof to help collect the water  :-\

[moonbells]

Waterbutts are fine at the allotment even without a shed or greenhouse roof to fill them. You just fill them up from the standpipes when you have time to fetch and carry (or pipe it over) and then when you're pressed for time, you have water in situ rather than a walk away.

I suppose you could cheat: if you don't have water laid on at the lotties, you could make a water collector by putting plastic sheeting over pallets or old fence panelling etc, and fixing them at an angle over your manure or compost heap. A piece of guttering and drain/flex pipe can then feed a chain of butts.

Failing that, just a sheet of plastic attached to posts, with the lowest point suspended over a butt. 

moonbells

[Moggle]

Cheers moonbells. Forgot to say of course that we have no taps on site, so it will be all the water I have, other than the communal water troughs, which must be 1 to around 10 per 10 pole plot. Plenty in those now, but I thought they might run a bit dry in warm weather, plus it's also a fair old hike to my plot with a full watering can  :-\

[wardy]

Those on the sites Moggle are usually self-filling so don't dry up  :)   Hope you have them sort