Now that we’re halfway through summer, let’s talk about lessons learned.
What’s the biggest lesson from summer? It comes directly to you from my front and backyard. And here it is:
Live Within Your Means.
Today’s episode explains how this concept relates to water harvesting.
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: Now that we’re halfway through summer, let’s talk about lessons learned.
What’s the biggest lesson from summer? The biggest lesson comes directly to you from my front and backyards, and here it is:
Live Within Your Means
Am I talking about money? Yes. I will get back to that point in a minute.
First, let’s talk about water. That’s a form of means as well.
During the summer months, we do get that wonderful rain that fills our cisterns. For a time, my cistern was completely full.
Then we had a heat wave.
And truth be told, my 1,500-gallon cistern is down to about 1,000 gallons. I’ve used a third of my cistern water in less than a month. (See above photo.)
I’m using cistern water to keep my raised bed vegetable garden going. That’s 21 square feet of garden space. An additional 6 square feet of garden space is for a planter that has a dwarf fig in it.
I’m also using cistern water to keep my fruit trees going. These are the trees that are not in the aforementioned planter – two pomegranates and one lemon tree.
Truth be told, there have been times when I have turned on the faucet to let some of that Tucson Water flow into a bucket or a garden hose. Gotta do what I gotta do to keep those vegetable gardens and fruit trees going!
And now, let’s talk about money.
I have heard of some gardeners in Tucson – and in the Southwest – and, oh my goodness! Do they have the gardens!
They are so elaborate, and I can’t help thinking they must have stratospheric water bills. Mine isn’t, and that’s by design. I don’t want a stratospheric water bill.
That’s why I’m living within the means of only gardening 27 square feet of raised bed garden space – 21 square feet for the vegetable garden and 6 square feet for the fig tree planter.
Out in my front yard, I have low water use native plants that don’t require irrigation at all.
And let’s talk about the landscape plants for a minute. This is addressed to a nearby neighbor – you know who you are.
You planted a tree in your barren front yard – I think it was back during June. Ever since then, that tree has really been struggling.
There’s a reason for that.
This is not a good time of the year to plant anything in the ground. It’s too hot.
Wait until fall, as in, October and November. That’s prime planting season in the American Southwest.
In the meantime, we are living within our means – our our money means and our water means.
If you’d like to learn more about water harvesting, sign up for my monthly email newsletter. If you do, I’ll give you a free copy of my Water Harvesting Cheat Sheet.
And if you’d like to support the Water Harvesting 101 podcast, the PayPal email address is info@westernskycommunications.com.
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.