Water Harvesting 101

Wrapping this three-part series with the third activity of water harvesting, recycling “used” water. You can certainly use this one for gardening, and I do so with container gardens and in-ground plants like fruit trees. Includes recommendations of raised beds from Greenie’s Garden and vertical planters from Greenstalk.

Let’s look at the second activity of water harvesting, storing rainwater for later use. This one’s tailor-made for backyard food production, especially if you have a cistern. However, cisterns have limited capacity, so you’ll need to carefully allocate that water within your growing space.

This episode marks the start of a three-part series on growing your own food with water harvesting. I’m covering this process via the three activities of water harvesting: 1) redirecting rainwater away from where it isn’t wanted to where it is 2) storing rainwater for later use 3) recycling “used” water. This week,I’ll talk about how redirecting rainwater can indirectly help you grow food, and I’ll explain what Imean by indirectly.

In this episode, we’re talking about a creature that one doesn’t often associate with the American Southwest. We’re talking about beavers! This keystone species is every bit as industrious as you’ve heard, to the point where beavers are called ecosystem engineers. Here to bring us the latest on our regional beaver population is Jace Lankow from the Tucson-based Watershed Management Group. 

Now that the five-month inferno called summer is over, it’s time to for fall planting in the American Southwest. Perfect time to get landscape and garden plants established before next summer. My favorite sources for landscape plants and seeds? Here goes: Trees for Tucson, Desert Survivors, Tohono Chul Gardens, Pima County Master Gardeners, Spadefoot Nursery, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Pima County Library - Seed Library, Terroir Seeds.