If it is covered then the problem must be the water going into the water butt. If lots of leaves are going into the butt with the water, they will begin to decompose and make the water smell. What you need to do is place some from of mesh at the top of the downpipe from the shed roof to stop the leaves getting into the water butt. The instructions below are for installing guttering on a pent shed… things get slightly more complicated (and expensive) if you’ve got an apex roof, where you’ll need to install guttering on three sides for maximum water channeling efficiency. PLANTS PREFER RAINWATER– all plants benefit from natural rainwater compared to water from your taps. Tap water is a new source of water as far as plants are concerned, they have evolved over thousands of years on rain water. Some plants in particular, such as blueberries, will not grow successfully if watered repeatedly with water from your taps.

When installing guttering on your shed, it is important to first identify where you’d like the rainwater to drain off.Grow Bag with two tomato plants– approximately 3 litres / 5.5 pints per day in warm weather. Assume in the region of 200 litres during the growing period.

The sturdy rainwater collection system withstood the very strong winds and heavy weather during initial product testing in winter 2011/12. In some cases, there are no nearby established drain systems, in which case you’ll be looking to either direct your rainwater into a water butt or alternatively drain onto ground that is sloping away from the shed and any nearby buildings. To use a water butt many situations will involve filling up a watering can from its tap. Because the taps are low down you will need to raise water butt high enough to get a watering can under the tap. The obvious option is to buy the “optional” stand for the model you choose. Now attach the downpipe to the drain outlet – you may need to include offset bends in the downpipe installation to direct water away from the shed and into a water butt.Step 5: Cut in half your 6ft pipe, then insert one half into the down-pipe junction, ensuring the down-pipe sits flush against the side of your shed. Before starting the installation process, it is important to take a look at the shed to see if it slopes down in any place – water flows downhill, so use the angle to decide in which direction you create the fall – just place a spirit level on the side of the shed to identify if it slopes in a specific direction. QUESTION:We have a split of a garden (our property is a house conversion) with a planted area that needs watering. Unfortunately our garden is far away from the building and there is no ground level tap we can access (ours is the upstairs flat). Any suggestion on how to have a device to collect rainwater without gutters and down pipes? Water butts come in all shapes and sizes, some even could be considered as garden features. The choice all comes down to cost, your personal preferences and needs. WATER BUTT SIZES

If you leave a typical water butt out in the open over autumn and winter it will collect very little water by the time June arrives. In our experience the average water butt will collect maybe 45cm / 18in of water. The open area at the top is simply too small to be an effective trap for rain water. The only other comment i will make is about mulching. To reduce the need for pumping water from the stream, much of my allotment is heavily mulched. This reduces the need for watering hugely, far more than you would ever imagine.

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A connecting hose runs from the diverter to the water butt, and it is possible to daisy chain water butts together using more hose for extra water storage. The average rainfall in the UK is about 80cm 32in each year. On that basis, and assuming you can collect 75% of that rainfall, a roof of 2 metres (6ft) width and depth will collect 3,200 litres of water each year. Much of this will be collected in the period October to April.