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You could automate this, a cheap pump that lives in the bottom of the water butt with a timer or wifi solution, then a hose out to the greenhouse that runs around the beds with small holes pierced in

2 other options.. take the lid off the water butt.. you can dip fill in seconds from them too.. or replace the tap with with something a bit more full bore. As we've had no rain for a good part of the year, a 200litre butt isn't even enough, so those buckets would be chocolate fireguard

Fitted a proper tap to my water butt - much better!

Really useful video on pointlessness thanks.

It is deffo an interesting and useful video, so thanks Andy. We got rid of our water butt after it turned into a giant ice cube one winter and split, rolling away taking the guttering with it. They are expensive as well. During lock down I ordered 2 big blue wheelie bins from British bins as they are good quality for holding the weight of water and a decent size. Got a cheap water but connector kit online which turned out to be really good quality. Two taps, hose linking fitment, filter cup for the down pipe and a circular drill bit all in one, bargain!  Wheelie bins can be moved round the garden easily and if they freeze the lid pushes up. They are also big enough to dip a bucket or good size watering can if the tap is too slow. They came in damn handy when I wanted to drain down my pond. They are big enough to stick a pump in. You are absolutely right about giving a project a good coat of looking at for a while. I have abandoned a few. I like your water planters. It seems so obvious but it never crossed my mind to do that.

I used cable ties to hold the plastic base together and it was transformational

We use a water butt, with a hose off it running into a very large trug which we use as a dunk tank.  Best of both worlds.

I have exactly the same water butt and had the same low water flow problem. If you empty all of the water out and unscrew the black plastic tap and then using a sharp blade (stanley knife) cut away the plastic moulding flash at the far inner end of where the black plastic tap screws in, then you will have much better water flow. You may want to do this from the inside of the water butt, depending on your knife blade. It's a great way to look silly to your neighbours, with half of your body inside a water butt... Don't overtighten the black plastic tap into the plastic thread, as it will start leaking and never stop.

A sign of a good job is keeping your tools tidy with your work area after you finished

One additional consideration of rainwater capture is if you empty your capacity in the face of a severe storm, you can reduce the potential for flooding, as you have that storage to fill first. In addition, especially after a dry spell, the hard ground doesn't absorb much water, but storing it and applying it gradually later can overcome this

The 50-second tap fill vs. the 2-second plant pot dip said it all!

Rainwater harvesting is definitely a game of constant adjustments. I started small on my plot, realised my original plan wasn't going to cut it, and somehow ended up with 20 linked rain barrels over time to make the storage and flow actually practical.

Always worth pivoting a build when real-world use proves you wrong. Glad you saved the footage and I'll keep an eye out for the re-uploaded timelapse to leave running in the background for you!

I have many waterbuts in my garden, I make sure the lid can be lifted and dunk the watering can inside as you did. No problem 😊

Had a project run away from me just this spring. Wanted to clean up the roofed over section of the lawn, that hat just too much stuff standing around. Then I thought, what about if I added a nice wooden seating area here- alright done that. Ridiculous amounts of work. Then the corner looked really good. The tap next to it looked a little sorry. How about if I added some mosaic around it? Done that, even more work. Then the walls looked tired- painted those. The floor looked dirty... I was exhausted by then so made the right decision not to tile it but simply paint...!

All I wanted in the first place was to tidy up a bit tho 😅

As I used to do as a working gardener...lift the lid off the butt, dunk can in/fill...replace lid!

My water butt is one of the few projects I finished. Well, sort of. Still need a clip for the downcomer and to fasten the shed it lives in to the wall. Mine fills a watering can faster than I can empty one. Might just be a question of volume inside. Good to know others take their time on these things too!

Try adding an automatic irrigation system to your bucket.

If you can get power down there a water butt pump that can connect to a hose is a potential solution

We added an agricultural feeding trough at the side of the greenhouse. It’s brilliant, just plunge in the watering can, and looks great.

Best thing I used for my butt was a solar drip feeder from Amazon. The amount of water basically meant it never ran out (compared to running it from a bucket) and the solar part kept it maintenance free. Anti siphon was abit faffy because of the height differences but honestly was so good to never worry about watering the front again that was full sun !