The way my laundry is set up the laundry machine drains into a large sink. I have a bucket set up to catch the water so i can water my fruit trees with it. I do not have a green thumb at all but ive been told that the detergent is good for the trees. My pears are huge. 12 trees is alot. maybe you could run a hose to water your trees like i do. It is extra work but it is worth it to see such great fruit and i save on water.

I'd go for the fruit trees. Can you set out barrels to catch rain water from the roof? That would be a little less water to use. Also, I think some people put pvc pipe into the ground near tree roots so that the water goes to the roots.

When I lived in the southwest, people often had rock yards. I don't know where you live so I'm not going to recommend something that may not be appropriate for your area. If you're trying to cut back on your water use, you could do some landscaping (xeriscaping) with native plants, yard art, rocks, etc., to cut down on the amount of yard you need to water.

I live in northern California where the summers can be 110 degrees and dry and the winters can get below 32 degrees. The newer houses around here all have water meters. I am trying to find ways to save on water. Lawn is not big for me anyway so I thought fruit trees might be nice. I can take out the lawn, put in some fruit trees and cover the ground with decomposed granite. Some people told me that they will cost about the same to water. What do you think?

Xeroscape the yard and don't worry about lawn OR fruit trees. IMHO. Spending the money on fruit trees vs lawn doesn't make a difference- you're still spending the same amount of money. Get the decomposed granite and native plants that thrive in your climate, and save 100% of your watering costs by not watering at all.

If you go to the Gardenweb side of these forums, there are several gardening forums. You might be able to find some people in your area that have more appropiate suggestions for your area. I just went over and looked. THere are also trees and frugal gardening forums there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb Forums

If I put down decomposed granite, do I need weed cloth underneath?

Fruit trees, with old straw, mulch, torn up newpapers, etc. covering the ground around them to a certain depth, holding the moisture.

Water sparingly with a soaker hose - sprinklers lose a lot of water to the atmosphere ... which you may enjoy, if you're sitting nearby, as it'll provide some cooling, if there's no wind.

We'll be short of water, soon.

Clean water, in any case.

Good wishes for wise and sparing use of all of our precious resources.

ole joyful

P.S. Maybe not "less" water ... but "cheaper" can be obtained by drinking water from the tap.

In most jurisdictions it's more stringently regulated than the bottled stuff.

Plus, most of the bottled stuff, especially from the big three processors ... is actually municipal water, slightly treated.

And we can scarcely spare the tons of petroleum needed to build those petroleum-based bottlses to carry the bottled water to us.

Such water costs more than gasoline ... and we whine about the price of gas!

Hoo ever sed Hommanz wuz reezonabl?

o j