Watering Just Before the Rain

Sustainable Living Tucson · 10 months ago · 103 views

As the dark clouds of Hurricane Priscilla loom overhead with the promise (or threat) of rain, it may seem unintuitive to deep water plants. After all, won't they get watered by the storm? But one inch of rain can fill up even our biggest cistern. So, it is time to make room for more rainwater. I have the challenge of deciding what plants to deep water. I started by giving the moringa in our right of way basin two 5 gallon buckets. (See pic at the top of the page.) Dan drilled two small holes in the bottom of the blue bucket to let the water out slowly.I also gave three 5 gallon buckets to our pomegranate that has been struggling since we got the water efficient washing machine. It only releases 2-3 gallons of water into the greywater basin (rather than the 12 gallons it used to supply.) The 55 gallon barrels that get water off of the roof and the air conditioner condensation have already been emptied.I used the water from them for our little garden that needs to be watered 2-3 times a day in this unseasonably hot weather.I've left the water from the last downpour in the cisterns attached to overflow tanks in hopes that one more downpour will finally refill the second tank.  While preparing for the rain, we also cleared debris from the gutter and the leaf catchers so they work efficiently. After the long dry spell, we are keenly aware that every drop of water is precious.If Hurricane Priscilla pitches a fit, we could get enough to easily fill the second slimline tank and overflow into our Jujube basin to deep water our jujubes. Hurricane Priscilla did fill up the jujube basin! And we might just fill up our biggest cistern. But the water will overflow into our patio that leads to our Mexican honeysuckle...That's not a bad problem to have.  That's why it's always important to have overflow for your tanks. Just for fun... Here's the blog about my first rainwater harvesting experiment that made that possible. Pulverizing Bricks that Dam the Flow

As the dark clouds of Hurricane Priscilla loom overhead with the promise (or threat) of rain, it may seem unintuitive to deep water plants. After all, won't they get watered by the storm? But one inch of rain can fill up even our biggest cistern. So, it is time to make room for more rainwater. 

I have the challenge of deciding what plants to deep water. I started by giving the moringa in our right of way basin two 5 gallon buckets. (See pic at the top of the page.) Dan drilled two small holes in the bottom of the blue bucket to let the water out slowly.

I also gave three 5 gallon buckets to our pomegranate that has been struggling since we got the water efficient washing machine. It only releases 2-3 gallons of water into the greywater basin (rather than the 12 gallons it used to supply.) 

The 55 gallon barrels that get water off of the roof and the air conditioner condensation have already been emptied.

I used the water from them for our little garden that needs to be watered 2-3 times a day in this unseasonably hot weather.

I've left the water from the last downpour in the cisterns attached to overflow tanks in hopes that one more downpour will finally refill the second tank.  

While preparing for the rain, we also cleared debris from the gutter and the leaf catchers so they work efficiently. After the long dry spell, we are keenly aware that every drop of water is precious.

If Hurricane Priscilla pitches a fit, we could get enough to easily fill the second slimline tank and overflow into our Jujube basin to deep water our jujubes. 

Hurricane Priscilla did fill up the jujube basin! 

And we might just fill up our biggest cistern. 

But the water will overflow into our patio that leads to our Mexican honeysuckle...

That's not a bad problem to have.  That's why it's always important to have overflow for your tanks. 

Just for fun... Here's the blog about my first rainwater harvesting experiment that made that possible. 

Pulverizing Bricks that Dam the Flow