Tag: Plants (Page 1 of 2)

Capturing Rainwater for Landscape Plantings

February 24, 2016 / nick / 1 Comment

Hydrologic Cycle

Percolation. This may be new rainwater term to most homeowners, but it is a term and activity that we need to embrace. Simply put, it refers to keeping rainwater on the land and letting it flow into the ground, ultimately replenishing ground water.

An inch of rain falling on about 1600 square feet of rooftop will produce about 1,000 gallons of run-off. Capturing this water on the property at the start and end of the rainy season will lessen irrigation needs and help plants cope with drought conditions.

Homeowner cuts water usage 76% by hauling recycled water

September 2, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

waterscore Two months ago I wrote an article about Chris Rossiter, a Danville resident who needed 2,000 + gallons of water per day (GPD) to keep his backyard paradise thriving. Enter the drought of 2015 and Chris was faced with a requirement to reduce his usage by 20% or face an Excessive Use Penalty from his water company. His usage was nearly twice that and he knew he had to do something about it.

Chris borrowed a trailer, setup a tank hauling system and put in temporary irrigation all over his yard. Chris streamlined everything to make watering with recycled water from two area fill stations, a breeze.

“Freak” rainstorm refills dry rain barrels

July 20, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

Hurricane Dolores – the same one whose moisture just ravaged I-10 near the California/Arizona border spawned some isolated storms in SF Bay Area. Those storms arrived around 1AM on Sunday morning as signified by a tweet from @NWSBayArea.

#NWS radar image of isolated showers over #contracosta county at 12:20 am early Sunday morning. #cawx pic.twitter.com/ftBe69dQA4

— NWSBayArea (@NWSBayArea) July 19, 2015

Tips & Tricks to Unload Recycled Water More Efficiently

July 7, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

Facebook.com/RecycledH2O

There has been immense activity surrounding hauling recycled water. The lines at recycled water fill stations are long (with more hose bibs/fill stations coming online often), everywhere you look in the are people are driving around with 300 gallon totes in their trucks and/or trailers and demand for pumps at Harbor Freight is high.

So why not take this as a chance to update you on the changes I’ve made with my recycled water hauling setup and share some of the Tips & Tricks I have learned.

11,500 gallons Recycled Water Hauled

June 2015 – Content Roll Up

June 9, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

I am very impressed at how much activity this blog has received. From starting as a way to tell the world what I do to the guest writers and some very in depth articles, I like where things are going. There is a Facebook page with status updates and photos from the road and I’m trying to get a Twitter handle going as well.

Lots of interest from the community – its a good thing Recycled Water is a hot topic, especially during this California Drought.

Step-by-Step – Getting and Unloading RecycledH2O from CCCSD Residential Fill Station – The most visited article on this website Continue reading

What Can I Do To Lower My Water Usage? – Homeowner edition

June 2, 2015 / nick / 1 Comment

Last night, on the news, nearly every news station had a story on the drought and how you must reduce. But how many of them provided good, quality tips on ways that really work?

June 1st, 2015 marked the date where water reduction mandates would take effect. Homeowners MUST reduce their usage by up to 38% depending on where they live. The complete list is available here for “conservation standard” for your water company – information that is available at the State Water Resource Control Board website.

East Bay Municipal Utilities District – 16% reduction
Contra Costa Water District – 28% reduction

As a homeowner – what steps can you take to lower your usage – starting today to going extreme?

Tolerance of landscape GROUNDCOVER and VINE species to Recycled Water Spray

May 26, 2015 / nick / 1 Comment

As previously noted in “What Impact Does Recycled Water Have On Plants In The Garden” this is the fourth in a series of data as provided from the UC Davis Report on “Landscape Plant Selection Guide For Recycled Water Irrigation“.

For this table, ground covers and vines are listed in 4 columns. The first is its Botanical Name, second column is Common Name, third column is its tolerance to salt spray and fourth column is its tolerance to soil salinity.

Plants were watered with spray irrigation from recycled water. The big take-away with this list is almost most ground covers and vines can handle RecycledH2O and thrive in its environment.

Tolerance of landscape SHRUB species to Recycled Water Spray

May 23, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

As previously noted in “What Impact Does Recycled Water Have On Plants In The Garden” this is the third in a series of data as provided from the UC Davis Report on “Landscape Plant Selection Guide For Recycled Water Irrigation“.

For this table, shrubs are listed in 4 columns. The first is its Botanical Name, second column is Common Name, third column is its tolerance to salt spray and fourth column is its tolerance to soil salinity.

Plants were watered with spray irrigation from recycled water. The big take-away with this list is some shrubs can handle RecycledH2O and thrive in its environment.

Front Yard Re-Landscaping

May 22, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

I follow a page on Facebook called “Grow Food Not Lawns“, they are HUGE advocates for getting rid of the water hog called a lawn and planting it with something more beneficial to the homeowner. I have never been very interested in lawns as they require a lot of water, upkeep and I find them a rather large waste of space.

The water district in my area offered a “Lawn to Garden Rebate Program” which would pay up to $1,000 for homeowners or $10,000 for commercial, municipal or HOA’s. Basically $1 per square foot of lawn removed.

Tolerance of landscape PALM species to Recycled Water Spray

May 20, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

As previously noted in “What Impact Does Recycled Water Have On Plants In The Garden” this is the second in a series of data as provided from the UC Davis Report on “Landscape Plant Selection Guide For Recycled Water Irrigation“.

For this table, palms are listed in 4 columns. The first is its Botanical Name, second column is Common Name, third column is its tolerance to salt spray and fourth column is its tolerance to soil salinity.

Plants were watered with spray irrigation from recycled water. The big take-away with this list is almost all palms can handle RecycledH2O and thrive in its environment.