Sadly I seem now to be excited by rushing home to find out how much water has accumulated in the IBCs. Last night for instance, I got 100ltrs.. We’re now up to 275ltrs in the first IBC – over 1/4!
Posts Tagged water butt
IBCs and Chickens…
The IBCs needed levelling so for a few hours Friday and today I spent my time smacking bricks with a sledge hammer.
Yesterday I visited my friend Kris in Norfolk. It was a surprise 30th Birthday party and we turned up about 3hrs late. Kris is a bit of an inspiration as he has an amazing backyard allotment and many chickens. I tried to help round up one of the feral ones, but no luck.
He’s offered for me to go up and learn some basics, which’ll be handy when we get our own chocks.
Hopefully this week off I start on Thurs I’ll get the boxes all set up and get some stuff growing!
Intermediate Bulk Carrier (Or an IBC Water Butt)
Recently our garage flooded. We’re at the top of a hill, but we’re also in a bit of a dip there. The hill is mainly all london clay which is excellent for pizza ovens but not necessarily great when your main surface water disposal is a soak away. Soak aways are basically big gravel pits. The water level of my garden is pretty low and I’m pretty sure I have a spring where the old pond was, so dealing with water can be a bit of a pain.
“Normal” water butts of the type available at the local garden center can be £30. Reconditioned blue shipping containers can be £7-15 – both carry 220ltrs.
An IBC (intermediate bulk carrier) contains 1,000 ltrs and can be bought as cheaply as £35. Ideally you should try and get one that contains a food rather than a powder or hazardous chemical - commonly you’ll get vegetable oils or fruit juices, both of which can be quite easily drained and dealt with.
For for £70 I’ve bought two such containers on eBay – just search for ‘water IBC’ and hopefully you’ll come up trumps with one nearby – they’re expensive to ship about so you’ll need a van or one very close by.
These two will be hitched up by my outbuildings and I’m going to redirect both drainpipes direct to them. Next to them I’ll also be keeping the compost bins and I may look into using a seeper hose so I don’t need to do much watering!
A walk about the plot
Yesterday evening I made it down the allotment, only originally intending to drop off the water butt connector I’d bought. Clair was down for the first time in a while attempting to finish the digging she’d started a few weeks ago to prepare her mini-plot.
I did a bit of weeding in and around the plot. The ‘harlow carr’ bed is starting to take shape now we’ve got some plants in it. We’ve now got broad beans, lollo rosa lettuce, courgettes, sun flower, leeks, elephant garlic, red/white onions, strawberries, sweetcorn, herbs, tomatoes and chard.
Similarly I checked over the three sisters bed which is currently only sporting a couple of pumpkin and courgette plants. I’ve lined this bed with a few marigolds as I had nowhere else to put them, and they seem to be doing quite well. Similarly in the potato bed I’ve done the same, and between the rows we’ve planted basil (which didn’t survive) and a mild broad leaf lettuce. The early potatoes are up nice and high now.
The rhubarb which I split has done exceedingly well. It’s shading the beans I’ve planted and allowing them to climb the poles without being blown off. The lack of light has also meant they’ve grown a lot quicker. We’ll see if there is much difference in the amount of beans produced between the two.
The asparagus bed is pretty much been devastated by the wind. The stems have fallen over or broken off, but I’m hoping for better next year.
The cold frame is full of chili plants ready for the mini greenhouse I’m planning to erect next to our shed and the sweet corn I’ve sown is just germinating now.
The mangetout we planted in our new bed are doing well and are climbing high. Similarly the cabbages which were donated to us a while ago are looking quite good and are starting to firm up a bit. The carrot bins are flush with carrot seedlings now and have put out their first set of feathery leaves.
One of the pictures shows Clair with her new friend – a cheeky blackbird which was so tame it was only about a foot away whilst she was digging. Didn’t mind me getting up close with my camera phone either.
Finally my water butt (the new one) when used sprung a leak. It emptied in about three minutes much to my annoyance. At least it’s one less I’ll need to drain when I fit the new hose this weekend.
