Capturing water off the greenhouse roof
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- I bodged together a way to capture water off the mini-greenhouse roof. Making my own gutter end and down pipe arrangement. It was quick and easy, it worked, but it's definitely an ugly bodge, but for now it does the job and in the end that's what matters!
If you are new to my allotment videos you might find a bit of context useful. We have three allotments in my family, mine (Steve), my wife's (Debbie) and my middle daughter's (Jennie). We also have a small kitchen garden at home. They are all managed in an integrated fashion, so don't expect to see the usual mix of veg on each plot.
On Jennie's plot, for example, we focus on potatoes, squash, alliums, and brassicas. This video provides an overview • The big picture of our... . I do an update of the allotments, roughly one a week, you can find the tours here • Tours .
Our approach to allotment life is to: grow as much as we possibly can, to be self-sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit in season, to give away our huge surplus to friends and family, and to have as much fun as possible.
My wife and I spend about 4 hours a day, 4 days a week on the plots (on average) and we keep nudging that down as we eliminate non-productive work: like grass cutting, weeding and watering as much as practical. We are both newbie gardeners, only starting the allotments in 2016.
I'm a bit obsessive about the nutrient density of the veg that we grow and making the plots easy to work because it's through this allotment lifestyle and food that I've overcome a debilitating auto-immune disease.
I'm always aware though that it might not last so I make sure that I don't work too hard, eat as much organic fruit and veg I can and design the plots so that I can still work them if I flare up again.
Hi Steve, Where there's a will there's always a way, well thought out, Thank you for sharing and Take care.
that used to be my favourite saying when I was working, no matter what the challenge, or how impenetrable the problem, there way always a way ... if only we could find it! On the allotment my favourite saying is "any job that 'needs' two people can be done by one person with a bit of creativity", I've not been proved wrong yet : All the best - Steve
Thank you. Just the information I needed 😊
Thankyou
Nice vidéo think you very much🤗
Thanx will hopefully be able to do something similar here in Ontario Canada 🐝
Good job Steve, prooving necessity is the mother of invention. I think most allotments turn off the water supply for winter ours has. They do fill the barrels before they do it. Let's hope your water harvest is as good as your Veg. Take care, Mike.
We've had a little bit of rain this week, which is why I was so keen to get the greenhouse roof done. Switching the water off for winter makes a lot of sense, switching it off at the beginning of October and on again at the end of April is a bit harder to justify. : All the best - Steve
Hello Steve, for a more permanent fix, have you considered using some aluminium plate to make a run off spout and a blanking plate at the other end?. I you do not have any Ali you could use a coke/soft drinks can and glue/mastic these to the existing profile. To capture any debris, I use a scrap piece of netting/enviromesh screwed into a ball and wedge it into the top of the down pipe. this works quite well. Take a look at my video #15 at about 16mins....I explain how I lashed up my water collection......it is still going strong ....Cheers...NIgel 👍
That's a nice job Nigel. Now that I'm home and have access to my workshop I will try and do a better job of the second gutter. The one I did a couple of days ago, did the trick though and captured quite a bit in the last down poor, which is great as I was running quite low on water, with some sunny weather predicted for next week and a lot of stuff that will need watering! Funnily enough I've used environmesh filters on all of my other down pipes, including this one, but in the end I took it out because the fluted peg was doing such a good job on the narrow boor pipe. I do like the idea of drink can's as a source of aluminium, thanks for the tips : All the best - Steve
Those thin pan scrubbers make fantastic filters.
MuddyBootz video
Good job 👍🏼collect all you can
I can’t collect anywhere near enough, but I get through late autumn, winter and early spring ok
I agree that the manufactured ones are too expensive. And thank God for Heath Robinson They also also lack longevity as the material is very thin and becomes brittle. I am currenly installing rain diverters from every downspout on our new home, which when finished should give me at least eight collection points. Butts will vary in storage capacity because of space available, and the aesthetics, but my aim is that every bit of run off should provide for garden needs. This might become a video series, on You Tube as I try to deal with a very poor soil quality in a sandy area. This alone will provide many challenges as water retention is very poor. Necessity, and much innovation required, along with a more moisture retenive solutions for our very dry soil. Sources of fallen leaves abound so leaf mould, and strict composting are the order of the day, - lots of work ahead.
