Water

Water is essential, and given the increasing instability of global weather it is probably worthwhile to think early on about how you will manage if the rainfall is insufficient during a growing period. By June 2010 some of our crops were getting seriously short of water.

Early on we purchased around 20 plastic 13 litre watering cans, which were in heavy demand during dry spells. These are too heavy for some to manage, so we also bought some smaller lighter ones.

The pond, our water supply

We took water in our watering cans from a pond about 30 m N of the first plots, but 200 m away from the last plots. Lugging water in a watering can from the pond was time consuming. Clearly we couldn't expect people to walk kilometres to draw enough water for a thirsty plot of potatoes! So, somewhat reluctantly we took the compromise decision and in June 2010 we bought a petrol operated pump from a local tools shop. With careful maintenance it is still working today. We asked the local fire service if they had any decommissioned hose pipe and they blessed us with about 200 m length in joinable sections. We investigated purchasing water butts but soon decided to buy Industrial Bulk Containers (IBCs). These are plastic tanks measuring 100cm x 100cm x 100cm with a metal frame around them. They generally hold 1 cu m of water (1000 litres).

Industrial bulk containers (IBCs) hold can 1000 litres of water

They are used often initially for holding fruit juices, but can be purchased second hand for around £40. These can collect rainwater if placed next to a shed roof, be filled with a hosepipe from a nearby tap or filled from a water source nearby using a pump. We mounted them on breeze blocks to allow a watering can to be placed under the tap near the tank bottom. These have been brilliant, they let the water flow out rapidly and so fill a watering can in about 3 seconds. The pump feeds the Fire Brigade hose and pumps water at a rate of about 500 litres min-1 to several IBCs situated around the site. Manhandling the hoses into place is a heavy task, but the reduction in time spent watering makes it worth the effort.