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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 15, 2012 13:59:52 GMT -5
We've had very difficult weather this year and though I'd had plans to put in water storage, it feels a lot more urgent now (Though too late for this year). I'd like to put in a storage/habitat pond at the bottom or our orchard and a few smaller watering ponds/features else where.
Anyone have any good links, ideas of their own.
Also, planning on setting up grey water recycling more efficient than lugging out buckets of water...
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edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Jul 15, 2012 16:21:48 GMT -5
I think that farmers just dig a big deep hole at a low point and make a pond?
I am beginning to lay hoses all over our garden to make watering quicker. 350' does not seem to greatly affect water pressure. This will eventually be something permanent. I may bury them in the future. I will need to think about frost damage.
We have a shallow well that runs dry. I am considering running water from downspouts to the well. I may make some of the hoses do double duty. I do not think that the capacity of the hoses is great enough to handle the complete run-off from a moderate rain storm.
I am also thinking about our fruit trees. I have turned on the hose full and set the timer for 20 minutes. I am thinking of driving 1' of 2" abs pipe into the ground and watering a foot below the surface. I am also considering drip irrigation.
When it comes to water storage, I've thought about above ground swimming pools. I don't think I'm too likely to go that route as it is far cheaper to rely on city water - and so far no watering restrictions.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 15, 2012 23:50:11 GMT -5
From a physics standpoint, the higher up you can capture and store water the better. Since the water that seeps into the top of your hill will seep downwards through your soil. But water stored at the bottom of your place will seep downwards through the neighbor's soil.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 16, 2012 0:31:05 GMT -5
Ottawa, the best luck that we have had is rain barrels.
I want tanks and underground storage. I want a cistern!
But in the interim, I got a truck load of plastic barrels and put them in the drip line of the barn. Leo ran a diverter from the downspout and we filled them in a line. However, the water only lasted a few weeks. sigh.
The heat has been immense and I'm spending a fortune watering.
We saw a program where someone from up north put barrels in a greenhouse and collected and stored the water inside. The water also kept the greenhouse warm.
Grey water from our washing machine is diverted to the landscape. This limits the type of soap we can use. We have a composting toilet.
I'm a water nazi. When I wash veges, the water is captured and used to water pots. I don't need to do this yet...however, I am worried.
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Post by raymondo on Jul 16, 2012 1:09:44 GMT -5
Telsing, check out keyline water capture. Joseph's right, the higher up the better. I have two swales up above the house to slow things down a bit and let rainwater soak in. I also have a 32500 L (~8500 gal) tank that collects roof run off from half the house roof.
When I did my permaculture course, the teacher encouraged us to set things up so that we could live within our water budget (the rainwater which fell on our land). Not always possible, especially for renters, but it certainly made me think about water use. We are used to water restrictions in Australia as we have frequent prolonged dry spells - some call them droughts but they are part of our regular climate pattern.
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Post by MikeH on Jul 16, 2012 4:15:15 GMT -5
We catch rainwater off the roof in four 1000 litre food grade containers. And we mulch heavily throughout the summer with grass clippings. We're just beginning to feel the effects of the drought. The lawn is not growing so there are no fresh grass clippings and the old grass clipping mulch is starting to dry out. So far the only things really suffering are the tomatoes. They're just not growing. The rain barrels are just under half full and I suspect we'll be buying water shortly rather than use the well. That's for us and we can't take the risk of running it dry. We've had killing summer droughts in 3 of the last 4 years. This year has been particularly bad because of the light winter snow fall with a short spring run off. Attachments:
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edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Jul 16, 2012 6:15:47 GMT -5
I want a cistern! We have a cistern. It is part of our shallow well - came with the house. It isn't nearly big enough is a big problem. We want a bigger cistern! This year has really forced us to reflect on global warming and the expected water shortages. How much rain can we count on? So far we have had 2 rain storms that provided more than 25 mm (an inch of water) and one of those was at the very beginning of the season. We have and a third storm that managed 21 mm. If we assume none in a 6 month period 1" per week 16,290 sq ft(1,513 sq m) I figure we need a cistern 10/10/10 m. 9.7 to be exact. Sorry about the mixed measurements. I grew up in Canada during the switchover + all construction materials are in nominal feet and now I can't help it. It is interesting that last year I was calculating on 2 months drought - what a difference a year makes! Total cost on city water would be $1,338. How long until our city's reservoir runs dry? It's probably going to happen, but I think I'm ok for the moment. maps.google.ca/maps?q=georgian+bay&ll=45.28455,-80.609436&spn=1.588481,3.56781&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Georgian+Bay&gl=ca&t=m&z=9 The breakdown is 1/3 veggies 1/3 fruit trees 1/3 flowers. |