It's certainly a challenge. I find that there's no chance of collecting all the rain that falls in winter on the house, there's way too much on our house roof and then in summer there's no where near enough rain fall, so unless you can store 30,000 litres in winter it's a struggle. My soil is sandy too, we are built on sand dunes, so it just drains away in summer, so raised beds full of organic matter are the only option to get enough water retention and even then plenty of watering. I don't want rain collection tanks around the house because of the aethetics, but I capture everything off the garage, which is 20m2 so that's more than enough in winter and enough for blueberries and potatoes in summer, the rest get tap water : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards Yes Steve I m also in sand location, and am using raised planters with very organic compost. I am also looking at underground storage, holding areas but that may be a bit beyond my pay grade. We haven't moved in yet, but expect to do so in the next few weeks. A challenge it is, but there must be a lot we haven't thought of yet. Underground IBC may become a reality,!
Cheers
Hi I have to say that’s a brilliant idea lol exactly what I need to do , what kind of tape is it Steve ? Is it water proof , I love the idea of the pipe cover , what peg is that , lol just what I need lol
The peg is a landscape fabric peg, the tape is duct tape, it's fairly waterproof : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards hi steve ive just ordered some silicone rubber super sticky waterproof tape lol sounds good but proberly wont stick lol , and i have some pvc pipe ill try this , got the idea from you , its not for me its for a woman greenhouse , lol who i know
Good going. 👍 I don't know how useful this information is going to be to you, but here it is. In my experience, using duck tape is a temporary solution at best. The glue is prone to falure due to temperature swings and ultra violet light exposure. Plan on having to redo it every couple of years or keep looking for a longer lasting solution. If you can customize some plumbing or proper roof guttering, you'll be better served. 👍 🤠
Oh, I will be happy if this lasts the winter, it's definitely a short term bodge job. The double sided sticky tape that I'm using though seems very UV and temperature stable. I used it on the polytunnel gutter and it's holding up very well. I've decided that when I redo my compost area I will build a big roof to cover it and in doing so create another 15m2 of capture area, which will double what I have now and hopefully make me close to self sufficient in water, which would be very nice! : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards I took a closer look at the cross section profile of your greenhouse guttering. Too bad the manufacturer didn't make provision for a downspout option. A knock-out or screw-out plug comes to mind. Even so, drilling a hole on the bottom with some type of funnel or hose barb strapped to the gutter might be possible.
That inverted can lid on your water butt looks like it could be replicated on your other water butts too.
Are you planning to allow for proper roof guttering along your compost roof? Anyway, you've already god some good ideas going. 👍
I just did a quick web search. Apparently, there are at least two aftermarket downspout kits for around twenty pounds. That's a lot of money for some, but I seem to remember that twenty pounds isn't a large amount to you. Maybe you'll have a quick look yourself.
Hi Steve, I’ve just spotted some blank ends and gutter outlet ends on eBay. The ones I saw are being sold by wygreenhouses for £9 .
I will take a look Michael, thanks! The one I made is working very nicely though so it should get me through winter. : All the best - Steve
Is your gutter sloping ? Mine is level and water is just sitting on the blocked off side and not flowing to the gutter, Any reccomendations for a solution / creating a slope ? Also could you send a link to the double sided sticky tape ? Thanks a lot for the useful video , mikey
Hi Mikey, my polytunnel gutters are sloping about 4" along the length, the greenhouse isn't but it's so small it doesn't matter much. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076H2KZHN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 : All the best - Steve
duck tape, i bet you watched a lot of blue peter as a kid..........lol
not blue peter, didn't like to copy, but I liked to do my own projects : All the best - Steve
Does the job for now but the tape probably won't last 2 seasons or more, but simple enough and cheap enough to do it again.
Thanks Ant, just a bit of fun that job. I've just done the other side and this time I did a permanent job using an old sardine can, very sturdy, should last a few years. When Debbie has another can of fish I will do the job properly : All the best - Steve