YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Wacky ways to water
Posted on July 20th, 2007 – 10:10 AMBy Connie Nelson
I’ve always tried to conserve water around the house to use in the garden. When I run the dehumidifier, I use the water it produces in the hosta bed. In the evening, I dump the leftover coffee from breakfast on the the Nikko Blue hydrangeas. (I know it doesn’t add enough acidity to turn them from pink to blue, but I do it anyway.)
I had no idea this might be considered strange until I was emptying the water from the salad spinner onto some container plants. My neighbor saw me and asked what the heck I was doing. When I explained, she said “Oh, I see . . .” and ran back in her house.
Just yesterday, I got a press release from Organic Gardening magazine, which offered “a few smart water conservation tips.” They included keeping a bucket in the shower and the kitchen sink to catch the water that runs while you’re waiting for it to heat up.
Is that weird? Or is it a good idea? What kind of wacky things do you do to save water? Where do you draw the line?
27 Responses to "Wacky ways to water"
We love our rain barrel. I didn’t realize how much we talked about it until my parents bought me another rain barrel for my birthday in May… Unfortunately, we haven’t found the time to set it up and it’s still wrapped in plastic. Some gardeners swear that rain water is better than hose water… I have yet to notice a difference. Have you?
(Funny, I thought we were the only ones recycling our dehumidifier water… )
With our water costs going way up to maintain our grass, garden,etc. Thank you for posting some unique ideas to save water…I would have never thought to re-use our dehumidifier water…
Where can you pick up a rain barrel, are they still available this time of year?
I don’t think it’s strange at all. I have even trained my husband to dump the dehumidifier water on my hostas or put in the bird bath as a friend also does. When I need hot water I try to remember to collect the cool water for coffee or plants instead of just letting it run down the drain. They’re little things but when you think about the lack of clean water in other parts of the world, it’s the right thing to do. I also collect rain water in tubs. I should probably get a rain barrel.
We got our rain barrel at the Linden Hills co-op. It was $140. The city of Minneapolis was selling the same rain barrel to residents for $40. For the thrifty (and crafty) gardener, there are tons of DIY rain barrel ideas on the web.
http://www.thegreenguide.org/article/diy/rain
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/garden/rain_barrel.php
There’s been a run on rain barrels this summer, so they may be hard to find. A couple of weeks ago, Linden Hills co-op was sold out, as was the city. The ReUse Center, near Lake St. and Hiawatha Av. in Minneapolis, is hoping to get another shipment of rain barrels in a couple weeks. Call 612-724-2608 and see if you can order one.
If you want to make your own rain barrel, several online sources and step-by-step instructions. Google “rain barrels” and “minneapolis.”
other sources of plant water…
after it has cooled you can reuse the water you used to boil or steam vegetables. as a bonus I read once that the vitamins leached off the veggis are good for you plants.
I water my house plants with that last 1/4 of water that seems to get left in plastic water bottles.
And I dumped the water from ice melt in our cooler on my plants instead of down the drain or on the pavement
if it is clean and going down the drain then it can be used on your plants.
I collect and recycle the fish water when I do the 25% water change in the koi pond and reuse it in the garden. I wash the veggies before taking them inside at a outdoor sink and reuse the dirty water on plants.
When I worked at another school the guy across the street from the school had 5 gallon pails situated under the drip line of his garage. I never realized that you cond get that much water! He then could lift the pails and take the H20 where it was needed later!
Great suggestions! I never thought about dumping water ice melt in the cooler on plants. I suppose you have to wait until the ice melts to dump the cooler, huh?
I dump the water that’s left in the cats’ bowl on my containers when giving them fresh water every day.
I’ve also read a tip somewhere about using water you’ve boiled pasta in on plants (once it’s cooled of course), but wonder if the starch would hurt anything?
p.s. Long-time reader, rarely comment, but I really enjoy the blog!
Thanks for blogging with us,Karkki.
I haven’t seen any research on it, but I really doubt starch from the pasta would hurt plants. Dumping coffee and coffee grounds (both of which are highly acidic) doesn’t really affect plants, so I doubt a little bit of pasta water would be bad. Again, what a great idea. I think I’m going to compile a list of the Top Ten Ways To Recycle Water and stick it on my ‘frige. That way I might be able to teach myself some new tricks, like using pasta water for plants.
