Over-watering!

I was surprised to see the brick path still wet at 3 PM and moss growing near the little bridge -- it's right out in the sun! I thought I re-set the automatic sprinklers back in September to only turn-on on Mondays. Then I saw droplets caught in the nasturtium leaves. This year, autumn in the Bay Area has been unusually dry and warm, so maybe more water is OK.

Of course, I turn off the sprinklers every winter, but it's so seductive to go out there and hand water, just a little, just to be sure, just to reach those little corners, in case a sprinkler head was blocked...

I was surprised to read* that the Bush ranch in Crawford (Texas) diverted gray water, water from the kitchen drains, from showers, the laundry, to irrigate the lawn. They must clean that water to get the salts and detergents out. I wonder whether some tireless MBA majoring in accounting has done a rigourous calculation of the net savings, including the cost to clean the gray water? Maybe it's just for show, even if it costs more than to use 'new' water, the PR value of 'recycling' makes up for it, huh?

As for my house and garden, a luxurious hot bath (with bath salts, or bubble bath, or essential oil, all no-nos for plants) uses maybe 20 gallons? 40? More? My sprinkler system is set for an average of 10 minutes for each of 4 zones, 40 minutes total per session; at the rate of maybe 2 gallons an hour, three times a week at peak usage (Do I have my numbers right?) Actually, some zones are on for 30 minutes while others are only on for only 5 minutes once a week... carefully planned for soil types, plant types (herbs need less water, fruits need more), depth of soaking, time of day... When will home gardening suppliers come out with sprinkler controllers that sense the average temperature and allow Boolean programming?

I'd like to give my sprinkler controller an IP address (and the appropriate mechanics) so I can control it from Singapore. Last year, when I went to Australia for 10 days, a power failure caused the sprinkling system to default to sprinking every day. My garden almost floated away before I got home!

Maybe I 'can afford' to be more profligate with watering the garden, but taking only occasional hot baths? Then there is the cost/benefit analysis to upgrade to a $1,000 water-miser washing machine, and the infrastructure cost to divert and clean that grey water (high detergent concentration) into the garden; would it be enough water, would it need supplementing... How many laundry loads would it take to depreciate?

Being analytical can be a drag.

* Tommy Franks, "American Soldier" (now only $7.99 from Amazon)