Results of HBIB "Beat the Drought Competition"

Thank you to everyone who entered our "Beat The Drought" competition which was launched in April after the announcement of the hosepipe ban in the South East by Southern and South East Water Companies.

Terry Jewiss receiving free Water Butt for his winning "Beat The Drought" competition from Colleen Ashwin-Kean HBIB Secretary.

We are please to announce that the winner of the £50 prize and the water butt and compost bin donated by Canterbury City Council was Terry Jewis of Calcott Hill Sturry,

He submitted a very comprehensive entry which demonstrated his systems of collecting and saving rain water from various roofs, from waste water from the dishwasher and washing machines and how he fed the filtered water by gravity using the slope of his patio to use on his vegetable beds. He finishes his entry by saying

"Apart from searching the internet for the red inline water filter the whole scheme hasn't cost me a penny. It has been made from bits and pieces and items I have been given or left over from other projects and I have reduced my water bill by about 40% and saved litres of water."

(a pdf copy of Terry's  complete entry can be obtained by email from our Secretary via this website) Useful tips received from other entries are as follows;

From Sue Kennedy Herne Bay

Its a simple idea. We save the condensate from our condensing boiler for use on ericaceous plants when there has been no rain and also for use a distilled water in the iron /car , steam cleaners etc. We get about 3 litres a day - not a lot but its every day.

From Ruth Maclean Herne Bay

My tip for collecting water for my carrots,spring onions,tomatoes and cucumbers;  I keep my watering can in my kitchen and every time I wash up I fill it when I am waiting  for the hot water to come through instead of letting it just run away! Simple but effective.

From Monica James Herne Bay;

I save  as many 4 pint plastic milk bottles as possible. I rinse them well in the general washing up. When filled with water from the tap, they are not too heavy to lift and they sit nicely in the wheelbarrow. As they have screw top lids, they do not spill.  For some plants, I find it easy to control where to pour the water if I simply use the milk bottle. I prefer to water the ground at the foot of the plant. For other plants I empty the milk bottles into my watering can. My one gallon watering can takes 2 bottes of water. When they are empty, I take them back to the house and refill them ready for when I next go to the vegetable area. The plastic is quite weather proof for a couple of years, but I do store the full bottles up the garden in the shade so that they do not turn green.

Another saving is that I mulch the plants growing in the ground fairly heavily either with compost or grass cuttings. Planters/pots I mulch with hydroleca or similar sized small pebbles as I put in the plants. If I leave a reasonable amount of soil free of mulch around the bottom of the stem I can see exactly where to aim the water and I do not have to water the plants so often.

Watering either early in the morning or late in the evening seems to work better, avoiding evaporation and so repeated watering sessions.

Thank you for all your entries and we hope that you find some of these tips useful.