Blog

Using planters in your home is a brilliant way to add new colours and accents to your garden. Garden planters can allow green fingered homeowners to incorporate new types of vegetation into their existing flora and fauna—both indoors and out—from flowers or trees to fruits and vegetables. Plant pots and planter boxes are a versatile addition to any garden, and ideal for budding gardeners of all skill levels.

If you’re looking to expand the range of plants in your garden, or simply add some nature and colour into your home, planters are the best option. But how do you choose the right garden planter, and how can you use them to make the most of your garden? Read on to discover our top tips for getting the most out of your garden planters.

 

Types of garden planters

The planter pots available from Water Butts Direct come in a range of designs and sizes, so you’re sure to find one to suit your needs. However, they are also made from various materials, each of which offers their own unique benefit to the plant life they contain, and your garden as a whole.

• Stone and terracotta plant pots are the toughest and heaviest materials for garden planters. This also means they are generally the most expensive, but also the most durable, particularly in the face of extreme weather which might knock a less sturdy garden planter over. The porous nature of both stone and terracotta planters also give your plants the best conditions in which to grow, and make attractive additions to any garden. However, it is worth noting that you should make sure to buy a frost-proof terracotta pot to ensure that it won’t shatter in cold conditions.

• Plastic garden planters are becoming increasingly common in gardens across the country, especially now that they can be finished to resemble stone or wood. A plastic planter is just as useful for growing your plants indoors as outdoors, as they are lightweight and inexpensive. However, you should make sure to remember to keep any plants in plastic planters well watered, as they are not porous, and therefore will not absorb rainfall when left outside.

• Wooden planters are most frequently associated with container gardens, providing a large, sturdy space for plants to grow. From a design perspective, they are the most customisable, and most models are made of pressure-treated timber to remove any risk of rot from exposure to water.

 

Making the most of your garden planter

Taking care of a garden planter is no different from looking after the rest of the plants in your garden. Potted plants need to be watered often, especially if they are outside and exposed to direct sunlight. Even after rain, it is imperative to check the moisture of the soil in your planter, in case leaves have shielded it.

The best thing about garden planters is their portability. If you can tell that the weather will become too rainy or cold for your plants to survive, you can simply move them to a covered area and allow them to wait out the storm. Most planters are also designed to protect against overwatering, as they often feature drainage holes to let out any excess liquid. However, if your planter does not feature a drainage hole, or if the existing ones do not offer adequate outflow, you should make sure to drill an additional one. Raising containers onto a cinder block or other platform will further aid against the soil becoming waterlogged.

When it comes to designing your garden, a planter can also help add some new layers and colours to your outdoor space. Smaller planters can be attached to, or hung in baskets from, the exterior walls of your property. This gives your home a subtle but effective design accent, as well as offering a fresh way to incorporate new plants and flowers into your garden.

No matter how you choose to use a garden planter from Water Butts Direct, you can be sure that they will bring your garden to life in new and beautiful ways.

To see our full range of Garden Planters, click here and shop today for fast UK delivery.

The Dangers of a blocked gutter

A historic issue with the operation of guttering on a house is and has been the build-up of debris, moss and leaves in their gutters. The main cause of this has been the standard practise of roofing contractors or DIY people of fitting what is called a bell or balloon type strainer in the top of the downpipe to prevent debris, leaves, moss from going down the downpipe. This may be done with good intensions; however, the leaves and moss collect around the strainer and block it. This means someone must climb a ladder to clean it, with the inherent danger of falling off the ladder.

Dirt getting into your tanks and barrels leads to complications as it blocks up the flow of water leading to an inefficient and ineffective water harvesting system. This is where the Gutter Mate Diverter & Filter provides you with a simple yet effective solution.  Find out more today...

Rainwater harvesting is used by households around the country, and quite simply collects any rainwater, usually from the roof of a house. This water can then be used to flush toilets, supply washing machines, and hydrate plants. The only place the water can’t be used is in sinks and showers, as the untreated rainwater may eventually be ingested. This reuse of water reduces the need of using water directly from the mains, minimising the pressure on your conventional water supply, and cutting the costs of your water bill. Here we’ll go through exactly how rainwater harvesting works, and how you can implement it within your own home.

 

What are rainwater harvesting systems?

There are 133 days of rain or snow per year on average in the UK, giving a total of 885 millimetres of annual precipitation. By collecting the rain that falls around a home, you can build up a reservoir of water ready to be used around the house, rather than relying on the mains supply. These rainwater harvesting systems work by using plastic rain butts to collect the water from the guttering pipes around your home, which can either be stored above or below ground.

