Water Harvesting 101

Let’s meet Michael Albanese, author of the water harvesting book, The Modern Rain Garden: Scrape, Shape, and Plant. Michael has designed and built dozens of rain gardens and also has helped countless others build theirs. In this episode, he’ll explain what rain gardens are, and what’s behind the scrape, shape, and plant approach to rain garden design and construction.

I’m pleased to report that my place is one of the busiest natural habitats in the neighborhood. In this episode, I’ll share how the local bird species utilize my rain-fed landscape for nourishment, socializing, and nesting.

As water harvesters, we’re all about creating beauty in our landscapes and gardens. But we’re also dealing with scarcity. It isn’t just the water that’s scarce, we also need to handle monetary and time constraints.

Unlike most of the rest of the United States, Tucson isn’t covered with snow and suffering through sub-freezing temperatures. But yes, it does snow here. In this episode, I’ll view snowfall from the perspective of a Southwestern water harvester.

Although we have been experiencing a La Niña weather pattern, with above average temperatures and below average rainfall, this pattern is breaking down. I’m even hearing talk of an impending El Niño weather pattern, which can be quite rainy. In this episode, I’m thinking long-term about our Southwestern weather.

In Tucson, we just experienced our first Freeze Warning of the winter. So, it was time to harvest the Meyer lemons. Here’s a look at how I did that– and what I’m planning to do with my harvest.

My laundry-to-landscape greywater harvesting system irrigates three fruit trees. This episode focuses on needed maintenance of this system and its six emitters, three of which are for my big pomegranate tree, two are for my small pomegranate, and one is for my Meyer lemon.

Quite often, water harvesting is associated with cisterns. And cisterns are expensive. So, if you can’t afford a cistern, what can you do? Quite a bit! This episode advises you to focus your efforts on passive water harvesting, with a bit of “used” water recycling thrown in for good measure.

Many people think of the desert as a harsh environment where lushness is impossible without heavy irrigation. Here’s the thing about heavy irrigation: It leads to sky-high water bills. And those can really lighten your wallet. Fortunately, there are plenty of water-saving alternatives to heavy irrigation, and I discuss them in this episode.

I like to look at water harvesting as a decades-long experiment. In this episode, I’ll take you back to my 2004 home purchase, when this place consisted of a bare lot in front and out-of-control Bermuda grass in the backyard, and I’ll describe my landscaping successes and failures in the urban Tucson environment.

Now that you’ve done the work, it’s time to enjoy the rewards of water harvesting. In this episode, I’m looking at them via the three activities of water harvesting. I’m also offering a bonus reward: Photo op! That’s because water harvesting-fed plants make great photographic subjects.

Our friends at the National Weather Services’s Climate Prediction Center just released the winter forecast and the American Southwest. And it’s looking like a dry and warm winter. Not the sort of prediction we water harvesters want, especially during drought conditions, but here’s how I’m handling it at my place.

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.

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. 

With the sound of a torrential downpour in the background, I explain how to make CEO-level decisions as a water harvester.

With the summer monsoon season nearing its end, here's a look at the benefits of tropical storm remnants.