Water water everywhere .....

This week’s post will be focusing on grey water and the drought we are facing in most of the US.

When considering a title for this piece I had a flashback to childhood and remembered my English literature teacher who once a week read a poem to the class and one occasion she read “The rime (rhyme) of the Ancient Mariner” and for homework we had to memorize 3 verses. If you haven’t read this master piece written by by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798 it is worth struggling with it’s ballad format and use of old  English words but to get into the rhythm of the poem you may first need to re-fresh your understanding of iambic meters. The poem is a very imaginative layered piece that on the surface tells the story of mariners on the sea who befall calm windless waters and are cursed by the actions of one sailor. The imagery is powerful  and chilling and deals with issues of morality, punishment, loneliness and redemption and is poignantly pertinent to our current global nightmare.

Back to present day. In previous posts I have documented how we responded to the California drought by replacing our water sucking gardens at home with drought tolerant plants that are drip-fed rather than sprinkler fed. In recent months we have further reduced our consumption by using our dishwasher more often, showering less and relying more on bathing with sink water. I ran the calculations and for the pre-saving years in a 60 day period we consumed 4,700 cubic feet compared to the current amount of 900 cubic feet. Gallons are easier to understand (multiply by 7.48) so for a 60 day period the pre-daily gallons use was 586  compared with our current daily gallons use of 112 gallons per day (900x 7.481= 6,733 divided by 60 =  112 gallons) this is for a household of 2 humans and 2 canines. A report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office for 2016 showed that one person on average uses 85 gallons.

We have reduced our water use by 80% to 112 gallons or 66 gallons per person but how can we reduce this further? That is what we hope to find out in our meetings with grey water and rain water experts we are meeting at our home. As we cannot realistically consume less we are looking to see how we can recycle what we use from one area to another. Grey water is water that comes from water from showers, tubs, bathroom sinks and washing machines. Black water is what comes from toilets, dishwashers and kitchen sinks. I am assuming that the grease and meat scraps in the kitchen sink and dishwasher prevent these sources from being recycled but this is a question I will have for the experts. I also need to understand if grey water needs to be filtered and or treated with an organic compound before it can be safely used to water my trees and plants.

While we have not received much rain over the last 2 years, I am hoping that when we do I can store and filter it to a level suitable for drinking and if not to supplement our grey water system. Storing rain water will be a challenge as our home is on a small down hill slope and there are few flat areas to place storage tanks, yet another question for the experts.

The agave plants at the beginning of this post were on my morning hike and they reminded me of the agave candlestick holders we have made.

Labor Day - Drought Tolerant Labor of love

The drought tolerant garden and front curb are almost complete needing only the final but vital drip systems to be installed. The drip system will deliver water to the location of each plant set on a timer for 10 minutes twice weekly to begin with and then hopefully on a weekly plan.

Stages recapped;

Soil and root removal.

We removed about 2” of top soil and dug up as many roots from the old grass as we could, this was laborious hard work but meant that no weed killer or other toxin was used in the process.The remaining soil was then compacted manually with a tamper.

Planning areas, laying weed barrier, adding top layers

The garden was mapped out with stakes separating areas that would be pathways and seating from areas devoted to plants. A shallow 2” trench was dug along the perimeter separating these areas and a flexible  4” barrier was laid down and secured with plastic stakes. The entire area was then covered with a black cloth weed barrier. For the pathways and seating areas we then added 2” of sand colored decomposed granite which was applied in successive layers, each layer being compacted using both a mechanical vibrating plate compactor and a tamper in more confined spaces. For the pathway and seating area and before adding the d.g. we placed random shaped 2” thick stone. As the d.g. was stabilized each compacted layer was sprayed with water to activate the stabilizing bonding agent.

Where we were adding plants, we cut through the weed barrier and dug out a hole for each plant before filling with a combination of sand and enriched planting soil. The front curb was then finished with another layer of d.g. again compacted and activated with water.

We used loose sand around each of the plants in the front garden and finished this with pea gravel. We have reconsidered this plan as we are concerned that the pea gravel may retain too much heat to the detriment of the society garlic. As a remedy we will be pushing the gravel away from the garlic to create a berm to keep the garlic surrounded by cooler sand.

Planning a drought tolerant sidewalk

 I am planning a small drought tolerant garden for the area in front of my sidewalk and will be documenting my progress here.

The area is 3’ wide by 50’ long and has scattering of grass that is minimally watered by sprinklers.

I plan to replace the grass with 2 borders of drought tolerant society garlic and a center section of dramatic agave plants.

There is a plethora of information and imagery on line devoted to the subject of drought resistant plants so choosing the color and species was not daunting. Once my choices had been narrowed down I turned to a local grower, Shelly Jennings of Worldwide Exotic Plants to find suitable sized plants. My goal was to find a medium sized agave that would serve as a focal point without becoming too unruly. Shelly’s nursery is large both in size and in the amazing variety of agave, aloe, grasses and shrubs making it a great one stop shop for my project.

I chose a total of 12 Agave Univatata Aurea for the central section and will be adding 50 white and blue flowering garlic later for the borders. The agave will be space about 4’ apart and the garlic will be spaced at similar intervals but off center to the agave. The agave will produce smaller “baby” plants some of which I will keep for future use and the garlic will create bulb offspring which I will leave to  fill out the border.

Ground preparation:

Since I do not want to use any chemicals to kill the existing grass we will dig down to a 6” depth and remove both the soil and fine grass roots. Agaves need soil that drains well so the replacement soil will be a combination of sand mixed with potting mix.

Once the top soil is in place I will then have to decide whether to lay a series of drip lines or to water by hand. The existing water pipe is old and ugly but running a new line will be costly and logistically challenging as it would need to run under the sidewalk.

Once established both the agave and garlic plants will not require much water but when first planted the garlic will need to be watered 3 to 4 times a week. For this reason, I am planning on adding the garlic in the fall when hopefully we have less brutal heat.

To help retain moisture and to curtail weeds the top soil will be held in place by gravel. I have chosen Golden Coast gravel as the golden red tones will provide a nice contrast to the green, blue, purple and white plant colors. The gravel is not difficult to find and as I have a truck I was able to pick this up at a reasonable price from Prime Building Materials located in Sylmar.

Before, during and after- our drought tolerant garden update.

When we last updated you our backyard looked something like this--

And now, with the drip system in place

we have been able to plant many varieties of drought tolerant plants and this area now looks like this--

Before the construction--

And where we are now--

As you can see, our little ceramic birdbath remains part of the new design plans, which I am certain will make our feathered friends happy.  Some of the plants and grasses we decided to use include:

• This Golden barrel cactus – Iris beware!

• 

• Aeonium clyclops
• Agave
• Blue fescue - a hardy drought resistant grass

The next step will be to put down the decomposed granite and sand to create pathways.

We purchased all of the exotic plants from World Wide Exotics Nursery and the blue fescue grass from Armstrong Nursery in Glendale.

We will keep you posted as we complete each step of this transformation.

Have you altered your landscape as a result of the drought conditions?

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