6 Easy Ways to Save Rainwater
and give your plants joy
Food grade plastic trash cans capture rainwater running off a metal garage roof. Nine cans capture about 350 gallons with an inch of rain.
The LA Times recently featured an article on 6 (low tech) ways to save rainwater. Check it out and see what might work for you during our winter rainy season here in SoCal.
6 easy ways to save rainwater and give your plants joy
(Patrick Hruby / Los Angeles Times)
Happy 2024! May I be the first to wish you much joy, bountiful harvests and armloads of fragrant blooms in the coming year.
You’ll find a list of plant-related events and activities below, but first, let’s address something that bugs me every time we get a good rain in Southern California — the obscene waste of all that precious water rushing off our roofs and down our streets.
Drought issues aside, rainwater is like a spa day for our plants, especially those in containers. They always seem perkier after a good downpour, and when times are dry, a drink of stored rainwater makes them happier than our chlorinated tap water ever could.
I have long envied people with the foresight — and funds — to bury huge cisterns in their yards, install elaborate rain gutters, and cover their patios and driveways with permeable surfaces that allow rainwater to be collected and stored for irrigation. Those big and worthy projects are a discussion for another day.