Recycling water in the garden can keep your plants hydrated and your water bills low
This is the time of year when the idea of using “gray water” to help keep container gardens, hanging baskets and other plants alive is like a cool drink on a hot day.
Consider these water recycling tips to keep your plants hydrated and your water bills low.
Q. What is gray water?
A. When you recycle water from cooking, cleaning or drinking and use it to water plants, this is often referred to as using gray water. This does not mean that the water is always gray or dirty.
One of the easiest ways to stop wasting water is to use those half-filled water bottles (if you still use plastic water bottles at all) to give a drink to potted plant. Taking the recycled water path a step farther, you can save the water used from rinsing veggies by catching it in a sink basin.
If you boil water for cooking and make a point of not adding salt to the water, you can water plants with cooking water once it cools off. Often the cooking water turns green from the nutrients leaked from boiling vegetables. This green water is actually filled with nutrients and good for your plants. Just remember: no salt, no fat and no seasonings in cooking water you reuse on plants.
Q. Here is a tip that I learned from my grandmother: After you boil an egg, cool the water, do not add salt and use this on tomato plants to prevent the cracking of the skin and rot. Just thought I would share her tip. — L.M., Enumclaw
A. Great tip. Boiling an egg releases calcium from the shell, and tomatoes with too little calcium will suffer from blossom end rot, which is when dark spots appear on the blossom end of ripening tomatoes. Tomatoes need constant moisture for the uptake of calcium, so if you allow tomatoes to dry out between watering, they also may develop blossom end rot even if there is enough calcium in the soil.
Using compost made with crushed egg shells, adding lime and using a calcium spray on the foliage are other ways to provide calcium for your plants.
Q. We added some new trees and shrubs that are supposed to be drought resistant. The nursery did say we must water them until they are established before we allow them to survive on rainfall alone. My question is: How do you know when a plant is “established” and no longer needs extra water? — G.Y., Olympia
A. No easy answer to this question. The type of soil, exposure and type of plant all determine when a plant has enough of a root system to seek out moisture on its own so you don’t have to water in the summer.
If you see a plant — either a tree, shrub or perennial — that looks wilted or dull and faded, it most likely needs water. If in doubt, poke your finger, a screwdriver or shovel into the soil and see how far you need to go down before finding dark, moist soil. Trees and shrubs have deeper roots so may be established after one summer of additional water, while perennials and shallow rooted shrubs such as azaleas may always need extra summer water.
One inch of water a week is the usual amount needed for lawns and shrubs in Western Washington.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.