THE WATER BUTT AND THE SOAK HOSE

It's raining today, after a dry day yesterday.  When I had my lovely little garden Room installed, no way did I want rain water from the roof pouring willy-nilly onto my garden and causing problems.  I didn't want water finding its way under the Room, nor did I want it pouring onto a plant and undermining its roots.  The idea I came up with was to have a water butt at the side of the Room (just space for a slimline water butt) with a wide gutter around the Room channeling water directly into the butt.  Then, and this is the nifty trick, I attached a soak hose (a hose with holes in it) and led the hose down the slope of the garden, along the base of the fence's gravel boards where the ground can be very dry, even during rain.  Bingo!  The plants are loving it.  Clematis that seemed unhappy last year are flowering well. 

Water butt and soak hose

NOTE:  I leave the water butt tap half-turned on permanently so that as fast as rain pours from the roof and into the water butt, the water butt empties slowly via the hose and all those plants that often don't benefit from rainfall get a good old drink.  This works because the garden is on a slope and gravity takes the water downhill.  At the bottom of the slope, I have tilted upwards the end of the soak hose (which I have shortened to the perfect length) so that water doesn't just run downhill and empty into the bottom of the border. It is a system that, I am happy to say, works.  But you need a downhill slope.




My only problem now is that the leaves from the neighbouring trees are falling into the gutter and ending up in the water butt.  I know the solution, to place netting on the guttering, and have made a mental note to see to this well before autumn.