This homeowner initially contacted Cactus Rain to evaluate and replace a failing metal cistern she and her husband installed decades ago. The home uses rainwater, exclusively, for domestic water supply. After reviewing their rainwater harvesting potential, we installed additional tanks to increase their storage capacity. The homeowner was also inspired to add a thriving landscape, but wanted to reserve the high-quality rainwater for in-home use. So, we suggested adding a laundry-to-landscape (L2L) greywater irrigation system. It was a perfect combination!
The homeowner and our designers discussed the opportunity to use L2L greywater water from her washer plus rainwater and groundwater to irrigate rain garden mulch basins.
Rain gardens are simple, but ingenious. A rain garden is a depressed shallow bowl shaped area in a landscape that collects, absorbs, and filters greywater, rainwater and stormwater runoff to prevent erosion and, in this case, grow edible, medicinal and ornamental plants.
Our designers began the transformation by, first, evaluating the site’s soil health and asking her about the types of fruit trees, berries, shrubs, flowers and herbs she enjoys and would like growing in each area. We then created a landscape drawing of a fruit tree guild with plants which can be irrigated with greywater, thrive in her East Mountain microclimate, and would not cast a large or long-lasting shadow on her south facing solar array. Based on her feedback and our expertise, we selected an Alberta peach at the center surrounded by rosemary, a variety of native flowers and shrubs, a climbing rose plus thornless raspberries.
After removing about 3 cubic yards of native soil and shaping the gardens into bowls which direct water towards the center, we added nutrient dense compost, planted and then covered each garden with about 3.5 cu yards of wood mulch. Because the native soil in these garden areas had been covered with landscape cloth for decades, the soil beneath had not been exposed to sunlight or water - both essential for underground micro-organisms to create a living soil. As we dug, we encountered NO organic matter or other signs of life so we added Soil Secrets’ BIO TerraPro™ and Protein Crumblies™to the new gardens to re-awaken the Soil Food Web.
We pruned the 2-year old peach to an open-center structure, which promotes light penetration, air circulation, and easy access for fruit harvest. This early training ensures the tree develops a strong framework of limbs to support future fruit crops. Pruning also balances vegetative growth with fruit production, controls tree size, and prepares for future fruit quality and yield by removing unwanted growth like suckers and water sprouts.
The homeowner wanted a rain garden focused on plantings that would thrive in mostly full sun in the morning and part to full shade in the afternoon. Selected sun-loving roses and native woody and herbaceous perennials will get the direct and indirect sun they need while several part- to full-shade loving naturalized herbaceous perennials could be shielded from direct sun by the solar panels. Win win!
In the end, we created two rain gardens that are passively watered with greywater every time the homeowner washes clothes, as well as when snow and rain falls in areas which were once bare gravel. Once established, the homeowner will not need to irrigate with rain water from her tanks. Instead she’ll enjoy two flourishing oases which only increase in bounty year after year!
Cactus Rain designers specialize in helping homeowners, farmers, ranchers, business owners and governments design, install and maintain L2L and other water systems plus sustainable landscapes. Contact us to get started conserving water and creating the landscape of your dreams.