This is the place to discuss not just allotments but all general gardening problems and queries which don't fit into the specific categories below.
(formerly allotments and tips, hints and problems)
I need to get one - its been on the to do list for ages and I just need to get on with it. Any recomendations?
I had a quick look on the internet and there seems to be loads on the market - I don't know where to start - does anyone know of any made from recycled plastic?
In a previous garden I just used a plastic bin but thought I would 'splash' out and get one with a tap this time
How much space do you have? You can get recycled food containers (actually reused so better than recycled) here http://www.smithsofthedean.co.uk/Recycl ... ainers.htm. There are other sites that do them. I just googled recycled water butts and got a whole list.
If you're lucky enough to find the right stuff you could make your own with recycled materials and do it cheap. I bought a cheap drum off eBay which had previously been used for glucose syrup. On the top it had a big hole at one edge and a small hole at the other edge. I laid it on its side on top of a few bricks, sandwiched between the shed and the greenhouse. I found an old hose pipe and cut a bit off so that I could direct water from the greenhouse gutter into the big hole. The hose pipe wouldn't fit the downpipe from the greenhouse, so I made an adaper using an old sports drink bottle - the nozzle fit perfectly in the hose pipe. I then rummaged around the shed and found a spare beer barrel tap which fit perfectly onto the small hole of the drum. Perfect! If I remember right, the barrel only cost a few pence, and the postage was something like £10. The seller had a lot of them and wasn't interested in making a profit on them, just having them reused rather than sending them to landfill.
If you can't get the stuff together for something like this, you could try going on your local water company's website. They often have schemes for reduced prices, although they probably wouldn't be made from recycled material it might be worth checking, just in case.
We're using an old (hole-free) wheele bin and a small dustbin as our water butts. The wheelie is under the guttering which we seured to the shed, the dustbin is next to the wheelie which has an overflow pipe. It hasn't rained enough yet for us to see if the overflow pipe works yet though!
"It's breaking the circle.
Going to work, to get money, to translate into things, which you use up, which means you go to work again, etc, etc.
The Norm.
What we should be doing is working at the job of life itself."
- Tom Good, The Good Life.
If you get hold of a container and still fancy a tap they're only a couple of quid in old fashioned type hardware shops near me or 4 squid from B&Q.
I bought one the other week to put in an old paint bucket I filled with nettles to make nettle fertiliser. Super easy to do and very satisfying (if like me you get excited about things like putting taps in buckets)! Good luck, Jill
Good luck, Jill