Farm Update: New Reservoir (with a fancy lid)...

A few months ago Mr Boddington decided the reservoir needed to be replaced. Why? Well, over 40 years ago, the previous reservoir was built… the wrong way up. Ok, not technically the wrong way up, but the seals were on the outside, rather that the inside which meant rain water ran between the liner and the metal ring, hello rust and here we are!

Reservoirs are important for us on the farm. A reservoir increases our water security, which means we know we will be able to feed our strawberries exactly when they need it. For example, last summer, we had a few days of unexpected hot weather. Without having our reservoir we wouldn't have been able to act quickly and our crop yield would have suffered significantly more than it did.

How does it work?

Mains water fills up our reservoir like a toilet flush. When water is used, the pump fills it back up again. We use mains water because it's free from all disease, its sterilised and filtered - perfect for our strawberries.

We have a computer system which we enter the amount of water we think the plants need to be fed each day, for example, this could be 1 litre of water twice a day. The water is then drawn from the reservoir, through liquid feed barrels which add fertiliser into the water. The water is then distributed into each poly tunnel and pumps the necessary amount needed!

Our reservoir holds 40 gallons of water - that's enough to fill nearly 600 bath tubs! With fresh produce, such as strawberries its absolutely vital that they are not only handled with the utmost cleanliness, but the water is free from disease. This system works for us and we can be 100% sure that our strawberries are being fed with clean and safe water.

So now you know the importance of water and our reservoir.