THE COASTAL GARDENER:

A few days ago it rained. I’m sure you noticed it. Rain fell on your roof, ran into your gutter, traveled to the end of the gutter and ran down the downspout. Hundreds of gallons of water traveled this path.

Through some clever engineering, your downspout sent this water directly to the street, where it mixed with hundreds more gallons, then fell into the city’s storm drain. A while later this rainwater, initially pure and clean, rushed into the Pacific Ocean. But by the time it got to the ocean, it wasn’t pure and clean anymore.

Water conservation and watershed protection is now a responsibility for gardeners and environmentally conscious homeowners. Last week in The Coastal Gardener we talked about ways a home gardener can allow more water to percolate into the soil, thereby cleansing it of pollutants, as well as recharging Orange County’s huge underground aquifer.

We discussed exchanging hard non-porous surfaces with permeable alternatives like decomposed granite, gravel or new-generation porous hardscapes. Alternatively, we suggested breaking up solid concrete walks, separating the pieces a few inches, planting the interim areas and allowing water to pass through and into the soil below. We mentioned swales to slow water down and allow it to infiltrate the ground.

We even questioned if the underlying conviction of moving rainwater off our property as quickly and efficiently as possible was a worthy goal.

In addition to allowing rainwater to permeate into the ground, home gardeners in Orange County are now beginning to “harvest” water as well. In many parts of the country rainwater harvesting is one of the fastest growing techniques of home water conservation. Harvesting rainwater simply means collecting it, storing it temporarily, then reusing it at a later time.

The easiest and most practical way of harvesting rainwater is to collect the water that runs through your rain gutter downspouts. Diverting this water into a storage device, called a rain barrel, instead of into a storm drain, is simple. Almost anyone can set up a couple of rain barrels in an afternoon, and they’ll be filled with water once the next storm arrives.

A rain barrel, made just for this purpose, is usually placed on some bricks or concrete blocks near the downspout of your roof gutter. A diverter is attached to the downspout, which allows you to send the water into the barrel or bypass if it is full. That’s it. Free water.

If you want to get started harvesting rain water, I suggest buying barrels specifically made for this purpose. Well-made rain barrels are durably constructed, exclude mosquitoes and have a hose coupling already attached. I ordered mine from www.aquabarrel.com and couldn’t be happier. I put a large concrete block under each barrel and installed a diverter on each of my two downspouts that I can flip to “fill” or “bypass”.

Most people are surprised how quickly roof water will fill a rain barrel. Just a moderate rain storm will fill my two barrels to the top in about 45 minutes or an hour. For example, just a quarter inch of rainfall over a 3,000-square-foot roof will provide 450 gallons of water.

My 60-gallon rain barrels are filled with water I can use when my garden needs it. I pay nothing for the water and, because the water isn’t picking up pollutants, I’m keeping the ocean a little bit cleaner. The water also required no energy or electricity to bring to my garden, and it’s free of chlorine and fluoride.

In a few days it will be raining again. What if you encouraged that water to percolate into the soil, where it would be cleansed and would replenish our underground aquifer? What if you harvested even more of that pure, clean rainwater and didn’t have to turn on the garden faucet next month? It’s not that hard to do.

ASK RON

Question: Some of my houseplants are sticky. I don’t see any pests, but I know that something is wrong. What should I use?

Doll

Newport Beach

Answer: You have a sucking pest feeding on these plants. Most likely are either scale or mealybug, but a few others are possible. Sucking pests deposit a sweet and sticky residue on plants as a byproduct of their feeding activities. This clear material is commonly called “honeydew.” If you look very carefully, you might be able to see the pests. If not, just sacrifice a leaf or two, put them into a plastic bag and bring them a nearby garden center. We should easily be able to tell you which pest it is. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we can prescribe an effective treatment.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the Nursery Manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar