Vegetable garden - yes or no with the drought?

I would put one in. If it is food then you are ok to use the water to keep them growing. I live 30 miles from California and I get the news from there. They governor was on the news the other night talking about the drought and said that they were in drought and that if you had grass or flowers you couldn't water them but if you have veggies or fruit for food consumption then you could water them.

Home grown veggies use a LOT less water than commercially grown ones. You will be conserving MORE water by planting your own than you would buying them at the grocery store.

This is how I operate. I think I'm saving water by growing my own veggies.

I was going to suggest gray water too. My grandma used her dish water as gray water for years! Always did her dishes in a tub and chucked it on her garden. She had quite the green thumb.

I know a rain barrel might seem impossible too, but is it an option at all?

Dishwashing water is great to use for a veggie garden -- Specially if you do a drip and don't spray all over the leaves.

I grew up with my parents using all dishwashing, clothing wash, and bathwater to irrigate, so it doesn't seem weird to me at all.

Hijack, but sometimes I cannot believe the vast differences we have in our country in climate. The northeast had record snowfalls this year, and we are finally seeing the ground. The weather has been so cold that I wonder whether I will be able to plant my garden in mid-May like usual. At this point I would be planting lettuce, but the ground is so wet and cold, I am skipping my spring crop. Our growing season is so short that if I have to delay, I have to rethink what I am planting.

I wouldn't be too keen to use grey water on my vegetables to be honest. Other plants in the garden yes, but not vegetables. When we had a drought and water restrictions here people got rain water tanks. Not much help right now when there's no rain, but maybe something to consider going forward. A lot of people put a bucket in the shower, and catch all the water when you first turn it on and are waiting for the water to get to the right temperature. It's just a small thing, but every little bit helps. You could do that and use the water for the vegetable garden.

I have some but they will be in containers and either use drip irrigation or hand watered. I have been watering them with a watering can and I am not using that much water. I think as long as it isn't a large garden I would keep it.

If we had a single story home I would do the bucket thing but it is upstairs and there is no way I am going to be hauling buckets of water dripping all over our carpet and hardwood floors. That would make a huge mess.

Growing up living in a single story house we could have easily done the bucket thing or even the dishwater thing but we use the dishwasher which uses less water than hand washing supposedly. Growing up all the water from the washing machine went into the yard and we had rain barrels and my grandfather would even transfer the excess into old water heaters - he was a retired plumber. In our current house all the downspouts go underground and out to the street and none would easily convert for rain barrels boy do I wish they would.

We were supposed to get rain last weekend 70% chance and we didn't get a drop . It wouldn't have done much good but it would have been nice. Around here it seems like about 20% of our neighborhood are currently letting their grass go brown the rest are still watering at least partially. There are several neighbors that water a lot. I see a lot of water on the street in the mornings and some water later in the day. I would love to send them reminders to check their sprinklers and the rules they should be following. I don't want to turn them in because I feel that would just be bad karma. We are in a wait and see mode wondering what the actual rules will be. One of our neighbors is putting in a pool and we have a pond that we had to have cleaned and a lot of the water had to be drained. They kept about 30% to save on water and to help the fish. We have large fish so they are our pets. If we didn't have the fish we would consider draining it but couldn't do that to the fish. We have become really attached. I am afraid of our next water bill.

They say they want us to reduce usage by 25% but most if use have cut back our usage over the past five years and can't really cut a lot more than that and since residents only use about 10% of the water cutting back 25% while a lot to us isn't to the big picture of the amount of water saved. Most of California's water goes to the farmers and businesses. I know in our previous home we reduced our grass and outdoor areas that we watered by more than half and then we got hit with higher bills because well we were conserving too much and they couldn't make enough profit that is exactly what it said on our bill lol. Our bills in that house were $200 in the summer per month after the rate hike. It was insane.

We would love to reduce and change our grassy area but it would cost thousands to do so and we just don't have 3-5K to convert to xeriscape. We even considered fake grass but that would cost us about 20K. I am grateful that most of the non grassy areas are on a drip system at least.

Good luck with your garden. I can't wait for homegrown tomatoes as I have some tomatoes growing and several that I am waiting to ripen already.

Bacteria, like e-coli. It's not recommended to use grey water on fruits/veggies that you eat directly or on root vegetables i.e. the grey water shouldn't come in contact with the edible portion of the plant unless that portion is going to be thoroughly cooked.

look up ideas on deep mulch gardening and you will water so much less. Watch the Back to Eden film, it's free online. It's quite religious, but just ignore that and take in the gardening tips. Deep mulch is where it's at, not only for less water, but for the benefit of the soil and the no weeding factor. Also look up Ruth Stout and Lee Reich who both have books on the subject.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, either, to be honest. Something I just remembered, though, is that one time I used some potato water from boiling potatoes on some container plants, and the leftover bits of tater in that water sat on top of the soil and STUNK.

ETA: this post made me a Mushy Pea, how appropriate!

I use drip irrigation on my edibles. I have fruit trees, berries, herbs, and I plant tomatoes each year.

I must have my delicious home grown produce! And drip irrigation keeps the water use down. We let our lawn die last year, and will again this year. No sprinklers, only drip.