HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?

"gardenlover" wrote in message
...

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?

How about lots of mulch? Can you buy bags of shredded hardwood or cedar
mulch out there? It'll probably cut your water needs by at least half.

The other solution is more painful. I'm basing this only on what I hear from
an ancient gardener friend in L.A. Not sure about other parts of southern
CA. Apparently, all the lush plant life that existed in L.A. for many, many
years consisted of species that looked great, but had no business being
there. Apparently, L.A. is a desert, except for all the water people use to
force the wrong species to grow there. Now, there are lots of resources
which will help you gradually replace your plants with native ones that are
better able to cope with the climate.

gardenlover wrote:
HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?




It has been cool (cold) cloudy and drizzly here for weeks. So I bought
a fushia (loves cool wet weather) hanging basket a few days ago -- so
the weather will turn hot and dry and windy and I can get on with my
real gardening. :-) It's starting to work.

In your case, you might plant a few cacti as a sacrifice. The weather
should turn cool and wet shortly thereafter.

Best regards,
Bob

"gardenlover" wrote in message
...

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?

Buy plants that are native to your area that like hot, dry weather. Also,
do a search on "xeriscape" to find ideas for conserving water.

gardenlover wrote:

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?



It was suggested here in SE PA a couple years ago during a drought that
when you shower, you plug the drain and save the water in the tub. Then
dip out the water with pails and use the water to water your plants.
Recycling at it's finest! LOL

/J-never did it myself
--
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe -
the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. - Immanuel Kant

"Jenn Vanderslice" wrote in message
news:YK0le.1483$QF3.1157@trndny06...


gardenlover wrote:

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?



It was suggested here in SE PA a couple years ago during a drought that
when you shower, you plug the drain and save the water in the tub. Then
dip out the water with pails and use the water to water your plants.
Recycling at it's finest! LOL

/J-never did it myself

Dish & laundry water, too, although obviously, not when bleach has been
used.

Have you ever heard of ZEBA?!? My neighbord has the same problem and after using it his yard definitely looks much better. I can ask for more info if you'd like.

In article YK0le.1483$QF3.1157@trndny06, wrote:

gardenlover wrote:

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?



It was suggested here in SE PA a couple years ago during a drought that
when you shower, you plug the drain and save the water in the tub. Then
dip out the water with pails and use the water to water your plants.
Recycling at it's finest! LOL

/J-never did it myself

That's a dandy notion. But if one must use soap, select a mild
environmentally friendly all purpose soap that can be used in the laundry
& for washing dishes as well as for a handsoap & bath, & save all the
water. Except for the most salt-sensitive things, most plants can tolerate
a little soapy water, & then when there's good rainfall or better watering
schedules, the salts will be washed back out of the soil.

This is called "greywater garden recycling" & some people put water
diversian systems under the kitchen sink & bathroom sink & laundry room .
The diversion tanks can be turned on & off so that if anything going down
the drain should NOT go into the garden, it can be kept out of the
deversion tank. Diversion tanks have filters that need periodic cleaning
but are otherwise gravity-operating & self-sufficient, the fancy ones
connect right to the garden for underground irrigation through buried
hoses; they cannot overflow as as if too much water is put into them it
goes into the sewer pipes after all.

Check out the paperback CREATE AN OASIS FROM GREYWATER by Art Ludwig, from
amazon.com if your local hippy-run bookshop has failed to carry it. Or
visit Art's website:
http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater...asis/index.htm
There's a free FAQ & lots of starter info besides a book ordering button.

Also ask both your local waste management & water utility about programs
they may have to assist you in setting up greywater systems & what the
legal constraints might be. Greywater for residential use is a cutting
edge issue in California & some small cities have assistance programs to
get people started.

Already in many Australian gardens greywater recycling accounts for 40% or
more for garden irrigating. It does pose some risks & the more greywater
used the greater the chance of salt build-up in the soil or soil becoming
densely clogged such as from clothing particles in laundry greywater. But
in the future these systems so popular in Australia are bound to gain in
popularity in California & the Southwest where even a ten by ten foot
garden can cost major buckos to keep watered or result in stiff fines for
watering the gardens at all. I saw some of these greywater recycle systems
set up in Monterey & thought cool, I'd like to have that even for my Puget
Sound home where they wouldn't be quite so essential.

