Life couldn’t exist without clean water. We’re talking about liquid water, not ice and steam, or even clouds and fog.
In fact, most of Earth’s surface is covered with water. But the more the human population increases, the number of machines and factories and houses increase as well, and the more impact we have on all our water. We can’t solve this problem ourselves. But we can help in our own ways. Here are a few simple ways we can help in our own yards.
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” A Chinese philosopher said that a long time ago. I don’t know where he was heading, but here are a few first steps you can take.
Rain Chasers: save water one barrel at a time.
Rain barrels
GRAY WATER. Gray water is water we collect from rain washing off the roof, and from laundry or shower water. That doesn’t sound great, does it? But really it is. It’s not good for drinking or cooking with, but you can use it for many other things, like watering the garden or lawn. You know those worms love the moisture.
You have heard that nice sound of rain falling on your roof in spring. Sometimes it sounds like gentle drumming. Well, that great sound means that nature is getting water and the plant roots are drinking it up. But a lot of the water that falls on the roof just gets lost in the ground around the house and doesn’t help your garden much. A rain barrel is a place to catch and gather that gray water and store it so we can use it for good stuff like watering gardens or lawns during dry periods.
So to try to be a “rain chaser,” ask your child if he or she would like to try catching some rain. All it really takes is a large barrel connected to a gutter downspout.
Setting Up a Rain Barrel
A rain barrel is simply a storage tank for water to use in the garden. It collects the water that falls on your roof and would ordinarily just run off the property. This stored water can easily be used to water your garden, and you’ll become a part of the solution to the problem of wasted water and runoff. This is often called “harvesting rainwater.” It’s amazing how much water simply gets wasted. For instance, even on a small 10’ x 12’ shed roof, if you get an inch of rain per week, you would save 75 gallons in seven days. That’s enough to water your gardens if it doesn’t rain for a while.
Here’s How to Harvest Gray Water
Because they are growing in popularity there are many completed rain barrels available at local garden centers and box stores as well as companies that specialize in them. They are all relatively simple and some are quite decorative. Simply, the barrel is connected on the top to a gutter downspout from a roof of the house, garage, or a shed. The gutter downspout is directed to the barrel with a plastic connecting pipe (a “downspout diverter”) to an opening in the top of the barrel. Some kind of screen is needed and provided to keep debris from the water. There is a spout at the bottom to access the water with a hose connection as well as an overflow valve on top. Some of these have become pretty sophisticated, and some are made to be an attractive addition to the garden. Some actually have a well on top that can be turned into a planter in the spring and summer.
If you would like to try to make your own you’ll need to find a source of a large plastic storage tank that will hold 40–60 gallons of water. If you want to experiment, start a little smaller and you may be able to make your own little system out of a large plastic water cooler and some smaller hose or tubing you can find at a hardware store. Put some kind of mesh or screening on top and a connecting pipe to your gutter downspout. Once you see how well it works, you’ll probably want to move up to a larger one.
Rain Chain
A necklace for your roof? Here is a fun way to add some beauty to the landscape while using the rain to create some art and solve a problem.
One of the wonderful things about water is that it clings to surfaces as it moves downward. You’ve felt it drip down your cheek, haven’t you? A rain chain simply offers a surface for the water to follow and creates a type of moving water sculpture when it’s raining. Because it clings, it can direct the water from the roof the same way a downspout would. But a rain chain can be quite pretty. Old Japanese temples used rain chains as ornaments. In the winter, they can help create really cool icicles that look like twisted pretzels. It also helps to slow down the flowing water and disperse it instead of it just pouring out to the ground off the roof or out of a downspout. This will help prevent erosion.
You can create a rain chain by removing the downspout from your gutters at the corner of a roof line; hopefully somewhere you can see it easily from the yard and garden.
You can purchase beautiful, hand-crafted rain chains, but you can also make a simple one yourself. Cut the top inch or so off clear plastic water bottles with good scissors. You’ll find they cut easily, especially if you cut along one of the existing bubble lines of the bottle. Leave the cap on and puncture a small hole in the cap. Push a thin wire (wreath-decorating wire or floral wire works well) through the hole and either tie a knot or wind a small stick or toothpick in the wire on the outside of the cap to keep the “cup” from sliding down. Measure down 3–5” on your wire and repeat until you have a chain of cups. You can do five or six or go all the way down from roof to ground. When you’ve pulled the wire through the last (and highest) one, leave enough to attach to a downspout area of your roof.
When it rains, the water will follow the wire into the cup, and as each cup fills, it spills into the one below.
If it freezes in winter, you’ll have a beautiful ice sculpture.
You’ll be amazed how pretty the water looks as it follows the path down the chain to the ground. Especially when the sun comes back out and shines right through it.
LIVING ROOFS? EXCUSE ME, DID YOU KNOW YOUR ROOF IS ALIVE? What are living roofs? They’re also called “green roofs.” It might sound silly, but it’s actually a really cool idea.
Green roofs mean that the whole roof or part of the roof is covered with soil and plants. This protects the home or structure from really hot temperatures as well as really cold. Many cities all over the world are starting to install green roofs on flat-topped buildings. If you have a lot of green roofs, it actually helps cool the air temperature of a city that has lots of cars and lots of people. And it absorbs some of the rain runoff just like a rain garden.
Flat roofs are best for roof gardens and that’s why there are many growing in cities. The flat surface is covered with shallow trays and plants that will take the heat. Don’t you think schools would be a great place to start? Lots of schools have flat roofs.
Making Your Own Green Roof
Start small: Try building a simple shallow box (4–6” in height) or find a shallow fruit or vegetable crate. Line it with plastic. Punch holes in the bottom. Sometimes you can get low plant trays at the garden center.
Fill with a very light potting mixture. Pick out a spot on the roof that is less slanted than others and faces the sun. Porch roofs, garage roofs, and even doghouse roofs are good places to start. Purchase a variety of sedum plants at a local garden center. They require very little water. They come in burgundy and yellow and all colors in between. Plant them in the soil, water them and carefully place the planter on the roof.
Watch what the plants do from a window or the yard, and you’ll begin to understand the concept of green roofs. Imagine the whole roof covered in green plants.
Some stores sell what they call “mud flats” or “coco mats.” Mud flats are flat mats that have plant seeds embedded in them. Try placing these mats on a roof and see what happens.
Hens and chicks on the roof? A plant called hens and chicks is another plant that does great on the roof.