Harvesting Rainwater - how do you do it?

[amandaandherveg]

Last year was the first on my new plot - it's wonderful but has no mains water. Many decades ago it had been a successful village Market Garden but had been covered up with black plastic for years. I have been relying on 3 large butts (filled by various means - rain, adjacent stream, buckets, etc) but I now have a second tunnel and I really need to get something organised for this year.

I've trawled the internet for ideas. The adhesive v-shaped gutter along the tunnel(s)would be the easiest solution but has very mixed reviews. I have a small chicken shed but it's too far from the PT's to rig up a gutter/waterbutt.

How do you harvest water in your garden/plot/allotment?

[alldigging]

I've been toying with a plastic sheet on a frame on a slopey roof on a compost bin. Just not got the plastic sheet yet.

We have 3 communal IBC to collect rainwater off a garage next to the site.

[woody21]

You could pump water from the stream into barrels on your plot if its not too far.
i just googled hand water pump and top link was a thread on here
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ump_29632.html

there are also small water pumps that you can connect to the end of a drill so could use a cordless drill or electric pumps which you would need to have a charged battery around or a permanently sited battery and a small solar panel to charge it.

[amandaandherveg]

I've got an electric pump with a long hose attached to it and jump in the stream every couple of weeks (it goes through my ground so it's no distance to travel) and it works a treat. May just have to get another couple of barrels or an IBC and place them closer to the PT's. Being unable to catch some of the water that falls on 2 x 28' tunnels seems such a waste.

[SarzWix]

If you get IBCs, it is possible to cut the tops off them and invert them so that they collect the water themselves. Alternatively, you can set up guttering on posts right next to the polytunnel, at a height that suits your container, and then tape a flap of polythene along the side of the tunnel which drapes into the gutter. Hope that makes sense? It apparently collects a lot more than the stick on gutters can.

[SarzWix]

Oh, and I'd be careful extracting water from a stream, technically you're supposed to have a license...

[amandaandherveg]

Thanks Sarah, I think I've seen pics of that being done before. I've got plenty polythene offcuts I could use - sounds like a little project for the spring

[SarzWix]

Might have been First Tunnels website or Facebook page that I saw it on?

[WendyC]

Oh, and I'd be careful extracting water from a stream, technically you're supposed to have a license...

I was wondering about that!

[Hans Mum]

One of the chaps on our site has an IBC container & he has rigged up a roof over it to collect water, if I get over at the w/end i'll take a pic for you. Simple but it works.

[Bigmallly]

I don't have a polytunnel but if I did I would have a bash at making This

[amandaandherveg]

I've watched this video a few times before BM and it's a wonderful idea (Like Sarah, my PT's are from First Tunnels and are just fab). Not sure if I'd be able to adapt and modify as I don't have a side rail.

I don't have a polytunnel but if I did I would have a bash at making This

[amandaandherveg]

One of the chaps on our site has an IBC container & he has rigged up a roof over it to collect water, if I get over at the w/end i'll take a pic for you. Simple but it works.

That would be great HM - I'd love to see it.

[Bigmallly]

Not sure if I'd be able to adapt and modify as I don't have a side rail.

Would a length of timber & some car exhaust brackets not do the trick?

Something like these.

[binley100]

Some of the plots on our site use old baths for collecting rainwater, just have to remember to put the plug in.