The Shower Bucket

 Hear me out here, we have a shower bucket. 

Wait, that's not a fair place to start. 

Let me rewind to February, the month that I usually start my garden. I've been gardening for about 4 years now and have gotten better at it over the years. (It honestly is great for quelling anxiety and getting my mind off whatever is bothering me at the moment!) This year, I planted more tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, basil, more red chiles, thyme, and some other shit that I can't even remember. You see, it's been a dry ass year and I've lost plenty of plant babies, including two of my coveted lavender starts, to the extreme heat that all us Arizonians should be used to by now. I got a little smart this year and made room on the patio for lots of things, but that wasn't enough. I was growing bored of trying to schedule what to water when and how to mourn the lost little green things and how to make a shade cloth impervious to the haboobs. (Not my boobs! Haboobs! Just google it already!)

I, like most 40-something plant moms, turned to my online gardening group. I was well immersed in a long long thread about water conservation in my city filled with idea after idea. I desperately want to install a rain cistern and a grey water system for my trees, but that also requires more money than I have to dispose of at this moment in time. And I need a new water heater, but that's a blog for another time. (Like, when I totally keep putting it off and it takes a shit during the coldest week of the year. Am I right?) The shower bucket kept showing up and showing up. So, I grabbed the Home Depot bucket that I bought "just-in-case" and just threw it in the bath tub last week. 

Now you'll get the explanation. See, I'm turning into a total hippie mom. (I talk to plants and hate wearing a bra. That counts!) We already stopped buying plastic wrap and plastic baggies and have opted for reusable silicon counterparts. I have started a "trash garden" on a ledge in my kitchen with the scraps of a pineapple, lettuce, onion and various other plant clippings that most people would toss. We've been composting for four years. I hate disposable napkins, plates and cutlery. See where I'm going yet? No? OK. So, the shower bucket is the bucket that fills with water while you're waiting for your shower water to reach the desired temp. It showers with you and collects the grey water from your shower too. Then, it gets dumped on my palo verde tree, my baby mesquite tree, my Mexican bird of paradise, my chinaberry tree, my grapefruit tree, and my desert willows. Some of my heartier cacti enjoy grey water as well. I get to reuse water!!!!

It's on my long term goal list to eventually have a grey water system installed for my washing machine. My short term list is to hit the dollar store for a kitchen sink water container of some sort and maybe a few more Home Depot buckets for that monsoon rain we're receiving today, and hopefully through the rest of the season. 

So far, no one in my family has complained about the shower bucket. My husband has been the one volunteering to empty it into the trees in the evenings. My daughter's friend thought it was a pretty cool idea when they spent the night. And I love my little garden and my trees, so I'm happy that they can receive a well needed drink during the desert summer. 

To all my chronically ill gardening mommas and my avid gardeners anywhere, give the shower bucket a chance! It's allowed my baby trees to flourish and not succumb to the drought. It also gives me a little more confidence in learning to live just a little "greener."