Hi All,

Well, my "first time given to me have a go with gardening" runner
beans are still going strong ;-)

As I haven't done any gardening since I was a kid I'm not really
set-up for said and was having some thoughts re what I might do next
season.

I was looking at water butt stuff (really for my Mum but for myself as
well) especially those rain saver downpipe attachments?

Q1. Are these devices good or is there a better way please?

Whilst looking at mums place re finding a good rainwater feed I
thought the down pipe in the semi communial alley (they have a shared
path down the middle but their own border strip about 60cm wide). She
is worried about (even partially) obstructing this side (pedestrian)
access so I suggested one (or two) of the slimline water butts may be
less obtrusive (there's nothing that goes down the alley that would be
bothered by the gap that we can think of)?

Q2. Do those slimmer water butts (100 l?) work ok please?

Because I don't get out every day (I forget etc) to give the roots of
my beans a quick water I bought a length of the perforated hose and
weaved it around the base of my beans / toms thos morning.

Q3. Would this be a reasonable way of watering beans / toms and if so
how long would be 'enough' please (Nth london soil).

We aren't on a water meter but are very light water users (split flush
loo, don't have a garden ourselves (the beans are in next doors
gardeng) rarely wash the cars, have showers not baths etc) and when
we looked into having a meter it wasn't likely to save us anything
(water nor money).

Q4. Is 'auto watering' 'ok' in these PC days? (It suggestes on the
packet that you might even save water compared with other ways).

The mate that gave me the beans has the Hozelock AC1+. It looked
pretty easy to use and seems 'reasonable' (29 quid ish).

Q5. Would this be a good buy (known brand name etc) please? Or should
I go for one of these 'kit's online where you get the AC1+ and a
fairly big 'addon' watering kit (for £49.99 inc Vat / p&p)?

Q6. When these beans are finished, what should I put in there (that we
could eat) next (for the end of the year etc) please? It is a semi
shaded N/S strip 5m long x 1m wide and been 'rough' for a good few
years.

I was also thinking of making some sort of pumped auto topped up
system (I'm an engineer ok ..) ;-)

The *idea* is some form of tank (butt?) with effectivly a mains water
feed / ballcock at the bottom (that fills the tank to say 1/3rd full)
and then a 'Rain saver' that could potentially top the butt off? If
you then pumped the water out (for a fixed time each day) to yer
plants using a submersible pond pump (or whatever) the water level
would drop till the mains water feed kicked it mainiaining the bottom
1/3d ish of a tank?

Crazy or what?

All the best and thanks for your time in any case .. ;-)

T i m