How do you get the water you use to water your plants with. I am lucky enough ( or unlucky) to live in an area where it rains a lot and so most of my outdoor plants get a lot of their water naturally. I left a bucket outside the other day and managed to collect about an inch of rain water from it and this was enough to water a couple of my potted plants without having to use water that I pay for. What methods do you use to water your plants?
We have waterbutts on the downpipes so we catch all the water from the roof and then use it to water the plants in the garden. It is very useful during summer hosepipe bans, since although we get a lot of rain in winter, the water companies never seem to save enough for summer...
I come from a tropical environment where rainfall is seasonal. We tend to grow crops near water sources. Some people have dug boreholes and water wells for irrigation purposes during the dry spell. Another common source me water in your place is that discarded from the kitchen which together with the kitchen.
We collect rainwater in plastic containers. But during summer like now, we use all kinds of wash water for the plants and trees - used to rinse clothes, car cleaning, and some other used water. It is common to have increased water rates in the dry season maybe to encourage people to conserve water.
Our water supply comes from a natural spring that has been stored in a big water pool in the foot of a mountain. It is being filtered by a machine installed by our local water district. It is being distributed to the city through a water line. In short, we get our water for our plants, for our day-to-day needs from cooking to washing our clothes from a metered water line and we pay our monthly consumption for that. The water rate is very affordable. I don't remember that we devise a system to conserve a water through an empty big pail or bucket.
I live in an area where rainfall in not persistent, in fact, the area has been referred to as the Sunshine City.There is very little opportunity to harvest rainwater there, therefore, we have to mostly rely on the usage tap water to care for our plants.
I used to always water the plants in my garden under the care of my parents! But I only do it from time to time because my parents are very jealous (they love their plants). Water is the most precious liquid in the world and needs to be saved and / or better spent (when needed) at all cost.
I live in an apt. where we don't pay for water, but we don't like to take advantage of this, so what we do is catch water from our kitchen sink. I have a plastic container that I catch water and when it gets filled I just pour it to my plants which are mostly herbs. I have aloe and broad leaf plantain. I have a red ti leaf plant for good luck and to chase away evil spirits. I have a ceremonial plant used for Japanese New Years to place rice cakes on top of a fern. We don't have a dish washer so we wash by hand and the water we catch suffice for our plants we have. We catch rice cleaning water too and give it to the plants too. The plants are doing fine except for the heavenly bamboo which I experimented with coffee grinds and is not doing so well.
We are not in a city where rain is regular. We use groundwater as the main source. So, for the plants also we use this water. We have rain water harvesting system to recharge ground water level. Due to that, so far, managed to water the plants according to needs. But, we're pretty careful as well no to overuse water for this purpose.
Now it's summer here so it is extremely difficult to get water through rain. So daily I would fill up a bucket and water my plants. In rainy season I don't have to worry about watering at all. Still 2 more months to go.
@Rosyrain I'm thinking plants would prefer rain water to anything else. That's the most natural form of water they would get outside anyway. I just have a green squirt bottle below my plant stand and I keep it filled with regular tap water from the sink. But now that I've read your post, I'm thinking about collecting some rain water for all my plants and flowers (they're all still growing indoors/in pots) - except for my huge pumpkin plant, which I just replanted outside today. I hope it does okay out there... Thanks for the tip.
I use the rinse water of laundry and dishes for non edible ornamental plants. Soaps have the chemicals used for commercial fertilizers which is good for plants. I will not recommend it though for fruits and veggies in your garden. Only use it for non edible plants. The water I used for boiling eggs and steaming food is used to water edible plants because they have nutrients that is good for the plants.
I recycle the water that had been used to wash rice, vegetables, and fish to water the plants around the house. We also collect rain water to clean some parts of the house and to water the plant. We usually do the watering at night for the plants to fully absorb the water. Otherwise, we simply use tap water which is not really wasteful because there's a minimum consumption level for our metered line and we're barely meeting that number.
The best method I have used was to collect rainwater. Every time when it is raining my plants are wet but I need water for later so I put some buckets in my yard and I store water for the next days. I also collect the water from washing my vegetables or fruits, that water can be reused for plants or something else. If all people would do this, a lot of energy and money would be saved!
I am lucky to live in a place where water is abundant and we don’t have to pay for water. We have open water wells from where water is stored in tanks on terrace. So we can always have pure fresh water. With regard to watering of plants I have installed a drip irrigation system on my terrace and backyard garden. It not only saves water but also saves a lot of time. Moreover we can also add liquid fertilizers to it that reach to the roots of each and every plant. So there is optimum utilization of resources like time, water and fertilizer. I heard that we can connect a timer to the drip irrigation system which can automate the watering system. So water will be given to the plants at regular intervals at a specified time set by the user.
I save water that has been used to wash vegetables, rice etc. and also water used to rinse out cups and plates. I use this water for my plants.
In my country we get plenty of rain plus water supply is not a huge problem so if we do get a dry spell we can still water our plants using a hose from the home. There are times when a hose ban is implemented although many people take no notice. It's usually only if we have a long dry spell. We are told there are not enough reservoirs even though we have plenty of rainfall.
