Watering your Crop

[Smiffy]

Related to Scythes thread on crop protection is the problem of keeping your growing crop watered. No matter how much food you have prepped sooner or later you will need to grow your own food, sooner preferably as it will make your stored food last longer

At this time of year lots of the seeds that I have germinated over the last few weeks/months are getting transplanted into bigger pots of put into the ground, and they require a lot of water especially in the early stages. This time last week I started to use the water from a full to the brim 220ltr water butt, today the butt is empty. That is in just one week without any substantial rain

Even in areas with plenty of annual rainfall it is not unusual to go a month or sometimes even 2 without a substantial amount of rain to replenish your supplies.

The ideal situation is to have a river running through your back garden but most of us aren't that lucky. Or if we are that lucky we might also run the risk of being flooded as well. Small streams and brooks may also dry up in prolonged dry periods.

So 2 questions:-

1. Bearing in mind the water I collect in the butts will be filtered and used for drinking as well as for the crops (and remembering I have just used 220 ltrs in one week just watering some young plants) - how much water storage capacity do you think a couple or family will need ? and more importantly, do you have enough capacity ?

2. If anyone is planning to supplement their collected water from a stream or river, how far away is the river and how do you plan on transporting it ?