Some rules for doing this: Never put anything caustic down the drain (like
drain cleaners, which don't really work anyway). Don't use laundry bleach
or any other chlorine product, never use Borax or any other boron product,
avoid harsh cleansers, & don't use disinfectants (if these are
unavoidable, a diverter system will have a valve so you can keep the more
toxic stuff out of the greywater). Use only mild soaps with low
sodium-salt content & minimilize the use of those; liquid soaps tend to be
lower in sodium & phosphorus than cake or powder soaps, but that's a
generality, as Lux flakes are very low in sodium, & some powder brands
found only in healthfood stores are designed with greywater recycling in
mind.

Other guidelines/rules: Don't use a garbage disposal in the kitchen (get a
worm bin for kitchen waste instead). Some of the particles in greywater
function as plant fertilizer but even fertilizer can be overdone so it
takes some planning & thought regarding what is in the water. A diverter
system includes a moderate filtering component that does the job well
enough, but an ad-hoc system requires more thought about filtering out
hair & the largest food particles or lint is necessary, though the smaller
particles can be filtered through nothing more than mulch. If greywater is
used year-round & continuously a slightly more sophisticated method of
filtering might be sought, but for occasional greywater use mulch makes a
more than adequate filter, & most of the impurities will compost in situ
just like the mulch. Greywater can also be filtered through a screen,
panty hose, backwash sand filter, or through gravelled irrigation ditches.

Greywater has to be used quickly lest it get bacteria in it from stagnant
storage. Greywater from the bathroom sink, shower, & laundry is cleaner
than greywater from the kitchen sink & dishwasher, due to the amount of
cooking waste & oils that feed bacteria. Some greywater users leave out
kitchen sink greywater for this reason. Toilet water of course is off the
list entirely, though if you get radicalized on this topic you might end
up witha copy of Joseph Jenken's THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK which at the very
least be in every bathroom in olieu of Jokes for the John. Here's Joseph's
website -- there's even a free e-text of the whole damned book so that
even cheapskates can get radicalized:
http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

There's more you can do besides greywater recycling. A simple mulching
throughout the garden will help the soil retain more of the water it does
get (mulch extra heavy so it'll also filter greywater even if all you do
is use some from the tub brought out in a plastic bucket).

You can also install attractive wooden wine barrels or less attractive
plastic rain barrels at the base of downspouts from the roof so that any
rainfall that does occur, the water is saved. Clean rainwater can be
stored in underground tanks for long periods, unlike greywater that has to
be used quickly. Rainbarrels can also have low-pressure soaker hoses
attached to their bases that slowly disperse the water into the garden.

If the garden is small you can string out a small drip-system that
separately waters only the immediate root-crown of each clump.

Selecting more xeriscape flowers that don't even need watering could make
future droughts & water-rationing less of a heartache, as the water
situation in California is only going to get worse.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to
liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson

I use soaker hose. Can be purchased at Costco or Home Depot. Bury it in the
garden and water the roots directly. And yes lots of mulch will stop the
evaporation.

--
Dana
www3.sympatico.ca/lostmermaid
"gardenlover" wrote in message
...

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?


--
gardenlover

Okay so I asked my neighbord about ZEBA for you. Here is the website that you can check it out www.zeba.com. It's a pretty cool product because it absorbs and holds however much water you use for the plants while releases them as much as the plants need. You can also mix ZEBA with fertilizer to provide enough water and nutrient for the plants at the same time. Good luck!

In article , northwest_man
wrote:

gardenlover Wrote:
HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?

Okay so I asked my neighbord about ZEBA for you.

Liar.

Here is the website
that you can check it out www.zeba.com. It's a pretty cool product
because it absorbs and holds however much water you use for the plants
while releases them as much as the plants need. You can also mix ZEBA
with fertilizer to provide enough water and nutrient for the plants at
the same time. Good luck!

