Rewilding My Lot

One of my goals here is to keep supplemental water use to a minimum. Before last winter I stashed my hoses away. In April I used one hose sprinkler head for a few days to water a newly seeded grass area.

A few days ago, now in September, I was drafting this post thinking that I was about to use the hose again because the rain barrels were finally empty. However, rain in the past few days has been enough to fill the one rain barrel that is currently connected, which means that I have no foreseeable need for faucet water in the garden.

The garden’s need for water so far this year has been less than last year for a couple of reasons: there was an extended drought in 2023, and the plants here now are mostly more established than they were last year. The exception to that were the vegetables that I tried to grow this year, which did want more water than the native, drought-resilient plants that are the majority here.

These are some things that I do to conserve water:

• There is no sprinkler system here. If something needs water, then it is delivered manually (watering can or hose).
• There are two rain barrels behind the house to catch roof run-off. They hold only 55 gallons each, but except in times of extended drought they have been enough to fill watering cans or buckets. (One barrel is temporarily disconnected to make way for pond preparation work.)
• Almost all the plants here have been chosen to be native or adapted to the area and once they are established they should need virtually no supplemental water.
• My front lawn is Bermudagrass, planted by the builder. If it turns brown from drought or freeze, I just let it recover on its own.
• The little grass I have in the back is a mixture of three native grasses (“Thunder Turf“). In the fall I will reseed a few bare areas, but the grass that grew after the 2023 seedings requires no extra water and mowing only twice a year. Their roots should go very deep.
• In the summertime when water needs are greater, some “grey water” from the house is used to water the most vulnerable plants. For instance, I keep a bucket in my shower to capture water that would otherwise go down the drain.