This is how it looked after both tanks were in place.  We laid weed mat and gravel down first to make a stable foundation.  We also planted Pineapple Guava shrubs in front to hide the tanks and provide some more edible landscaping.  With both tanks we now have the capacity to hold over 1,000 gallons of water.  We have them uphill from the garden, so hopefully, gravity will help us get the water down to where its needed.

Cistern Project

This all started when we observed how quickly our rain barrel filled up.  We wondered if we had an even bigger barrel if we could save enough water to use for all our outdoor watering needs.  Then we calculated how much money we were spending on watering our garden every season.  It turned out that we were using almost $80.00 of water a month in the summer just for the garden.  So we figured a little spending on plumbing supplies and parts would pay for itself in water bill savings.  This is a picture of one of our 500 gallon plastic tanks we purchased.  It was made of heavy duty plastic but was so light when empty that we could roll it into place.

Jill and the Beanstalk

It started out as a vague idea in the spring:  the three sisters garden.  Native Americans planted corn, beans, and squash together for millenia.  They called them the three sisters.  Corn first, a heavy feeder but when planted with its sister bean, a nitrogen fixer, it was kinder to the soil.  Corn also provided shade and a trellis for bean to grow on.  Then sister squash was planted last, to grow around the base and smother out the weeds.  Great idea in theory, but what do you do when sister corn grows 10 feet tall?  Now I need a ladder to pick sister bean.  Sister squash keeps trying to escape out into the lawn.  I guess this is just normal dysfunctional family behavior.

Rain!

Finally, some rain on our poor, parched, piece of property!  After over a week of unrelenting heat and sun, it sure was a blessing to see rain falling, even if it contained a little hail.  So far we've received about one-half inch of rain.  That's not enough to relieve the drought, but enough to green things up a little.  Too bad we haven't finished our cistern project yet.  More on that, with photos on our next post.