To un-volunteer...

[SillyCow6]

I have wanted to join our local community garden for ages but because I procrastinate over almost everything, it never happened. I saw a post on our local tidy towns facebook page asking for people to help water the plants dotted around the town and I thought "yeah, great way to start getting involved in some sort of community gardening type activities" despite my complete lack of gardening knowledge and equipment.
I have been asked to water 8 huge planters, which I am happy to do...but I have no idea how to transport the water to the fupping flowers I have some big plastic toy tubs I can empty and half fill but there are speed bumps all down the road to the flowers so I will end up soaking dhs car and I have nothing with a lid apart from my large saucepan.
I was told to give them a bucket full of water each per week but how the frig am I going to manage this?! Does anyone have any tips for me, or will I have to un-volunteer and let everyone in town know how inept I am?

From
Embarrassed in FlowerLand

[JennyWoodentop]

I would act all innocent & respond I would be delighted to get started ASAP so am looking forward to being informed where & when to collect the equipment - ball back in their court. I would only say that if I was actually willing to do the job as it's possible someone does have some kit & they neglected to tell you.

[Supersimkin2]

I use the biggest coke bottles and wedge them into buckets to carry them about.

But...there is usually a tap around gardens and outdoor spaces, so I'd locate it and measure a hose length accordingly.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

I have been asked to water 8 huge planters, which I am happy to do but I have no idea how to transport the water to the fupping flowers grin I have some big plastic toy tubs I can empty and half fill but there are speed bumps all down the road
Blimey, sounds like a challenge from It's A Knockout. Maybe contact Eddie Waring (from beyond the grave obvs)?
(probably not helpful)

[WorraLiberty]

Surely the first thing you said was "Yes, I'm happy to do that. How is it normally done?"

[SillyCow6]

@Judashascomeintosomemoney maybe I am secretly being filmed and at the end I will win some money, or a novelty mug.
@WorraLiberty that would have made sense!

[ProfYaffle]

I used to have an allotment with no running water.

Yy to water containers, try looking on freecycle/gumtree/facebook selling sites, I managed to get them for about £5.

25l containers are heavy when full but you don't have to fill them right up.
5l containers are manageable, ideally you could try and get lots of those.

But yes, ask how the other volunteer did it first. They may have a stash of containers somewhere.

[SillyCow6]

Thanks everyone. I will see what they say and in the meantime collects 2+L bottles

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

Any update? I really want to know

[ProfYaffle]

me too!

[kfcplease]

Is this another way of you procrastinating op...? 🤔

I only thought this when I saw you had a car.

Why don't you buy or re use old bottles. Like those 5 litre bottles you get in supermarkets for like a quid.

[spottedelk]

What's wrong with the 40 litre rolling container I sent you details of? Or is it too expensive? And if you have a car, the 5 litre bottles should do 1 plant container each. Really don't see the problem.

[SillyCow6]

Hi all, we went out late to water them with a rake of old milk bottles and a few 2l soda bottles and ended up meeting the guy who runs it all. He thought it was a great way to do it without spending any money, as it is a small community run thing with no funding and I am broke so no need for anything to be bought specially for the job.

Also the rain gods mustve loved my dance because that very same night it rained and all the next day too

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

What do you mean by a “rake” of milk bottles? And still confused at how it was done before as from what you say it soundS like the guy who runs it all had no idea?

Hooray for the rain though!

[SillyCow6]

A rake of, as in, a load of milk bottles. I still dont know how it was done before but I got it done and will continue to do it, at some point I will buy some bigger bottles and make it easier

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

Never heard “rake” in that sense before! Is it a local expression?

[ProfYaffle]

To add to my previous messages, hand car washes are good places to try for containers. They tend to go through lots of detergent and have loads of large plastic containers to dispose of. Some are happy to give them away, some will make a small charge.

Top tip, gather up the lids first then take the same number of containers. The lids get lost and it's easy to end up with loads of useless lidless containers.

[SillyCow6]

@ArgumentativeAardvaark oh maybe it is a local phrase, I've moved around so much that I couldn't tell you where it's from though!

@ProfYaffle that's a great tip, thanks!

[daisychain01]

@Ohtherewearethen

It's a bit ridiculous asking people to volunteer to do this when the average person won't have anything like the equipment needed. Plus the cost of all the water they're going to need in this heat! Definitely ask for advice on how they expect this to be done. It could be that there is some sort of water source near each planter but that's probably unlikely.

^ very much this!

Based on the time and effort to water all the pots on my patio and round the side of the house where I have a few half-barrel tubs, I'd say it isn't sustainable because it needs to be done at least once a day. You don't have the required equipment and your personal expenditure will be significant with all the petrol, water, containers and time to do this for the rest of the summer.

If these planters are dotted around your town, isn't it the job of your local council to deal with plant maintenance incl watering?

I'd pull out as soon as possible, based on how you've described it.