One step closer to greening the garden I am now the proud owner of a water butt. After 2 days of torrential rain the new water butt and the watering can underneath are full.
The surface of my garden is gravel, slabs and concrete. The whole yard is surrounded by a wall. I plan to have lots of pots growing veggies and herbs. I have 2 guinea pig hutches and a shed.
All the ground cover is impermeable - apart from the gravel. So this means that most of the rain falling over my garden will hit the of the shed, the paving slabs, concrete and will over the surface and down the drains. Given that most surfaces in a town are impermeable, the minute it rains the drainage systems have a much larger volume of water to cope with than they would have in a more rural area.
I laid the graveled areas of the garden with a landscape membrane that lets rainwater in but not sunlight. So, no weeds, but the infiltration rate (the rate at which the ground is capable of soaking up rain water) hasn't been deminished. If the rain is coming down at a rate that is greater than the capacity of the soil to soak up the water then it will run over the surface. Obviously this happens to areas of soil.
At the moment, in the UK we still suffer from droughts - even with all this rain. Instead of the water hitting the soil and having the chance to soak into the ground and eventually topping up the water table, it is channeled straight into the drains and treated as grey water along with washing machine and bath water. So, what's my point? It's a really simple one I s'pose - it's an important resource so we need to save it. Ideally, I would have a garden with grass and soil, but I haven't. But by having a water butt and saving the water that I can, I'm making a step in the right direction. I'd like to have some pots with plants in them - possibly strawberries or other things I could eat. The pots may go some way to aleviate the amount of water heading straight into the drains, but as the plants are contained there is no chance for any rain water to make it to the water table.
On a practical note, both plants and water butt are in the garden so no need to wrestle with watering can and kitchen sink. Plants prefer rain water to tap water. At the moment, water isn't metered in my area, but it'll only be a matter of time before it is. So, why not get into the swing of using the free water from the sky !
