This episode marks the start of a three-part series on growing your own food with water harvesting. I’m covering this process via the three activities of water harvesting:
- Redirecting rainwater away from where it isn’t wanted to where it is
- Storing rainwater for later use
- Recycling “used” water
This week, I’ll talk about how redirecting rainwater can indirectly help you grow food, and I’ll explain what I mean by indirectly.
Transcript
INTRO: From Tucson, Arizona, welcome to the Water Harvesting 101 podcast. My name is Martha Retallick. I’ve been a water harvester for 20 years, and I’m looking forward to helping you get started.
Before we do that, here’s a little Tucson secret: For most of the year, we’re in drought. That’s just how life is in the desert.
But when the rains return, oh, do they ever. They often bring an unwelcome friend called flooding.
How do we reduce the risks of flooding? We do it with water harvesting.
Water harvesting encompasses three activities:
- Redirecting rainwater away from where it isn’t wanted to where it is.
- Storing rainwater for later use, for example, during a drought.
- Recycling “used” water. At my place, I don’t let laundry water go down the drain. Instead, it’s for the fruit trees.
We’ll be covering all of these topics and more, so let’s get started.
EPISODE: This episode marks the beginning of a three-part series on growing your own food with water harvesting, and I’m going to address this topic through the three activities of water harvesting.
They are 1) redirecting rainwater away from where you don’t want it to where you do; 2) storing rainwater for later use; and 3) recycling used water.
Let’s start with activity number one, redirecting rainwater away from where you don’t want it to where you do.
Is redirecting rainwater a viable strategy for growing fruits and vegetables?
Indirectly, yes. And here’s what I mean by indirectly.
Let’s look at redirecting water. We’ll go out to my front yard and take a tour.
I have a drainage swale that collects water from a downspout from my rain gutters, and that drainage swale directs the water to a basin, which is near a mesquite tree.
The mesquite tree produces pods that can be milled into flour. I explain how to do this in my book, City Nature.
My mesquite tree survives without supplemental irrigation of any sort. It can survive off the water that flows into that basin occasionally because it’s a native tree. It’s drought tolerant.
Can I use this same strategy for irrigating a fruit tree?
Sorry, but no. There’s just not enough water on a regular basis to properly irrigate a fruit tree.
Now, do I have any fruit trees near any of my basins? Yes, I do.
Let’s step into my backyard. I’d like to introduce you to my newest pomegranate, which I planted in February of 2024. It’s just a couple of steps away from the overflow basin for my cistern.
Being a basin, it’s a low spot, and when there’s rain, the water flows downhill into the basin. That provides a nice bump in nourishment for the pomegranate tree, but it is not enough water to properly nourish this pomegranate tree, so…
Let’s step ahead to activities two and three. Darn it, they just can’t wait their turn.
We’re going to talk about storing water for later use. When the cistern overflows, that little pomegranate tree is going to get a drink. And with all the recent rain we’ve had, yes, my cistern did overflow.
I also water that little tree with watering cans filled with water from the cistern.
And then there’s that other activity of water harvesting, recycling used water.
Do I recycle used water onto this pomegranate tree? Oh, you bet I do.
I wash the dishes for that pomegranate tree on a frequent basis during the summertime, less so now because it’s cooler and we’ve been having some rain.
I also have that tree connected to my gray water irrigation system, which is connected to my washing machine. The official name for that is laundry to landscape graywater harvesting.
So, that’s a look at redirecting rainwater away from where you don’t want it to where you do. Indirectly, you can grow food with it.
My mesquite tree out front produces pods, and, in some years I have ground those pods into flour. I explain how to do this in my book, City Nature.
And you can get all the details on City Nature at the mothership, WesternSkyCommunications.com.
While you’re over there at WesternSkyCommunications.com, sign up for my email newsletter. If you do, I will give you a free copy of my Water Harvesting Cheat Sheet.
OUTRO: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Water Harvesting 101 podcast. If you’d like to learn more about water harvesting, meet my book family.
First, it’s City Nature, the book that’s guaranteed to look great on any coffee table. City Nature reveals my secrets to water harvesting through my 20-year journey of transforming my Tucson home into an urban oasis. Get the details at CityNatureBook.com.
And if you’re on the go, take water harvesting with you. Water Harvesting 101 is an audiobook and eBook combination that will teach you the nuts and bolts of water harvesting and show you how to put them to work. Available exclusively at WaterHarvesting101Book.com.