Despite some light rains and cooler temperatures in July we continue to slip deeper into drought. As gardeners we must get creative in finding alternate water sources for our gardens.

One of my favourite approaches is to find ways to use the same drop of water twice.The kitchen is an excellent source on "untapped" grey water. Keep a container in your sink at all times to catch water from hand washing, cleaning fruit & veggies, soaking dry beans, rinsing rice, grains any number of things, water used for cooking vegetables or leftover tea, you get the idea. An added bonus, this water contains nutrients that are beneficial for the garden.I keep two tubs in the kitchen one for washing dishes the other for rinsing, all of that water can be recycled into the garden.Two watering cans are kept near the door to keep my tubs empty for the next opportunity.I avoid using water with soap on my acid loving plants as it is alkaline and could create discontent with plants like Rhododendron.

Hang a shower bag in a tree in the garden, every time someone has a shower the root zone gets a drink. It forces you to shower with less water and if you turn the water off as you are sudsing up you may get two showers out of one fill up,very doable if you have a twenty litre bag. If you really want to get nerdy like we do use a black container to heat the water in the sun ,cheap and cheerful solar shower.On a really hot day don't heat the water at all!

If you don't have rain catchment I hope you are considering it. We all need to create water supply for outdoor use and lessen the burden on our ground and surface water resources. Transition Saltspring is currently offering rebates for Rain Catchment.

Another great resource is Water Preservation Society, checkout information on Rainwater catchment,water wise gardening and free Rainwater Water catchment tours. If you want to gain a better understanding of Watersheds and all things water related you will find the WPS website of interest .