The gutters of my house feed into two down pipes very conveniently located with one at each of the rear corners of the house, so near the back garden.
The garden has recently been mowed, having been left to grow wild for almost a decade.
I am trying to do a bit of forward planning.
I want to collect rainwater to use in my future garden and I’d like to collect a sufficiently large volume to provide for a sizeable vegetable garden (150sq.m?) and maybe 800sq.m which will have well spaced fruit trees and a small area of fruit canes.
As the water butts will be at the back of the house and not visible to the public, and as I want to get the best volume for my euros, I was thinking that a couple of those big IBC containers would be good.
I’m not sure what total volume I should be aiming at to meet my needs but thought I could start with two and add more if needed.
They’re the go-to water collection solution for most of the rural houses in our area, and we’ve been considering replacing our existing chemi-vats (blue plastic barrels with the tops cut off and then re-used as lids), but just haven’t got around to it, for reasons mainly linked to opportunity/cost/esthetics.
The public may not have to look at them, but you will and they are unattractive! We have 4 water butts on downpipes, 2 large and 2 smaller, adding up to just under 2000 litres. It is ok most of the time, but not enough in a canicule year for our medium sized veg patch and tge few other things we water.
But this depends where you are! Possibly ok in Brittany, but inadequate in the PACA.
In new house we are considering a solar powered pump and watering system.
Ah, but would they be black and algae-free ? I have been given strict instructions
Plus, the transport would be an issue as most vide-grenier won’t deliver, so by the time I’ve hired a van, I’d probably be better off buying them from an online supplier that delivers.
Yes all the logistics of France need due consideration. The garden trailer was one of my best purchases for France years ago. Allows me to collect lots of things and of course get rid of a lot.
You can buy black covers for them, I got 2 for mine from that well known selling site, cheap. Four years on and still ok despite being in a very windy location. If you find them ugly you could put some sort of decorative fencing round and get some climbing plants. We use a pump to get the water to the veggie beds and pots.
We were able to purchase one from the commune, they are encouraging residents to be more environmentally aware and offered these at a vastly reduced price than the bricos and supermarche. We opted for the ‘pretty’ one and it saved us over a €100 on the price locally.
We have a similar area with the potager at the front and fruit trees, bushes and strawberries at the back with flowers in pots on a large terrace.
We have two 330l water buts connected together to the front guttering and one of those 1000l cubes connected to the back guttering.
This summer they were full at the start but we did completely run out by the middle of July when we had a few heavy downpours just in time to fill them up again. we again ran low near the end of August but in the end we had just enough. Were considering getting another 1000l cube to put next to the first as summers are getting hotter and drier here.
We got ours from LeBonCoin for €70, much cheaper that at the garden centres. Previously used to hold industrial alcohol and in perfect condition.
That can be an issue. Ours were white but we have good quality blackout covers … don’t buy the cheap crap ones from Amazon. They’re not perfect though and you do still get some algae. I clean them out every other winter
I would like some water butts here but we have a thatched cottage where the rain falls from the thatched overhang onto the ground. I love the thatch as it’s great insulation and at night we cannot hear the rain coming down onto a tiled roof as our neighbours can, but, I would still like to be able to gather some water to use in the garden. Any ideas?
I was thinking of using some decorative fencing around the IBC’s because they are not exactly pretty - I assume that algae in the IBC/rainwater wouldn’t be an issue in terms of using the water for irrigating vegetables?
