Gardening in a drought

twopenny

Things are getting even more desperate now with no rain for over 3 months.
Filling the buckets with any liquid so emptying tea pots, tea cups, washing up water (on established plants) pasta cooking water etc etc.

Not pretty but it's doing ok.

Reminded of my great aunt whos water came from a well and she used to have a bucket under the sink where everything liquid got put in it to go on the plants and she had a great veg garden.

SuzeQStan

Hey @twopenny - have you thought about collecting the ‘grey water’ from your shower/bath?  We had a rain barrel
tapped into the shower drain pipe and that thing was never empty it seemed like. 

Was watching GW this week and MD was putting comfrey leaves on his veg as a mulch which I thought was a decent idea so I nicked it.  Anything to keep whatever moisture there can be in the ground.

Mee

Good reminder on use of grey water. I am envious of SuzeQStan's grey water harvesting system.

I currently use as much grey water as possible for my non-edibles. 
I tend to collect cold water in a bucket while waiting for the warm/hot water and use that on edible plants. I also stand in a sizeable bowl while showering (only do so if you have good balance) and I have a small child's bucket in the bathroom sink.

twopenny

Yes I'm in a bungalow so move all the bath water into a bucket etc.
Always collect the running off to hot which is 5 litres from the far end bathroom and same for kitchen.
That's plants, cars and windows.
But saving all the kitchen cooking etc water gives about 3 litres. Not a lot but another very big pot watered if done daily.

We've had no rain for nearly 4mts so trees and large plants are suffering.

Slinky

Mee said:

Good reminder on use of grey water. I am envious of SuzeQStan's grey water harvesting system.

I currently use as much grey water as possible for my non-edibles. 
I tend to collect cold water in a bucket while waiting for the warm/hot water and use that on edible plants. I also stand in a sizeable bowl while showering (only do so if you have good balance) and I have a small child's bucket in the bathroom sink.

The standing in a bowl reminds me of a holiday destination in Greece where they used to bring all the water into the island by boat. We'd stand in a large bowl in the shower and use the water to flush the toilet. We still do it there now even though they have a desalination plant.

twopenny

Suze, sounds like a great idea but what about the soap?
What happens in winter?

Reminds me of my neighbour. He put a waterbutt diverter between the downpipe and a huge hydrangea pot. It's only in our very long drought does it need extra.

SuzeQStan

I hear you @twopenny and yes the grey water is not very nice but it is plentiful. 

Like with normal rain barrels the key seemed to be making sure the grey water gets used regularly but not on the same
plants everyday.  Seems to be ok for established plants but I wouldn’t put it on edibles.

We empty & disconnect some of our rain barrels in winter.  

twopenny

Sounds like a good plan 🙂
I went out to look if I had something I could tap into but sadly not. I'm sure heaving buckets must be good for me 🤞

Sapindus

Yarrow is the lawn of the future. Soft feathery leaves if you mow it, pretty white flowers if you don't, and look how deep the roots go which is why so many road verges are solid yarrow at the moment.

SuzeQStan

I’m so pleased you posted that @Sapindus - I had a small patch of Achillea millefolium which I popped into a shaded (to control it) garden bed till I decided what to do with it. Also have another patch already in the weedy thing that we call the lawn.  Its leaves are indeed feathery soft and the patch in grass seems to cope with foot traffic. I will plant out plugs of it in the lawn at the weekend - thanks again 😊