Water Is the New Gold: Tips for Gardening During the Drought

2009 August 26

Water the soil directly, not the leaves

Yesterday, I received a notice of late payment (in error) from the City of Austin. No worries; I have zero complaints about their service, but I started thinking about how awful it would be if we didn’t have water access for a day.

Have you ever tried to go one day without water? What would you drink? How would you wash your hands, brush your teeth, or water your precious veggies and plants!? I realized that if we continue on this descending trajectory, in a couple of years, mandatory water rationing will be a nightmare.

Aaron using our grey water in the back yard

How valuable is water to you? I’ve decided I can’t live without it, so I’ve begun to treat it like gold. If water was money, would you just pour it down the drain?

When it comes to water, frugality is your friend. Since we’re limited to once-a-week watering, you’ve really gotta focus on getting the most out of each drop. Hopefully, this post will inspire you to do MORE than what the city has mandated before our situation gets worse.

Here are our tips for succesful gardening throughout the drought–even non-gardeners can benefit from it:

Reuse the wastewater that doesn’t come from the toilet, AKA grey water! If you use biodegradable soaps, this water is perfect for gardening. We put buckets in the shower and bowls in the sink, making it easy to catch runoff water. If you wanna be an overachiever you can also setup a detailed system. As a side note, don’t forget to time your showers and turn off the water while you lather and shave.
Poke 10 holes in the lower side of a milk jug with a pin. Fill it with water and set it next to larger plants and trees. This ensures the roots get really saturated. BTW: This method is great for tomatoes.
Add mulch and gravel to help prevent evaporation.
Don’t mow your lawn. Seriously, those little leaves you chop off actually keep water underneath them.
Compost! It helps add and retain moisture.
Water the soil, not the leaves.
Take the gallon technique and apply it to a water bottle for house plants
Plant seasonally and your veggies have a better chance of survival.
Xeriscape and plant native plants. Last summer, we let our greedy, gluttonous grass die. It’s since been replaced with mulch and stone. You better be sure I’ll hold my ground when HOA complains about the front yard.
If you don’t use a sprinkler system, be sure to measure your water use.
Plant raised bed gardens. They use less water, and as a bonus, they make weeding easier.