Case study - Garden shop uses rainwater for bedding plants to beat the hosepipe ban
With the all the rain water falling on the shop’s roof, plus the new yard roof, and being free of charge, Matthew decided to fit rainwater harvesting. He wanted to be able to water the bedding plants and flowers, which are such an important attraction for clients of the shop.
The Site
Yalden Garden Store in Chalfont St Giles, South Bucks, is a popular shopping destination for hardware, garden products and bedding plants.
The People
Matthew Yalden, whose father created the shop, and Paul Freeman run the shop and its online presence www.yalden.com
Objectives
With the all the rain water falling on the shop’s roof, plus the new yard roof, and being free of charge, Matthew decided to fit rainwater harvesting. He wanted to be able to water the bedding plants and flowers, which are such an important attraction for clients of the shop, even during hosepipe bans. The tank is below the stock yard and the manhole cover is not even usually seen.
Statistics
The Carat 2700 litre tank was three quarters full at the beginning of the March 2012 drought, and there was still some water left at the beginning of April. That makes 2000 litres used in 40 days or so, making 50 litres used per day. This is enough for all the plants because Matthew has developed a system of wet membrane lined trays on which the small fower pots trays on which the small flower pots simply absorb the water from below.
Results
So now Yalden has all its plants watered and fresh-looking, just how the clients want to buy them. Even the geraniums, which do not like to be too wet, are perfect.
Cost effectiveness
The investment of about £1800 of equipment and the dig will be amortised in ten years or so in terms of savings on water bills. But the attraction of this sustainable feature to clients is enough to bring in extra business to pay this back in just a couple of years.
Quotes
Matthew says “I did indeed hope that rainwater harvesting would give attractive results and I have been really impressed by the quality of the equipment. This is a small step towards a more sustainable world of which I am quite chuffed. Clients seem to love the fresh plants, ready to plant out, and, with the hosepipe ban now in force, they appreciate that we’ve used rainwater not mains”.
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