Hosepipe Ban

We have water butts in our garden, but I have a semi-disability (with pain) and cannot cope with carrying buckets or cans across the garden. Has anyone manufactured a hosepipe & spray gun that can be easily fitted to the tap of the water butt? It must be very easy to fit, as I have very little grip.

Hi Sally, thanks for your question.

There are several ways to do this:

1. Attach an adapter to the tap of your water butt and then attach a standard hosepipe with spray gun to that adapter. The problem with this method is that I believe you might not have the sort of pressure required to spary the water out. Therefore you would need to add a pump between the water butt tap and your spray gun. These pumps are readily available.

2. This method works on the same principles as the first but I believe is more flexible/easier, especially if you have multiple butts. There’s at least one pump available that you simply attach a standard hose and spray gun to and then drop that in the top of your water butt and let it fall to the bottom. I assume they’re battery powered and I guess you simply switch them on and off as required. [Edit: I found out they are actually mains powered]

You can do some Googling to try to find such products. Try typing “water butt accessories” in Google - there are lots of companies selling products like these now. [Edit: Also try Googling "hozelock water butt pump" or simply "water butt pump"]

We’d be interested to know how you get on.

I have heard there is to be a hosepipe ban on allotments this year. Can you clarify this please. Our allotments are in Cheshire. Thank you