Storing your water butt below ground helps to regulate the temperature, minimising the risk of evaporated water. Underground water butts also tend to have a filtration system in place, providing cleaner water for your home, which only needs to be checked about once a year. However, they are much more expensive to install, as there needs to be an excavation in order to make room to bury the system underground, and underground pipes will need to be fitted, which will drive up the cost, and disrupt your garden.

Storing your water butt above ground is much easier to maintain, and can be easily installed in your home as part of a DIY project. However, you run the risk of dealing with leaves or even flies falling into the water butt if the lid is not secured on. The heat during the summer months can also encourage evaporation, and potentially cause the water to turn smelly, or freeze over in the winter months. However if the collected water is used regularly, these problems can generally be avoided. At Water Butts Direct, we have a range of rainwater harvesting systems that can be either wall mounted, or free-standing. We also offer a range of designs, allowing you to turn your water into more of a feature piece for your garden.

 

How big should a rainwater harvesting system be?

Getting the right size rainwater harvesting system depends on what you’ll be using the water for, and how much you’ll realistically need. As a general rule of thumb, 5% of the available annual rainfall is a good starting point for the storage capacity. A water butt that holds between 1,500—2,000 litres will supply the water for toilets and washing machines of the average UK household, however you will need to keep in mind how much rainwater you’ll be collecting, and how often you’ll be using the water.

To work out how much water you can collect from your property, you need to determine how much water falls on your home. This is essentially the area of the roof on your property plan, which is similar to the size of the ground floor. You then need to find out the expected annual rainfall in your area, which you can check on the Met Office website. Simply calculate the available water by multiplying the average rainfall with the area of your roof. Bear in mind that only around 80% of this water will actually be collected, as much of the water will fall onto the ground, or may not be heavy enough to fall into the guttering in order to be collected. Some rainfall can even be lost to evaporation, as well as overflow (when there is too much water already in the water butt), which you should also take into consideration.

You should also consider incorporating a filtration system, which can remove any small contaminants such as dust, leaves, and other organic waste that may be swept into the water butt from your gutter, into your rainwater harvesting system. This makes it much easier to use directly around the house, and you won’t need to worry about removing this unwanted debris when you go to collect the water, or while it’s being pumped back into your house.

 

What can rainwater be used for around the house?

In the average household, around 30% of the water is used to flush toilets, which is considered wasteful due to the purification process that water undergoes before it hits a residential property. The average person can use up to 34.5 litres flushing their toilet every day, which can quickly mount up, especially in a household. Using a rainwater harvesting system to flush toilets can be massively beneficial for saving water, as well as saving money on your bills. If you’re going to use rainwater for this, ensure you have a water butt large enough to hold enough water to be economically worth it, and that the water is connected to your toilet for easy flushing.

You can also use rainwater to keep your garden and plants watered. This is particularly helpful during a heatwave, when the government may impose a hosepipe ban. The water collected in a rainwater harvesting system is free to use, and isn’t included as part of a hosepipe ban, so can be easily used to ensure your plants are kept healthy, and don’t dry out, without using treated water that is fit for human consumption. Rainwater can also be much healthier for gardening purposes, as it doesn’t contain the chemicals included in the treating of water. Simply connect your hose pipe directly to your water butt, or fill up your watering can, saving you money in water costs.

If you’ve connected your water butt to your household plumbing, you could use it to power your washing machine. Washing machines use around 50 litres of water per wash on an average cycle, which can be easily substituted for your free supply of rainwater. Rainwater is also useful when washing clothes, as it is naturally soft, eliminating the need for fabric conditioner. The soft water can also reduce the buildup of limescale, prolonging the life of your machine and reducing the risks of it working inefficiently. You simply need to add a filtration system to your rainwater harvest system, and have it connected to the plumbing for your washing machine, replacing the main water supply. Switching to rainwater for your washing machine can act as a significant saving to your water bill, as it is one of the main domestic uses of water that doesn’t actually require treating.

The soft rainwater can also be used for general cleaning surfaces around the house, such as windows and cars. This is because there are no added chemicals to the water, which tend to result in spots and streaks across the glass, provided they are scrubbed well enough. Simply collect and filter the rainwater, and use it to clean your windows and your car while cutting the amount of purified water used from your main water supply.

Explore our collection of water tanks for rainwater harvesting here.

As we all could have guessed, our British summer has brought us both the highs of scorching hot days and the lows of the more customary wet ones.

This unpredictable nature of our weather means that we should always be prepared for the inevitable downpour to ruin the BBQ plans!

Whilst that might be enough to make people move abroad, some that will be thankful for the rain include your garden plants.

So, have you ever considered how a water butt could make a difference to caring for them (and you!)?