What you've been busying yourself doing today is called "stealth
spamming," O Lowly Northwest Man. It is generally regarded as the behavior
of criminals if not merely naifs. It certainly isn't done by honest
intelligent people, & it warns people never to trust such a company that
would resort to this high degree of dishonesty to attract marks & rubes.

So it really doesn't matter if the product were any good since it is being
sold by representives who have given every evidence of being criminally
minded, & who therefore couldn't be trusted with credit card numbers or to
make good a transaction that went awry.

But is it a good product? The preliminary evidence isn't so great. I note
that the website for Zeba offers the findings of zero independantly done
field studies that would indicate the product is in any way beneficial, so
Zeba would seem to be a contraction of Zero Basic Trials.

So there's a ****-poor for-shit amateur website with many broken links &
the links that do work never provide actual information but only
additional unsubstantiated sales-pitches. There's nothing whatsoever to
indicate the product has undergone rigorous field trials of any kind at
University horticultural stations or independent labs unaffiliated with
the busines partners. When this information is lacking, the assumption has
to be that it is either untested, or the tests did not provide the kind of
findings a company would want anyone to see.

So, a product promoted by a dishonest person who is a stealth spammer, & a
website with poor functionality making wild claims for starch granuals
without any substantiating independent research. Not too convincing. You
could just as well be claiming it cures baldness, gives men bigger
peckers, cures anus cancer, & can be used as an alternate fuel in a
Volkswagon or a backyard moon-rocket.

Really, since the Zeba representative is now a known liar, WHY would
anyone believe the website is magically telling the truth? Even a company
that didn't commit such outright frauds would be expectedt o provide
tear-sheets of indepfendent research.

If the product did even half what is claimed, that would mean the granuals
turn into an unpleasant gelatinous goo. It sounds horrid. Whether it
improved plant health despite being disgusting guck is something that
would have to be proved by independent field tests, not by heaping up
publicity claims.

Actual independent field trials for polymer hydrogels used as soil
ammendments have shown that they can be harmful to plantlife. The
"superabsorbant" properties claimed by polymer manufacturers are in the
first place turn out to be exaggerated by several factors. And though this
gelatinous muck sometimes has a temporary benefit, they are in the long
run problem-causing.

During biodegradation, polymers reverse their effect, depriving plants of
moisture. These polymers even before this harmful biodegradation have
immediate plastic-like qualities that do in some cases impede soil
aeration & once the flakes or granuals turn into swollen goo cause surface
run-off of rainwater preventing moisture's soil penetration. Sooner or
later biodegradable polymers do exactly the opposite of what the user
hoped this crap would do. If Zeba behaved less harmfully than the extant
products, the company would certainly provide the independent lab results
& field trials that proved it, & would delight most of all in
peer-reviewed scientific publication that showed benefit. Certainly the
company's own claims for this goo are even more suspect than for most
self-serving companies, since we already have evidence of crookedness &
eagerness to lie, in the form of stealth spamming.

When all the praise for this product comes from promotional literature &
press releases to business journals, but none of it from University
horticultural stations, that indicates no actual evidence of value exists.
When the publicity has such an easy time reaching business journals but no
luck at all impressing anyone as agricultural science, that suggests there
is only a business model & & blessed little science. It appears, indeed,
that all the "science" was done by business partners like Dr. William
Sloane, who previously claimed his earlier starch-based muck held TWO
THOUSAND times its weight in water, so he's no newcomer to exaggeration.
It looks like the PR people felt that a claim no greater than the outside
maximum claimed by all other biodegradable absorbant polymers was better
to run with, so only allege 400 times its weight in water, but doesn't
bother to prove even that reduced exaggeration.

For garden purposes, woodchips, quality compost, or peat do the same job
adequately, plus the woodchips or compost provide safe plant nutrients & a
medium for benificial micro-organisms such as polymers retard.

So I have every expectation of complaints mounting up against this new
product and/or the company that promotes itself by dishonest methods. But
thanks to the revolting stealth spamming, many will be warned off it in
advance.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to
liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson