Using Grey Water From Your Washer for The Garden

This one comes from my dad. When I was young, he maintained a very large garden and my mom canned most of the fruits and veggies that we ate. One year because of a water main break, all outdoor watering was banned. So he took a garden hose and attached it to the drain of the washer machine and placed out a window in such a way that the water would drain downhill once it left the house.

Every time my mom would do a load of laundry, she would move the hose end so that a new area of the garden could get watered. Because there were 6 in the family, we did a lot of laundry and our garden was able to stay watered all year.

Now I live in TX and we are having a drought. So next year when I start my garden, I am going to figure out exactly how to do this. I asked a plumber and he said buy the largest diameter garden hose you can fit in to your washer's drain hose. Take a rope of plumbers putty and slide the garden hose at lease 1 foot in to the drain hose and then wrap the plumbers putty around the garden hose to seal the drain hose.

To make sure that the putty stays in place, run some overlapping layers of duct tap from about 3 inches above the end of the drain hose, continuing down to the about 3 inches down the garden hose. This should form a water tight seal. Make sure that neither hose is kinked and test it.

Source: My Dad, Dennis and my local plumber

By Stephanie from Lubbock, TX