I put some buckets under the eaves to catch water earlier this spring, but we've had so much rain, I'm well stocked with it and haven't really needed it. Time's a'comin', though. It's starting to warm up and dry out, so I'll be using it. I kept adding shower water and so on, too. 

One thing I forgot to mention is that you can also use water that vegetables have been cooked in to water plants, as long as it doesn't have any salt or fat in it. 

Brandy, do you wash your laundry by hand? You could save the rinse water, too. The first washing machine hubby and I owned had its hose diverted outside to the lilac bushes. I never had any problems with the soapy water hurting the plants.

slk2042:

Brandy, do you wash your laundry by hand?

Only certain things.I will use the dish rinse water for that and also dump it into the washing machine. To be sure I get the most out of that, I will adjust the load cycle to a smaller one so less water comes out. I have to readjust it to a larger load for rinse however. 

 Watering the plants....LOL.... it has been raining just about everyday here in MA for the whole month of June... I think we saw 4 days the entire month it didn't rain....May it rained most of the month too....I am sick to death of rain!!!!! I actually have to mow my lawn wet most of the time, as it keeps growing like mad. I have lost some cucumber plants from so much rain. I have to apply fungicide to my veggie garden on a weekly basis now, just to stop mildews and fungus dieases from starting in my garden from so much dampness.

 It rained again yesterday and this time, it's still damp outside this morning. I checked the plants and didn't have to water this morning.

The ground and greenery really needed this rain even if it was a short one.

I am gardening in 4x12 boxes that my husband built out of pallet wood.  We are growing corn, beans (lima and green), peas, carrots, green peppers, onions, tomatoes of several variaties, yellow squash, and zucchini.  We are also letting our kids grow watermelon, catalope, and pumpkins.  All this is arranged in a 20x70 part of our front yard.  Our backyard goes straight up hill and is not condusive to growing much but weeds!  In smaller beds we have lettuce, radishes, spinach, and herbs.

I am not expert but I listened to what my parents, aunts and uncles, and helpful neighbors said.  Then I went to the library check out some books.  I bought the Square Foot Gardener and read same.  We kept records of what we did and even now have written our suggestions for better results next year.  I am in Zone 6 and already have put up some of the zucchini.  And of course made bread.

 There two things when it comes to watering.  Water out of the sun.  Water on the leaves acts as a magnifying glass and will hurt your plant. Water close to the roots, not from above and don't wash them out.

My next project is to set up a rain barrel to catch run off from my house to use on the garden.  If anyone has a tip about that let me know!

Pat:

I do that, as well as catching water in a clean bucket while the shower water is coming up to temperature. Also, you can use leftover tea or coffee to water plants. There are lots of ways to cut having to run clean tap water for a garden. 

  My DH jokes that my plants are all hopped up on caffeine from the leftover tea and coffee they get.  

   I keep a gallon-size pitcher next to the sink .. it holds the leftover coffee, tea, ice cubes, water from my cats' bowls and any other dribs and drabs. It doesn't take long to fill.   I've also started catching the shower water too.   I haven't been able to collect as much rain water as usual because we're having some drainage problems, so this is going to come in handy.  (besides, the way the water rates are going up, I'm determined to get as much for my $$ as possible.)

Watering the outside plants? OMG, not here.....I literally think we have seen less than 10 warm sunny days this year. Rain, rain and more rain. I haven't had to water my veggie garden once since I planted it....the weather is just starting to act like summer....the house right next to me is owned by a man who is a music professor in New Orleans. He spends his summers here. He said everyday the inside of his car was registering 107 degrees and the outside temp was over 110...he said he loves this rainy, cool weather.......

Newfs:

the house right next to me is owned by a man who is a music professor in New Orleans.

I am living in the New Orleans area. It is indeed hot down here. It seems we have to deal with extremes fairly often...it's very hot and it's very dry then it's raining and the yard has far too much water with people south of us flooding.

 Watering for most of the year is common in So. Calif., we just don't get that much rain. Some areas have restricted lawn watering to twice a week between certain hours; people are grumbling about it because their expensive landscaping is dying. Fortunately we haven't had a great deal of heat yet, which is very unusual for July. Even so we still have to water potted plants every day or every other day, depending on size of pot and amount of heat. I looked into getting those polymer beads that retain water to add to pots, but they are extremely expensive, about $12.00 for a small bag about the size of 2 cups. Then I wondered what happened to those beads when the soil had been used up - where do they go and how healthy for the environment is something like that?

The local paper had a picture of a family that stands in buckets in the shower to make sure they catch every little bit of water for their yard. That's a different way to do it.  

Edey