Rainwater Collection
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- Jojo
- bindweed
- CarolWallace
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» suza - water collecting...
Hi Max: I am new to Suite101, and enjoying it a lot! Your articles on xeriscaping are great.It was during my life in New Mexico that I became aware of the scarcity of water and how precious it is,(that's another story!), and so back here in PA I have a roof-water collecting system that I am always working to improve. Last summer we had a nasty drought and heat wave. Even though my soil is very good from years of composting, it still got dry as a bone during the drought. Even my water holding barrels and cans were dry! I put up a picture on my website which shows how one of the downspouts is directed to a huge tank. Check it out! Any ideas for me?
~~~~suza
http://home.earthlink.net/~suzaplants
-- posted by suza
» Jojo - neat site
SUZA! I visited your site and loved it so much I added a link to it to my article about Personal Garden Websites. Check it out at .Also, for those of you interested in the downspout, look for it on Suzas garden tips page.
-- posted by Jojo
» max_read - Suza's got worms! But I like the Praying Mantis the best.
What a great site! I'll put a link on the rainwater collection category, but I'm thinking of adding a link for catnip cats and probably should have one for black -eyed Suza's. (Her's is like mine only spelled differently!)Suza, one thing that came to mind is draining your gray water (bath, sink and laundry) onto your non-edible plants, especially this year since it looks as if it may be like last year - at least here in the southwest. I also woulnd't drain it on a lawn, but you have a lot of flower beds.
300 gallons of water in a rain is a pretty good waterfall. Your gardens remind me of the book I've reviewed this month. You and Lauren both like a lot of plants planted closely. One method of conserving water which you might try to get you by for one year is planting fewer plants and planting further apart, but that obviously won't work for all of your already planted perennials. The natives in this area planted further apart to give a plant a wider area to draw the rainfall. If you've got weeds and grasses near your plants which are not planted but just sorta grew you might weed them more often this year so the plants you want get more of the water available. I'd even leave bare dirt - covered with a nice mulch, of course - to save enough water for a valuable plant. And if you're not using a water - conserving weed barrier that allows water through but doesn't encourage evaporation, I'd try it. You can also save a lot of water by watering your plants after the sun goes down.
One thing I did in California was to set out cut open water bottles from plastic milk cartons in the area of plants I wanted to give some delayed rain to. The plastic was tucked under the plant after it filled and turned over when the plant needed an extra drink. If you've got $15.00 cover some unused lawn with a plastic pool. With your rains you migt be able to save a lot of plants.
Great Site! I'll be back.
-- posted by max_read
» suza - water collecting...
Hi Max: Thanks for the feedback on water collecting! I will try your method of using plastic jugs of water per plant-in-need. I have a lot of the clear plastic jugs--they will blend in just fine. You're right, my gardens are packed to the max. It is an old theory that no soil should be visible! Intensive planting works pretty well because my soil is really good. But these droughts (and the intense HEAT) are a problem, no matter how good the soil is. Those plants that croaked last summer will not be replaced, except with water-wise plants if I can find them. I must make a point to get more leaf-mold-mulch out there this year. It seems that leaves are the best for improving the soil, especially with a thick layer of compost underneath the mulch.When I moved to NM, one of the first things I noticed was how clever the pinon and juniper were as they spaced themselves just so on the mesas, to share the scarce water. I also loved the human scale of the pinon and juniper. I could still see that incredible sky even when "lost in the forest."
So, will you be harvesting the pine nuts in a number of years and be making tons of pesto?!
-- posted by suza
» suza - gardens and water...
Hi Jojo: I am so excited to have found Suite101, it is loaded with info and intelligent people! Thanks for linking to my site. My web site project is my garden log, a diary of sorts, and it is just like the garden! It never is finished!!! There's so much to learn!Right now all the water cans and buckets and tubs are frozen solid. One of them is tipped over! A gigantic round ice cube!
-- posted by suza
» Jojo - geez we're so intelligent
A diary huh? I'm always reluctant to crack open a brand new diary and start writing in it. I don't have that problem with new gardens though. Diaries are definately easier to leave, pristine, and on the shelf.I agree about the garden being like a diary though. Just today I looked at a piece of fencing that I really messed up last summer. Kicking myself for the extra work I have created, I remembered exactly what was going on in my numb skull when I did that. Tarnation! That's part of the reason I don't like diaries -- they only point out to me (in writing) what a twit I am - I don't need reminding, having proof all around me!
Thanks for the compliment though - that's ultimate! We here at Suite101 definately like to think of ourselves as intelligent. I've even noticed that we are advertised that way (seeking intelligent life on the web?).
That 'bare earth' or 'plants crammed in' debate is definately ongoing. I have heard good arguments on both sides. Duration of drought or 'dry season', type of soil, and water requirements of the landscape have much to do with arguements in either direction, so which one is correct is subject to locale and a whole bunch of other factors. Locally, our drought only lasts 2 months, but since it rains the rest of the year, those 2 months can be very tough on plants. Plants shading the soil around other plants helps the soil to keep cool, but water-needy plants can not be planted in this way. In other climates where dry seasons last longer and soil is not clay and loam like it is here, the wide-spacing might make much more sense. Myself, I prefer plants spaced so they will grow together to their natural spread and not need a whole pile of pruning later on. As a nursery worker though, this is sometimes hard to acheive (too many freebies!).
-- posted by Jojo
» bindweed - A change in building design and gray water regulations
One thing that has always irked me are the govt. regulations that insist we combine gray water with waste water. The alkali in our soapy waters reduce the efficiency of bacteria in our septic systems.I have always wanted to see separate septic systems built, with the gray water tank connected to water spout collections and used for irrigation.
Another hint always use liquid detergents and vinegar in your cleanings. Dry powders really mess of septic systems.
-- posted by bindweed
» CarolWallace - Another milk jug trick
I'm also in PA, Suza, and had planted a few new trees before the drought struck. I used empty milk jugs that had small holes punched into the bottom with a thumb tack, filled them with water and set them around the drip line of the new trees. Not ideal for a new and thirsty tree - but it appears to have kept them alive and unstressed.-- posted by CarolWallace
» max_read - Hey everybody!
I don't know how I missed all of the new additions to this discussion. I certainly agree about the septic tanks, and what a wonderful suggestion about the milk tanks. If diaries are read as often as they are written one can learn from one's mistakes. I like a combination of I Ching and garden diary - I Ching is based on cycles of the seasons and there's a lot of good to feng shui design- which I'll be talking about in another article. Any ideas of why we've got so many good gardeners coming at us from Pennsylvania? I suspect it's your weather cycles - a perfect blend of getting out there and doing it and staying inside and writing about it? Two months (of drought) is the length of our monsoon or wet season here in the desert southwest.-- posted by max_read
» max_read - Diary
I guess I should fess up, since diaries have been mentioned. I was going to detail what went wrong with the pinons in another article - and focus on the successes - and I still plan to. The pinon pine were overwatered. I think that the third watering should come only after the soil is very dry. Pinons go from water needing seedlings to fledgling xeric trees very quickly. The pinon which lasted keeled over a couple of times from being too dry, but never from being too wet. The ones which were too wet didn't survive. I'll talk about what killed them later, but it will probably be much later since more people seem to be interested in rain water collection than in pinons.-- posted by max_read
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