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Post by Walk on Jul 16, 2012 8:05:20 GMT -5
Here's a link to our website page that deals with our rainwater system. www.geopathfinder.com/9566.html We have rainwater cisterns for both household use and irrigation. The latest dry spell/drought conditions have caused us to add a third irrigation tank for future years. After doing the math, we calculated that we had enough roof catchment capacity to make this worthwhile. We had run out on the other tanks and had just started to pump about 300 gallons from the house system and then we got .44" rain in a couple of nights. That gave the garden a break from the 3 weeks of drought and a few hundred gallons were collected to dole out until the next rain. In our many years of experience with rainwater cisterns for irrigation, we found that water pressure with gravity fed systems is insufficient for drip lines, assuming that the water source is even located above the garden to begin with. In our area, growers with drip irrigation have also had problems with rodents (probably 13 striped ground squirrels) chewing up the drip tapes to have a drink. Sprinkler setups put precious water in unneeded places. Hoses with water wands allow you to put the water only where it's needed. |
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Post by steev on Jul 16, 2012 17:40:35 GMT -5
To pressure a gravity drip system, you want your water at least 12' above your emitters.
Rodents will gnaw on your system for sure.
Coyotes will treat exposed tubing like chew toys, to clean their teeth, leaving a section in one-inch pieces, but they don't bother it if it's mulched-over.
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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 16, 2012 20:36:39 GMT -5
I'm with your cistern desires. I have to install those and thank you for the suggestion on pond placements. You have given me some new locations.
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Post by steev on Jul 16, 2012 21:01:33 GMT -5
More important than storing water, IMHO, is not letting it get away once you've got it. Organic matter in the soil and MULCH on the soil, keeps it from draining away and evaporating away.
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Post by MikeH on Jul 17, 2012 6:26:33 GMT -5
More important than storing water, IMHO, is not letting it get away once you've got it. Organic matter in the soil and MULCH on the soil, keeps it from draining away and evaporating away. Absolutely. This year when we prepped Joyce's garlic beds, we added a lot of partially decomposed green compost. Yesterday, when she harvested, the garlic roots were embedded in the now more decomposed compost and were still moist-ish. Because of the amount of mulch we use, we often go a week during the summer without watering. This summer, most things are making do with watering every other day. And mulch - grass clippings &/or leaves - is a great way of replenishing the soil. We find that the zone between the soil and the grass clippings is rich with red wrigglers which seem to be a raccoon delicacy. |
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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 17, 2012 7:26:52 GMT -5
I always mulch as heavily as possible but I don't have a big enough source of mulch and am reluctant to import straw because of persistent herbicides that can affect veggies. This is only our second year here but I've been adding what organic matter I an etc... Besides, the forests are dying and they are heavily mulched in leaf litter. It's a sucky year. Drought conditions steadily worsening.
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Post by MikeH on Jul 17, 2012 18:04:43 GMT -5
Besides, the forests are dying and they are heavily mulched in leaf litter. I think that the trees are much tougher that you give them credit for. Most of these trees have been through this before. I expect that the browning you are seeing is on deciduous trees not coniferous. That being the case, reducing the surfaces that surrender moisture to the atmosphere is a natural defence mechanism. I'm seeing our wild grasses, in particular the switch grass,starting to produce seed now. Normally, that's a fall event. Another defence mechanism, I think - make seed while you can just in case. When we built our house in 2007/8, we had two successive years of drought. Our first fall colour in 2008 on the hills across the small lake from us was marked by what we thought was an early fall with lots of red. Turned out that it was lots of brown. Very disturbing on first sight. I know it's depressing but you'll get through it. Mike |
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jul 17, 2012 18:28:43 GMT -5
The baby trees will probably die, at least a certain percentage of them, but 90% of saplings die anyway sooner or later. The maples will be fine, like Mike said. I'd definitely try and give your apples some help, they might be in danger. Deep down, apples are still from Kazakhstan.
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