My seven-year-old niece came over this week, looked out the window with a frown, and told me, "Your gardens are looking... really, really bad." Which is entirely true. The lawn is totally dead, since my husband and I elected not to use water keeping it alive, and the vegetable garden is down to just a few sad plants. What do you do?
It sure feels like extreme weather—from floods to heat waves, just not at the same time or in the same place—is becoming the norm.
Weather is inevitable, but how we manage it is entirely up to us. As for us, we have prioritized when it comes to energy and water usage during this hot, hot drought, by following our city's water restrictions and also letting our lawn go the way of the dinosaur. We have programmed our thermostat and have taken full advantage of ice water and cold beers to get us through the hot summer evenings.
We're sure you've had to adapt similarly—what kinds of changes has the weather in your area encouraged (or forced) you to make?
Related Posts:
• Re-Nest On Rethinking Food and Waste
• The Best Ways to Fight Climate Change at Home
• 8 Tips for a Cool Night's Sleep (Without the AC)
(Image: Amber Byfield for Re-Nest)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun & Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
A Work Week Menu Plan That You Can Do
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I've been reusing water from: the kitchen sink, the dehumidifier, cooking water and anywhere else. Then I prioritize which plants get saved. Food first, then the plants that attract bees. Native plants (which are pretty much all we have) get watered the least but they're usually the hardiest and most adapted.
We live in the middle of Texas (haven't hit below 100 degrees for over a month and no rain for at least 3. Not a drop) Its pretty terrible here right now. We just stopped giving the plants extra water and set our sprinkler very conservatively (and it runs at midnight when it does. Anything later/earlier and it evaporates before it has a chance to soak in!)
Never thought I'd be praying for cold and rain!
atlanta has been pretty bad too..my tiny balcny garden dint survive last year and this year, i m struggling to see any growth..climate change and global warming seriously at work?
I live in Central Texas, too. And due to the drought, our lawn watering has been restricted by the City of Austin to twice a week. I still water my vegetable & herb garden daily but I use a drip hose for that. We've only been able to keep our front lawn sort of alive due to a large tree that shades most of it. Our backyard, however, is a dust bowl. I feel so bad because my husband worked so hard to finally get some grass growing back there in the spring and now it is all completely dead. I think I'll go do a rain dance in hope that we get some moisture from the tropical storm that is in the Gulf currently.
The best thing I can say is change your planting style (aka. put things closer together).
Grow plants with things that provide them with groundcover/ shade so the dirt doesn't dry out.
I live in nyc, and I have a plot in the community garden. Well, because of garden hours, I can only water my plot every other day, so how does it survive 100+ degree nyc heat? The soil things are planted in, never sees the sun.
I have my cucumbers on a trellis like cube built from reclaimed pallets and some dowels. It is planted next to some tomatoes and so it also provides soil shade for them too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29052430@N08/5985094887/in/set-72157627178770969/
check it out. so far, things are thriving.... despite lack of rain and the heat.
My plants look pretty pitiful in the middle of the day in the central Texas heat, but they perk up once the sun passes by a little. Don't worry about those peppers, though. Once the heat backs off just a bit, it's gonna be pepper city :-)
Fortunately for my Dallas suburban yard (at least a small portion of it) I planted all succulents and cacti in my garden last and earlier this year. Two or three of them are not digging this hell-ish weather, but the rest are doing just fine. As for the rest of the lawn...brown bermuda grass with a few patches of green (weeds). No water here and I think I just saw Lucifer running down the street... Okay, maybe that's in poor taste, but I'm kinda too hot to care!
I'm in North Alabama. I don't water the yard at all. The flowers and plants in containers get water that I collect when I'm waiting for the water to heat up while running water to wash dishes. I keep a bucket in the bathroom to collect shower water before it gets hot. I water the indoor plants and flush the toilet with that.
I do all of that so I don't feel guilty about watering the vegetable garden once a week. It still looks pretty sad these days. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for rain soon.
I gave up on the lawn years ago in a previous drought. I just trim and mow what ever manages to grow in the lawn area.
I use soaker hoses and a lot of mulch on my vegetables and I run my washing machine drain out the back window to water the trees.
I don't like drought. It's depressing.
Central Florida here. Our natives (coontie, firebush, dune sunflower, blanket flower, passionflower vine) are actually looking great in this heat! We've had somewhat consistent rain for the last six weeks or so in the form of those regular Florida afternoon showers.. but it's still technically dry here.
The few non-natives and vegetables we have get water that's been cycled from baths/showers/dehumidifiers/pasta water and all the rest as the first poster up top mentioned. Switching over to organic bodycare means I have no qualms pouring that rinse water on my plants. Really helps!