Grow organic food without spending $

Step 7 IRRIGATION

The best would be to have a greywater system, even if as simple as removing the trap from your kitchen sink and keeping buckets around to switch out. I have these depressions in the garden dirt encirlcled with rings cut from tires and lined with wood shavings that are perfect for dumping graywater. I also pour graywater on the compost pile, or use them to flush the toilet. Ideally this would be plumbed and there would be a graywater pond (see Dam Nation in my book recommendations), but as I am not going to be living here next year I opted for the muscle building "hands on" approach of carrying the buckets.

If you have gutters consider turning an old 55 gallon drum into a rain barrel. http://www.instructables.com/id/ERK270KF5FEQ11V/?ALLSTEPS

Instead of buying a soaker hose or expensive irrigation system you could take any old hose you you rescued from the dumpster (hose repair: http://www.instructables.com/id/ECW8AWTF3JESX4J/?ALLSTEPS), snake it through the garden and poke little holes wherever you want water to come out. Experiment with different size holes depending on how much water a plant will need, it's best to irrigate slowly with water dripping out as opposed to squirting rapidly, you could also use GPH drippers in regular hose if you wanted to be fancy. Once it is in place and well tested you can nestle it down into the mulch for aesthetics.

I have one of my hoses buried in my tomato bed which is not far from my bathroom window, when I can afford it (or figure out for free) I want to get a pump so that I can pump my bathwater directly to it. Even better when I take a bath with epsom salts as the plants love them!

Comments

[PapaSoma]

Careful with the tires. They're leaching cadmium into the soil.

Never place your beds downslope of a road, as the cadmium runs with the water and deposits in the soil.

[eecharlie]

I'd like to add, regarding the hose with holes as opposed to a soaker or other solution, that the hose with holes is not only more cost-effective but more effective in general: if your tap water has any amount of debris in it (which it very well might even if it doesn't look dirty), you can expect a soaker hose to clog in a few weeks. Ditto for rain-barrel water. Hose filters that are fine enough to save a soaker hose are stupidly expensive and I don't imagine they last much longer than a soaker hose with no filter would since they're trapping the same stuff. Keep your hose above-ground or risk roots growing in after the water and clogging it! Great instructable, by the way.

[mrendon703]

i got a 'drill pump' at home depot for $8 - i got two short hoses; each hook up to an outlet on the pump - use an electric hand drill (got for 5$ at a garage sale) to pump the water out of the tub and into the garden - the guy at home depot listened to what i wanted to do and found me that little cheap drill pump... - i can attach to a longer hose and water the flowers in my front yard or send out the bathroom window to the water barrel i use a nylon sock as a filter on one end

[pivana]

Good good good idea!

[Speeddemonec]

Greywater= Great idea, take that water and put it where it ought to be! On your lovely garden! I will connect my hose to the sink and make all water end up on my garden. Wouldn't it be nice if you could opt to use your waste water on your yard instead of letting it go down the drain. Now thats a real water saving device! And use biodegradable soaps....