my daily pix #13

[forestdale]

I live in the driest inhabited continent on earth. Actually Antartica is the driest but a mass of people don't live there so it matters not. Australia's droughts come frequently and not much can be done about them. Local councils have introduced water restrictions so that you can't water your garden with a sprinkler, you have to use a bucket and not a hose when washing your car etc. Funnily enough, where I live we've not had these restrictions imposed yet.

I think it's a good idea to save rainwater. It seems like commonsense to me but our governments don't see it that way. I'd like to see every new house built with a water tank attached so that people could collect rainwater and use it on their gardens or for washing the car, or a million other things.

When we bought this house one of the first things we did was install a water tank, and here it is. It's at the back of our home, just next to the green house where I pot up all my plants. We've lived here 7 years and it's never been empty in all that time. I use it for the garden and for drinking water for the dogs and chickens. It's part of my simple living philosophy to be kind to the earth I live on and this is a good way of helping save valuable natural resources.

Just next to the tank you can see an avocardo I've grown from seed. Apparently you don't get "viable" fruit when you grow them like this but I'm doing it anytway to see what I do get. The topiary tree in the pot is a fig.

[SewCrafty]

WTG Bethany!

I think you're doing great to preserve what we have here on earth.

Beautiful topiary and I hope your avacado produces for you!

[DaisyLady]

I agree with the rain water saving wholeheartedly. Our goal for next year is to put at least one rain barrel on a downspout from our roof, just for the garden.
There are several new houses on our street and to my utter horror, they have sprinkler systems on timers to water their grass. I have seen the sprinklers on even though we had just had several days of rain

[Sara Noel]

The topiary is beautiful.

We have water restrictions here. So we can water only on even numbered days.

[Darlene]

Good for you Bethany! That's a nice big tank. Do you have a problem with mosquitoes by having so much standing water?

You've really got yourself a green thumb,that topiary is so pretty. Do you get many figs & what do you do with them?

Full of questions aren't I?

[PrairieRose]

Oh I love the avocado plant! I've tried for years to grow one and just can't seem to do it. I should have Gripey do that. He can grow anything.
I've been wanting water barrells too. Our water is rapidly diminishing in our area and I would feel so good about watering our plants with our saved water.
Darlene, you can keep mosquitos out of those barrells several ways, I heard the other day that minnows are great for that. They eat the mosquitos. I wonder what you do with them during the mosquito off season....? (note to self do some research.....)

[Julia Kimber]

Mike and I have been seriously talking about getting a water tank before next winter Bethany. We have small one that Mike made out of an old drum that catches the water from our air-conditioning system in the summer months. I use that to water plants with.
Love the topiary by the way!

Julia

[Jayne]

The water tank is great!!!! And the topiary is beautifulWTG ...My fil has a system of rain gathering tanks he built and he uses the water for his gardens...not only is he conserving water, there is something in rain that seems to make the plants grow better.....

[guest2]

We used to have a water tank in Hawaii at one of the houses we lived in. It was on a catchment system and we used the water for showering and all of our other needs. The only water we had for drinking came out of the outside faucet next to the house. I loved it, but I suspect my mother had other feelings on the whole subject.

[forestdale]

Darlene, we don't have a mosquito problem with the tank. There is a very fine mesh over the intake pipe that stops those nasties from getting in and breeding. And as for the fig, it's not a fruiting fig.

Nice avatar, BTW.

[Katybird]

What a wonderful idea. How full does it usually stay? I would love to have one when we get moved to our new place. I would love to be able to water the garden and lawn without having to use city water. We have been on water restrictions off and on for years here, this is the first summer that we have been blessed with an abundance of rainfall in years.