On 2010-09-04 01:26:27 +0100, said:

(snip)

Whilst I do have a soakaway near the butt, I have toyed with the idea
of directing the overflow around the garden in leaky hoses. Has anyone
tried this? Do the ones that look like porous rubber leak fast enough
for a downpour, or would it be better to drill decent-sized holes in a
real hose?

A porous hose should keep up with the flow. Gravity feed won't deliver
the water uphill though so it may be a good idea to raise the butt as
high as possible, eg on bricks.

Hozelock make a porous hose kit for use with water butts:
http://www.hozelock.com/watering/aut...-kit-2817.html

Piercing

a normal hose will likely be sub-optimal as it requires more than
gravity pressure to send the water down its full length and there would
anyway be a tendency for the early holes to eject more water than the
later holes.