Bright Spots in the Midst of Drought
(This post is written due to the large number of visitors we had, yesterday, commenting on what a great idea this is.)
Yesterday, we had our community wide yard sales. We had a large amount of people from not only our little community, but from various parts of the county and Southern Colorado, as well, come by. This conversation was repeated many, many times, over the course of the day. It went something like this:
Them: "Your roses are lovely! Such a bright spot amongst all this brown drought! We can't water, enough, at home, our water is too expensive, etc. and all of our flowers and trees are dead or dying. (Pause) Uh, what are those caps sticking out of the ground next to them?"
Our reply: "Our Wet Valley is not. Mother Nature has not smiled upon us,as well as a good part of this country, in bringing much moisture to our area. Plus, given the fact that the past few years up here, we have been banned from all outside watering, even for our livestock and pets, our once beautiful area looks like a bunch of dried up sticks and weeds. Even when we don't have the outside ban in place, due to our extremely high water rates up here in "paradise", not many people are willing to dish out the bucks to pay the even higher "penalty rates" that come with trying to water our trees just to keep them alive. Victory Gardens are for those lucky enough to have wells, of which we are not among. Even then, last year some of those wells went dry. So, what's a body to do? Well, this body took an ancient tip from the desert dwellers! While researching a couple years ago how to help our trees survive drought conditions, we ran across this information: The desert dwellers would partially bury an unglazed clay pot down into the earth next to their plantings and would put water in the vessel. The water would leach out under the ground, where the plant's roots are, thus providing life giving moisture to the plants, with very little evaporation! So, not having any unglazed clay pots just lying around and wanting to minimize the evaporation of this precious liquid even more, we improvised. We took clean empty jugs, (you know, those stupid jugs they put our milk into and don't disintegrate in 3 lifetimes??) and poked a few tiny holes in the bottom and up around the sides. We used a pushpin. Then, we buried them about 3/4 deep, next to our rose bushes, who were barely dead sticks in the ground. We put some around our fruit trees out back. We stuck some water bottles in the empty flower boxes next to the porch and planted some flowers. Petunias, which have subsequently reseeded themselves and have grown again by themselves! This year, we put some in the middle of a half whiskey barrel and planted some Italian herbs and a midget tomato plant. We fill them with gray water and pop their lids back on. Check them every couple days and add more water as needed. We have our first apples this year, since we planted them 3 years ago!
Them: "But we don't have a system to use our gray water. Isn't that expensive to modify?
Us: "Everyone can use most of their gray water, without altering their plumbing. The water that comes out of the washing machine is gray water. That is the only modification we have made to our plumbing and hubby did it, himself. It drains into our yard and raspberry bushes on the southside. However, anyone can use the water in the dishpan after you've hand washed your dishes. We put a small bucket in one side of our kitchen sink, and wash our hands over it. That's gray water. We use only natural cleaning products,that we've made, ourselves, so we know none of the "cleaners" will harm our plants. The water from boiling your pasta, from canned vegetables, etc, all is water that your plants will be grateful for!" That water you run down the drains waiting for it to get hot for your shower, THAT is water that can be used! You would be surprised at how it adds up! So, don't dump it down the drain, dump it into your jugs! And enjoy your roses, herbs, etc! Nothing like a vine-ripened tomato and some pretty flowers to lift your spirits in these stressful days.
(This post is written due to the large number of visitors we had, yesterday, commenting on what a great idea this is.)
Yesterday, we had our community wide yard sales. We had a large amount of people from not only our little community, but from various parts of the county and Southern Colorado, as well, come by. This conversation was repeated many, many times, over the course of the day. It went something like this:
Them: "Your roses are lovely! Such a bright spot amongst all this brown drought! We can't water, enough, at home, our water is too expensive, etc. and all of our flowers and trees are dead or dying. (Pause) Uh, what are those caps sticking out of the ground next to them?"
Our reply: "Our Wet Valley is not. Mother Nature has not smiled upon us,as well as a good part of this country, in bringing much moisture to our area. Plus, given the fact that the past few years up here, we have been banned from all outside watering, even for our livestock and pets, our once beautiful area looks like a bunch of dried up sticks and weeds. Even when we don't have the outside ban in place, due to our extremely high water rates up here in "paradise", not many people are willing to dish out the bucks to pay the even higher "penalty rates" that come with trying to water our trees just to keep them alive. Victory Gardens are for those lucky enough to have wells, of which we are not among. Even then, last year some of those wells went dry. So, what's a body to do? Well, this body took an ancient tip from the desert dwellers! While researching a couple years ago how to help our trees survive drought conditions, we ran across this information: The desert dwellers would partially bury an unglazed clay pot down into the earth next to their plantings and would put water in the vessel. The water would leach out under the ground, where the plant's roots are, thus providing life giving moisture to the plants, with very little evaporation! So, not having any unglazed clay pots just lying around and wanting to minimize the evaporation of this precious liquid even more, we improvised. We took clean empty jugs, (you know, those stupid jugs they put our milk into and don't disintegrate in 3 lifetimes??) and poked a few tiny holes in the bottom and up around the sides. We used a pushpin. Then, we buried them about 3/4 deep, next to our rose bushes, who were barely dead sticks in the ground. We put some around our fruit trees out back. We stuck some water bottles in the empty flower boxes next to the porch and planted some flowers. Petunias, which have subsequently reseeded themselves and have grown again by themselves! This year, we put some in the middle of a half whiskey barrel and planted some Italian herbs and a midget tomato plant. We fill them with gray water and pop their lids back on. Check them every couple days and add more water as needed. We have our first apples this year, since we planted them 3 years ago!
Them: "But we don't have a system to use our gray water. Isn't that expensive to modify?
Us: "Everyone can use most of their gray water, without altering their plumbing. The water that comes out of the washing machine is gray water. That is the only modification we have made to our plumbing and hubby did it, himself. It drains into our yard and raspberry bushes on the southside. However, anyone can use the water in the dishpan after you've hand washed your dishes. We put a small bucket in one side of our kitchen sink, and wash our hands over it. That's gray water. We use only natural cleaning products,that we've made, ourselves, so we know none of the "cleaners" will harm our plants. The water from boiling your pasta, from canned vegetables, etc, all is water that your plants will be grateful for!" That water you run down the drains waiting for it to get hot for your shower, THAT is water that can be used! You would be surprised at how it adds up! So, don't dump it down the drain, dump it into your jugs! And enjoy your roses, herbs, etc! Nothing like a vine-ripened tomato and some pretty flowers to lift your spirits in these stressful days.
1 comment:
What a great idea and use of water. I'm surprised Colorado, with their difficult water laws, allows this but it makes so much sense! Thanks for th hints.
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