RE: Converting a swimming pool into a cistern

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Hi Ben & others who are interested in pool conversions

 

The pool is 45ft long x 20ft wide x 8ft deep grading to 3 feet. I think/ guess it is about 50,000 gallons – we think in Centimetres and litres so it’s a bit hard for me. It to 3 days and nights to fill when we first filled it with the tap running full bore.

 

Our garden is almost a half an acre, slight slope to the SW – most exposed to afternoon heat in summer, very shallow slightly acidic sandy loam over fractured shale and quartzite.

 

No, the gutters go into our two big new rainwater tanks. The s/pool almost fills entirely on what rain gets through the slatted deck that now sits over the old pool hole. I will try to send a photo of what it looks like.

 

We use a submerged pump permanently in place with a long 1” diameter hose attached. We don’t use an irrigation system but move the hose to flood, pond and soak areas as needed – as I said old trees and our veg patch plus a bit for my greenhouse of Madagascan and South African plants.

 

I have designed our garden so it gets by with grey water and the above stored water. We do not use potable tap water on the garden except for my wife’s few potted plants on our front porch.

 

We have switched our psychological and cultural focus from gardening in Spring, Summer and Autumn with a winter rest (the old Anglo-European tradition) to gardening in Autumn, Winter and Spring with a summer rest. That makes sense to us, saves summer work and watering, and is in tune with what happens naturally Down Here. That way we work with our seasons and do not try to fight them.

 

Philosophically I don’t believe that gardens should be green from top to bottom, front to back, side to side. It’s a concept based on an Arcadian fantasy developed by the Romantic poets and novelists. We shouldn’t expect it; it’s not a real possibility: everything has its season of growth and rest, of green-ness and dormancy or brown-ness. In American terms it’s a bit too Hollywood. Florence Yoch has a lot to answer for. As do American lawn companies, fertilizer companies and chemical companies – those in the UK, Europe and here too, tho’ they are probably all parts of the same few global conglomerates.

 

All the plants you list would grow well here under our circumstances IF I chose to grow them. I don’t.

 

Hope this helps.

 

trevor