What are you doing to become water efficient?

[Happy hen lover]

Ditto here. I wish I convince DH to pee around the perimeter of the fence, but I'm sure he would say no.

In the winter, I don't shower every day. This time of year when walking the dog makes me sweat, I shower every day, but about half of the time it's a quick "rinse off" shower, and I don't shampoo my hair.

I don't use a sprinkler to water the garden. I either get buckets of water and ladle out some for each plant, or haul the hose around to water each plant. I want as much of the water to go to the plants as possible.

We've talked about doing a rain catchment system on the roof of the pole barn; I hope we can get that done this summer.

We do have "water barrels " per SE on every downspout in back yard. 2 are big green city trash barrels on line with each other, 1 is a plastic 55 gallon barrel I bought years ago with spigot and overflow into double walled 55 gallon buckets drum I scrubbed clean. We have some blue 35 gallon barrels we got from somewhere and they are inline with PVC attached tubes to fill. I also got 2 last 2 years from farm store that are food grade and smell very Mediterranean inside. Like olives or peppers they are attached by a 3 inch PVC tube. And now I'm ordering some more blue barrels online. Those will take a hand pump to empty them. They are either attached to hoses or can fill watering cans. I'm amazed at how little rain it takes to fill a barrel

 

[Stacaroni]

Ditto here. I wish I convince DH to pee around the perimeter of the fence, but I'm sure he would say no.

Would he be more likely to do it if he thought it would help keep predators at bay? Apparently it works to some degree.

 

[igorsMistress]

Ditto here. I wish I convince DH to pee around the perimeter of the fence, but I'm sure he would say no.

In the winter, I don't shower every day. This time of year when walking the dog makes me sweat, I shower every day, but about half of the time it's a quick "rinse off" shower, and I don't shampoo my hair.

I don't use a sprinkler to water the garden. I either get buckets of water and ladle out some for each plant, or haul the hose around to water each plant. I want as much of the water to go to the plants as possible.

We've talked about doing a rain catchment system on the roof of the pole barn; I hope we can get that done this summer.

Igor will pee out in the yard whenever he’s out there and needs to go. Usually by the back gate where our dog and the neighborhood dogs have some competition going.

 

[MadGardener]

I'm another mulch fan. Every bed and garden row gets a good thick layer of wood chips or leaves. I like hay in the garden rows...mostly a holdover from my shady garden where it helped reflect a little more light.

I save and cool the water I boil veggies in. As long as it isn't heavily salted my plants really like it, especially the indoor plants that I don't pot up as often as I should.

 

[igorsMistress]

I'm another mulch fan. Every bed and garden row gets a good thick layer of wood chips or leaves. I like hay in the garden rows...mostly a holdover from my shady garden where it helped reflect a little more light.

I save and cool the water I boil veggies in. As long as it isn't heavily salted my plants really like it, especially the indoor plants that I don't pot up as often as I should.

I love the idea of the veggie water! My indoor plants could use a boost, I’m going to do that thanks.

I use straw in my garden beds, it does seem to brighten up the shade garden quite a bit.

 

[Lor]

Brad Lancaster's books "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and beyond"

Many of the concepts could be used even if collection of rainwater isn't allowed. One example: simply using a curved swale instead of a straight one allows the rainwater to flow slower so more of it to be absorbed by the soil or plants.

I'm decidedly not on drylands and still find the books among the most helpful of all my resource books.

Thanks for sharing that.

 

[DParker75089]

With a 3,000 sq ft garden that needs to be watered an average of 3.5 times per week during the Summer heat, drip irrigation with the emitter tubing (drip tape) buried is far and away the most effective water conservation measure I could have implemented.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Ditto here. I wish I convince DH to pee around the perimeter of the fence, but I'm sure he would say no.

It’s electric, right????

 

[igorsMistress]

We’ve started dumping the dregs of the dog water into a bucket and I’m using it to water a few plants in the front yard. Our condensate from the HVAC fills a five gallon bucket in about 2 days during monsoon season, which I’m using in my xeriscape garden. I’ve switched to a soaker ring for shrubs rather than a hose, reserving the hoses for veggies and the shade garden. Bought some soap nuts and a dishpan for the kitchen, mixing in water from a second dog bowl and using that for larger shrubs in the front yard. I’m curious to see what my water bill looks like at the end of the month.

 

[MadGardener]

We’ve started dumping the dregs of the dog water into a bucket and I’m using it to water a few plants in the front yard. Our condensate from the HVAC fills a five gallon bucket in about 2 days during monsoon season, which I’m using in my xeriscape garden. I’ve switched to a soaker ring for shrubs rather than a hose, reserving the hoses for veggies and the shade garden. Bought some soap nuts and a dishpan for the kitchen, mixing in water from a second dog bowl and using that for larger shrubs in the front yard. I’m curious to see what my water bill looks like at the end of the month.

How do you like soap nuts? I've been eyeing them.