MAKING A DRIP TANK

Charlie Dimmock and the Garden Rescue gang can always be relied upon to inspire you to undertake garden projects that enhance your patch of outdoor paradise so once again, the woodworking tools are out as we’re making a ‘drip tank’ water butt.

Has rescued many an afternoon

Since last year I’ve been lusting after a humungous 400 litre rainwater tank to harvest the precious wet stuff in a bid to reduce my metered water bill. Girl with large butt wants an even larger butt. This one from Ecosure was the one I wanted to buy but at well over £300 for the tank, its stand and fittings it was a purchase I couldn’t really afford to make even to save the planet.

On wish list but too expensive to buy

Enter Charlie and gang. When you work mornings, Garden Rescue is the only daytime TV programme worth watching and when it’s on I am generally glued to the box, soaking up every morsel of landscaping/gardening info like a thirsty old camel at a desert oasis.

In one recent episode of Garden Rescue, the team built a large wooden tank using the same methodology we used to build our raised pond. With a water diverter kit attached to a guttering downpipe, the tank can then be filled over time with rainwater harvested from your roof which you can then scoop up with a bucket or watering can to use on your veggies/flowers. Ingenious!

So, we’ve decided to do the same. Out with the plastic rainwater tank and in with an eco-friendly wooden water butt.

Having outlined my cunning plan to the other half, he has once again risen to the carpentry challenge and fashioned a whopper of a box out of decking planks and timber. Looks like a DIY coffin. It’s so heavy I can barely lift it so imagine how much it will weigh once its full of water.

The white whale of water butts

This leviathan of the garden is 2 metres long, half a metre wide and around 65 cm high. It’s going to hold lots of lovely water, perfect for watering the veggie patch nearby.

Before it can be commissioned into service, there is a whole load of stuff that needs to be done to it in order to make it water proof. Blah, blah, blah. Firstly, the water tank is given 2 coats of exterior garden paint on the outside to protect the timber. I’ve chosen Valspar’s ‘Deep Autumn’ – a mustardy brown, the colour of chicken balti.

Deep Autumn - exterior garden paint by Valspar

Giving it a good lick of paint

Looks great after 2 thick coats

Next a layer of thick pond underlay is added to the inside. Breathe in and hold it. The only way to line the bottom of this huge butt is to actually get in it. But when your own butt is the size of a small country, I was lucky enough to just about squeeze in all my wobbly bits.

Cutting the underlay to size

Fixing the underlay to the bottom panel

Interior now lined with underlay

Moving the butt into position ready for pond liner to be added was not an easy task but with a couple of sheets of MDF we managed to shove it down the driveway without damaging any of the block paving.

Ready for the pond liner

And now for the tricky part, adding the pond liner. Not easy to do when you’ve got a sheet of liner that’s 4m x 3 m and you’ve got to position it from the top down taking care not to rip it.

Not easy to add pond liner to a tall box

To properly settle the liner into position so that it doesn’t pull, you need to add water which increases the weight of the structure even further. It took a prayer, a large wooden beam to lever the item up and a few almighty shoves to get the butt into its final resting place. Not to be attempted without help (says the person with a bad neck) as I’d never forgive myself if you ended up with a hernia doing this bit.

Water in the bottom to help position liner

Remember to staple your pond liner in place above the water line so that your butt doesn’t leak when full.

Finished lined water tank

There is also the question of overflow. It’s amazing just how much water comes off a roof when there’s a full-on downpour and it probably wouldn’t take too long to fill even a tank of this size so thought has to be given as to what to do to prevent an overflow of water. I’m hoping that using a downpipe diverter kit, any water above the level of the hosepipe would simply be diverted back down the pipe but if in doubt, you could drill a hole near the top linked to a hosepipe that feeds any surplus water to another part of the garden.

Adding some decorative touches above the tank

As we don’t really know how much water we can harvest before we reach overflow point then we’re going to monitor the water levels and bail out manually with a watering can if levels begin to get close to the top.