I realised earlier this week why my water butts didn’t fill up at all in the heavy rain we had last Friday – I still had the plug in from last time they were full to the brim.

In theory, the design of the feed should stop them filling automatically when the butts become full but, particularly with two linked together, it isn’t quite so easy to get that working in practice. My solution is an old rubber wine-bottle stopper, which I’ve trimmed down at one and can use to stem the flow if necessary. The trouble is, it can be easy to forget and leave the plug in!

According to the present forecast, we will probably get more rain on Monday afternoon, so at least I’m now ready for that.