It's about time for me to launch into my annual water waste rant. I was reminded by the latest edition of James City County's e-FYI Update which included a link to a nifty YouTube video with Beth Davis explaining why you need to conserve water. She describes the county regulations concerning water use. It's embedded below, so I'll let her explain.
The James City County restrictions are really quite minimal. See if you can push it. I collect water in an outdoor rain barrel and in the shower and sinks in gallon jugs for watering plants outdoors and in. I have about 10 gallon jugs that rotate from deck to garden to garage to shower to deck. We also have low-flow toilets and high energy washing machine and dishwasher. I hope you'll be conserving water as best you can this summer, too.
I've included a photo of my rain barrel, above. Until yesterday, I left the faucet open so that rain water would seep into my yard slowly rather than adding to the runoff that washes from Oxford Circle into the headwater streams of Mill Creek. Now that my gardens are planted, I'll be siphoning the water into a watering can to sprinkle on tomato plants.
I'm also working on the ditch in the easement between my yard and my neighbors yard. It was a straight shot channel for water drained from Oxford Drive and Druid Court, but I've put a curve in it and dug a basin to capture the water and give it time to percolate down, once more to ease the wash into Mill Creek. I've surrounded the basin with grasses and other native plants like Joe-Pye Weed, Swamp Milkweed, Golden Ragwort, American Beauty Berry, River Oats, and a variety of ferns. I look forward to posting more photos of my rain garden as it matures.
JCC's effort is great, I just wish she'd added, "Buy native plants and limit the amount of grass in your lawn, so that you will naturally reduce the amount of water you need to use on your lawn."
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