My 'boring' but best-selling Amazon essential that has saved my garden and my water bill
Over the years after spending way too much of my hard earned wages on plants for my small but much-loved garden, only to see them wither and die during hot weather while I wrack up the water metre trying to save them, I decided a water butt might help with the water bill and help to remind me to actually tend to the garden when the sun is out.
So, with only a modest budget I researched what was on offer and I played safe with Amazon's best seller, the Black Slimline Space Saver 100 litre Water Butt from Storm Trading Group that comes with all that is needed to connect it to a downpipe, a tap and a stand. Currently for sale for £36.99 from Amazon. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.
Fitting a water butt to a downpipe is a bit of a worry for a clumsy person like me, so it was worth the investment to get the local handyman over to chop through the pipe and attach the supplied fitting and that was it - now about half of the water from the gutter is diverted into the product from the pipe.
So I have been lucky in that there have been some showers between the mini heatwaves which have refilled this new water butt, so I can truthfully say I have only used the water collected in this water butt to keep my garden refreshed. Of course, if my garden was bigger this might not be the case, but for my little plot of Welsh haven, it was ideal.
If I had bothered to replace my now perished hose pipe (why didn't I remember to store it in the shed?) and instead I use watering cans gives me a chance to inspect the plants, watch the birds, bees and butterflies visit my garden and generally is a slower pace way of watering but for me far more enjoyable and has helped me understand and connect with my plants far more than I thought possible.
Of course, using a scenario of watering with one can while the other fills up under the butt isn't everyone's idea of excitement, but for me, I felt a lot more connected to my plants and, not being that great a gardener, could see who needed more water, who needed pruning, and who was about to be totally eaten by snails.
It also meant not attaching the hose pipe, if I still had one, to the outside tap, letting it run nestled into the foliage, forgetting about it while going inside the house and watching Escape to the Country, and sending our water bill sky high.
I still use this butt, even though it's leaning to one side somewhat, but my new product situated in the corner of the garden by the house doesn't bother me too much visually, I am trying to persuade a nearby climbing ever-green jasmine to divert some of its branches to give the water butt a cwtch and disguise it somewhat, but it's not convinced it wants to at this present time.
There are more fancy water butts to consider - told you I was a bit obsessed - if you have a bigger budget and want the product to blend into your garden scheme or be disguised in some way.
Manufactured by sweeek and available from B&Q for £149, the 300 litre, wall-mounted water butt in beige could be a good choice for blending into a white or cream painted exterior wall.
Not everyone likes the idea of an imposing slab of plastic taking a prominent place in their garden - I didn't at the start, so my first water butt was called a beehive which had a rather fancy terracotta urn-style design, which is unfortunately currently out of stock.
A visually attractive alternative that includes the option of adding plants to the top of it to make it look more like a patio container than a water butt is the Garantia Antique Amphora 250L in Terracotta currently reduced by £48 to £251.99 via Robert Dyas.
If the option to plant is a great idea and if terracotta is not an option that fits into the garden design then the Elho Green Basics Rainbarrel priced £249.54 from Amazon offers an arguably more contemporary option in black.
Disguising the water butt as something completely different is an option too, with Water Butts Direct offering a product that looks like a tree trunk, called the 475L Evergreen Tree Trunk Water Butt.
Priced £349.99 the tree trunk is one inventive option but another is a water butt that is doing a grand job of pretending to be a big oak barrel, with this option from Water Butts Direct priced at £220.
Amazon has an alternative that is cheaper at £199.95 manufactured by Novecrafto and called the Rustic Oak Barrel Water Butt Kit, it costs £199.95. Both options are plastic but made to look like wood.
For going for the luxury end of the market is within budget Charles Bentley doing an eye-catching range via Amazon or directly from the manufacturer.
Options include a contemporary grey container with the option of pebbles placed at the top and a chrome tap priced £254.99 and a water butt designed to look like a wooden garden storage shed, with using Scandi Spruce Wood Effect. Holding 230 litres of water it is available from Amazon and costs £449.99.
Finally, if the aim is to catch and store as much rainwater as possible the Harcostar 227 Litre Green Water Butt Double Kit is the practical if not very pretty solution. Sold and shipped by Great Green Systems Ltd, the product costs £159.99 and available via the B&Q website.
Pop a garden screen in front of this duo and no-one will ever know they were working hard to help keep your garden green through the summer sunshine.
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