GREY WATER AND GREEN GRASS

I always find garden blogger talk about using barrels to capture rain water an interesting concept, and one unknown here in Colorado. State law requires that precipitation that falls to the ground runs off and into the rivershed where it fell, without any intervention by water users. Mean, huh? Well, we've been in a drought for a long time and on water rationing for ages. Water in the west is liquid gold. Re-using grey water is a no-no, too. You can't capture your shower water before it runs down the drain (not that I'd want to do that) or throw your dishwater on the lawn (not that I'd want to do dishes).

So how to keep 1/3 of an acre of Kentucky bluegrass green? Normally I don't. But this year we had way above average snowpack in the mountains which meant more runoff for us and restrictions were lifted. Hooray, a green lawn for the first time in years! Of course I had to pay dearly for it. My water bill for the first couple of months made me cringe but I found if I didn't eat or buy any clothes I could pay it.
Then we had an unusually wet July which made me cheer. We had so much rain the mushrooms sprouted like dandelions. I mow the lawn once a week on the highest setting of the lawnmower which makes it look like I need to mow again immediately, but the height of the grass keeps the roots cooler and less likely to dry out. It's not a manicured look, which I don't care about anyway, but I like this method of conserving water better than this sage advice from the Water Board: "Try catching water that comes out before the shower water warms up and then use this water to flush toilets or rinse the shower." Geez, I can hardly get to work on time as it is.