Water Responsibly!

“Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die.”― Gil Scott-Heron

Water- life essence if ever there was one. Love may make the world go round but water gives it life. There is just so much of it, no more and it is certainly not evenly distributed across the globe. Where I live we have plenty of it but I think about it because I live at a point on the continental divide of North America. Interestingly, a recent deal was made to allow a county west of the divide to receive water from the Great Lakes, east of the divide. This is after years of storm sewer water had been diverted from west to east so it only makes sense but it makes me wonder about the overall, long term effect of such decisions of which this is only one example, taking place across the world.

  The water cycle. 
 The seasons. 
Nature...

 Sure, I water my vegetable garden often, as well as my potted plants. I water my flower gardens when it's pretty dry. But we rarely water our lawn; we let it go dormant in the heat of summer.

In the vegetable garden I water at the base of the plants early in the morning to avoid losing the water to evaporation. 


Straw under the plants will keep in the moisture, prevent splash back, keep the soil from caking and deter weeds

Watering leaves in the sun just results in cooking them.

In the flower gardens I have much more opportunity to water in the shade. I like to water by hand and contemplate the garden, gives me time to contemplate other things, as well.

When I find something that needs my attention I often just prop my hose rather than run for a sprinkler. It's best to water  from underneath but when that won't work I go ahead and broadcast over the top. This way I only water what needs to be watered and I can work in the area as well. 

Sometimes, you just need to wash off the dust of local construction of which we've had more than our fair share lately. 

I use whatever is handy. I like the old fashioned brass nozzle for this.

 It's July. We need to get the gardens through the worst of the summer heat. I live in a community where water is plentiful but that doesn't mean we need to waste it. It's a little like alcohol in that it may seem wonderful at the time but we're going to wake up to consequences. Water responsibly, people! Let's be reasonable.