Others have already said it, but I’ll reiterate: rain barrels are the best. It’s incredible to see how much runoff there is for even a short rain. Since I installed one early this summer, it has yet to run dry.
We are so excited about the rain barrels as well! I heard about a Gutter company in Minnetonka that is now offering services to attach a gutter down spout into the rain barrel. I also heard that this company is coming up with ways to oxygenate the water and are working on building cute enclosures around the barrel. I was so excited when I heard about what they are doing that I tracked them down and hired them right away! They are coming out on Monday to do the gutters on my garage and are going to attach the downspout to my rain barrel! If anyone is interested in how it turns out, I’d be more than willing to share my experience. If anyone is interested in having that company do that for you I’ll pass on the info, I just don’t want to come across as though I’m advertising for them, but believe me if they do a great job on Monday, I’m am going to be the best free advertising that ever happened to them!
I have the kids fill their watering cans from the big wading pool (that gets full of dirt and grass from little feet almost as soon as we fill it!) to water all of the potted flowers, the perennials and the vegetables that I don’t have on my soaker hose line. We have to clean out the pool about once a week, so it works really well, and keeps them cool and busy for quite a long time. We don’t have watering restrictions in Bloomington, but we try to conserve anyway.
I hooked up the rain barrel in early May. It was an easy task to cut the downspout, screw on a simple plastic flex piece, and direct it right to the screen in the top of the barrel. I have used the hose to water my vegetable garden only 3-4 times this year. Otherwise it has been rain water and dehumidifier water toted up in 2 big watering cans. We put cooled down pasta water and the water from salad spinner in the plants on the deck. The flowers and herbs look great. I don’t think the starch has any effect on them.
I used to work for an elderly couple in my hometown 20 years ago. In the 30’s they had made up a “switch” to divert the waste water from the sink into a rain barrel type device. All the non-soapy water would get dumped in there. They still used with with a few upgrades over time. They never used a hose on their immense garden. The water bin was always full of rain water and/ or waste water. Maybe a little extreme, but I gets my mind wondering what is possible.
stephanie,
I’d love it if you would share your gutter experience with us — I mean RAIN gutter experience. Could you snap some pix and post them, too? Pretty please?
The rainbarrel does rokk.
Ours is an old whiskey barrel. It smells like whiskey. We hook up a soaker hose to it, and it gives the tomatoes and beans a good soakin.
I hope that means our tomatoes will TASTE like whiskey.
If you read up on Permaculture they talk a lot about different ways you can reuse the water from your house. Some of the ways were mention above like rain water and reusing cooking water. They also have some really interesting ideas on reusing “grey water” (water from your sink of shower) and they have differnt ways you could save that water for your garden of for flushing your toliet.
Connie-
In response to my RAIN gutter experience, it was great! I opted for the pump to oxygenate water and they built an enclosure based on my ideas. I would love to show everyone a pic, how do I do that?
Stephanie,
If you could e-mail me photos to homegarden@startribune.com, I’ll post ‘em!
I just sent a pic to that address! Thanks!
Hey Stephanie,
That’s one of the nicest looking rain barrels I’ve seen!
Someone else mentioned briefly using salad spinning water: When I wash vegetables or greens, I catch the water in a big bowl and use it to water pots and the general garden.
I empty my salad spinners right into my hosta garden. Good thing it’s right outside the kitchen door. . .
Connie, thanks for posting my pic of my Rain barrel result! I kind of wish I would have sent the before picture because it was such a dramatic difference. Anyway, my daughter was thrilled to see herself on the computer! I was re-reading the blog about watering, and how to get a rain barrel and I should have mentioned that the company that attached my gutter and rain barrel also supplies the barrels as well. I’m not sure exactly what they charge, but I know it’s WAY less than Linden Hill’s Co-op. I know that it’s under $100 FOR SURE!
Hey Stephanie,
Would you be willing to share the name of the gutter company you used? Some other folks (including me) might want to get a hold of them.
I am more than willing to share their info, they are great! The company is CFC Seamless, based out of Minnetonka. The phone number is 952-475-3234. Steve and Jeff are their names. I HIGHLY recommend them! They are so enthusiastic about the rain barrels and are very genuine about the work they do on homes. I hope everyone gets a pretty barrel!
I have a question for anyone regarding dehumidifier water….is it safe for pet consumption?
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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