I am clueless as regards gardening. I'd like to re-use some of our household water to water the grass. I've read about bathwater, washing machine water and dishwater, but can cups of tea or coffee that have gone cold, fruit squashes and juices that have been half drunk, and the water from cooking be used on the lawn or on patio pots? Or would that harm the plants?

"sdean" wrote in message
...

I am clueless as regards gardening. I'd like to re-use some of our
household water to water the grass. I've read about bathwater, washing
machine water and dishwater, but can cups of tea or coffee that have
gone cold, fruit squashes and juices that have been half drunk, and the
water from cooking be used on the lawn or on patio pots? Or would that
harm the plants?

bathwater, washing machine water, dish wahser water are all ok. Do a google
search under 'grey water' and you will find untold websites going into great
detail. As long as you use a nice bio-degradable detergent or powder you
should be fine. I have heard that anti-bacterial soaps can damage
micro-orgamisms in the soil so perhaps give them a miss if reusing the grey
water on the soil.
Cooking water should be fine on potted plants. Water you boil the veges in
should be fine as long as it is used cold. Water left in the soak a pan with
potato or rice is also ok, just strain out any food waste before you do.
Fruit juices should also be ok, we drink the stuff so it should be fine for
plants. If the juice has a lot of pulp dilute it.

rob

Would agree with this post.
I would caution you with regards to sugary drinks such as fruit juices
and cordials. My reasoning, is the attraction of ants and the likes
due to the sugar. If you dilute it well, it might be less of a
problem, but if you were just to throw the sugary drink on its own, it
might have the attraction effect. Won't do the plants any harm, but
you may not welcome the added wildlife.
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

g'day sdean,

use all the used water from the home, we use an earth friendly dish
detergent and make our own laundry, general purpose liquid detergent (recipe
available on our site)

also collect our night water and any water used for soaking pots and pans
along with dregs from any sort of drink/beverage, often add this to fresh
water to make up to 20 litres so we ahve enough to go around (best for
gardens especially vege' gardens)

len

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1/

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