Kitchen Greywater Plans, and Garden Update
Thinking again about trying graywater from the kitchen. Kitchen graywater has more gravity working for it than my laundry water would.
If I ran it thru two barrels first and then out to a salt-tolerant marshy planter, it could be wonderful, beautiful and productive. I think there's just enough space to do this. Two barrels with sand filter would give enough time to cool down hot wash water, and give bacteria time to break down a lot of the gunk. The planter would get rainwater as well, which would cut down on the salt load.
What plants to use:
http://voices.yahoo.com/7-outstanding-salt-tolerant-shade-perennials-2303963.html
Daylilies are #1 for shade- and salt-tolerance! WOOT! Also astilbe, ferns, hosta, and periwinkle. I would love to have a planter full of daylilies behind the house. Hostas might survive if they were on the north side of the planter? It would get 3 hours of mid-day sun. If/when they drew slugs, the ducks could clear them out.
I could make the planter out of a small pond liner and castle wall blocks. Daylily buds are edible too, of course, but soapy-tasting. Too bad I didn't grab that old jacuzzi from Gypsy_Raihana when she moved.
http://landscaping.about.com/od/landscapingproblems1/a/salt_tolerant.htm
Prickly pear cactus is another salt-tolerant, it's edible, and it would handle full sun! Not sure how it'd handle wet feet. Also, have not yet tasted it. One site says: "How it tastes: Cactus fruit has a taste similar to raspberries or watermelon, with a slight bite like kiwi fruit. The fruit is filled with small seeds which make it grainy to the tongue." Ohmygods that sounds yummy.
"Beach rose", Rosa rugosa! And I believe that rugosa is the very rose that's best for getting good rose hips. :) :) Again, not sure if it'd handle wet feet.
Cattails can be salt tolerant! YES! Typha angustifolia is moreso. Cattails are one of the most productive food plants in the world! Bonus: it's considered a vampire deterent by Serbians. (oy.)
I think I do want passiflora incarnata vines for the garden fence. It's native, beautiful, produces fruit, and will enjoy the full sun. Will need at least two vines for cross-pollination; can put one on either side of the gate.
I hope it plays well with trumpet vine. Of course, the ducks could keep the trumpet vine in check if it gets too big.
I am pretty sure this could work. But before I bask in my newfound permaculture brilliance, I will need to measure the yard and see if these grand plans won't get in the way of my clothes dryer or crawl space access. The entire back of the house is only 30 feet long, after all.
Last weekend, I dumped the contents of my rolling composter onto what will become a raised garden bed. Plan is to have several that are about 4 feet x 12 feet. This compost mound is currently about 3 feet x 6 feet, so once the wall is in place, a round of double-digging should really make it an excellent bed. Hopefully it will get filled up with worms before long. They should appreciate all those coffee grounds I'm getting from work.
I raked leaves and piled them on top of the mound, but the next two days saw high winds. Might have to do that again, and water them in this time.
Also re-filled the empty rolling composter with raked leaves, most of which are from hackberry trees. The composter was then ridiculously light and easy to roll, the leaves weighed so little. That will change!
Can I just say that I was ridiculously proud of myself for this work? I got the composter emptied! Onto a future garden plot! I got leaves raked and put into the composter! I rule! I rock! I rock-n-rule!
Last thing, and why Permacultureismynewbestfriend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLKHYHmPbo
This gives me a whole new point of view on growing food, and on the Paleo diet. Horticulture, not agriculture.