The Good Life with Sue Edmonds

With summer droughts becoming regular and the water table in my well getting lower each year, I thought it was time I took some of my own advice on water use and made the most of what falls before the drought hits.

The original core of my house was built in 1915, but there seems to have been various add-ons, both in the 1940s and also sometime just before I bought it 14 years ago. This has resulted in odd rooflines, lots of bits of guttering and no less than six downpipes on he house and a further three on the garage and carport.

As usual it was a case of DIY as cheaply as possible.

Last summer I finally created a donkey-proof place for a vegetable garden, but it was miles from the only outside tap. So I visited a place which cleans and sells big plastic drums and for $10 brought home an intact one – no matter that it was bright blue. This was installed under a garage downpipe which drained half the roof and it filled remarkably quickly when we had a day or two of rain.

Bailing with a bucket, transferring the water to a can and giving every veggie plant a drink most days is a bit labour intensive. But the water is free, doesn't affect the well and the veggie crop was huge.

Not one to do things by halves, this year I went for three. But last year's one had taken me a day and a half with a hand-saw to remove the top. The thought of trying to do three with my newly busted shoulders didn't bear thinking about.
I rang the drum man and asked if he removed tops. No.
Oozing charm from every pore (a la the My Fair Lady song) I stressed the enormous effort involved last time. He asked if I had a jig saw. No and if I did I'd be very nervous about using it by myself. We chatted some more and I told him about my shoulders.

'Oh well, just for you, I'll cut the tops off for you when you come to collect.”

What would be a good time for him? Two pm. I'll be there with trailer.

So he did and I duly admired his skill and told him all about water butts, which he'd never heard of.

Then the drums and the trailer followed me home and I only had to redo the rope ties twice on the way and only one drum bounced right off. On Saturday, with rain forecast for Sunday, I discovered that some downpipes were glued on and some not. The latter, which mostly drained only small roof areas, got the job and with a bit of measuring and sawing, plus a scramble through my ‘spare parts' in the garage, I had two installed by tea time.

During the evening I suddenly remembered the veggie garden one was full and that the pipe feeding it could be turned around. So out in the dark, humping the third drum alongside, a twist of the pipe and I was done.

The next day it duly rained. Two got a quarter full and the other half, but by the end of two days rain two were over half and the other one full. A friend even presented me with an extra watering can to spread the water round everywhere. Guilt-free watering this summer.