The greywater planter at our home is approximately 2 feet wide by 60 feet long and about 4 feet deep. It is an EPDM lined trench that half filled with gravel, landscape fabric, sand, and topped off with native soil mixed with a bit of compost from Blossoms Nursery. The greywater is produced from the shower, tub, and sinks and is used to grow food indoors and to flush the the toilets.
The overflow for the greywater system is about 1.5 feet below the soil surface so you generally do not need to top water the planters as moisture wicks up from below. Thus, you need to have plants that can tolerate "wet feet". As of 8/1/2006, the edible winners are cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, rosemary, quinoa, mint, and yacon. Various non-edible ornamentals with strong chemical defenses such as scented geraniums, wandering jew, spider plants, bananas, etc, do very well and are not attacked very much by aphids and whiteflies.
In order to grow food indoors, one must pay close attention to pest infestations. I am attempting to create a stable ecosystem by introducing numerous beneficial insect species to keep pests such as whiteflies, aphids, spider mites, fungus gnats, and shore flies. Introduced and accidental beneficials include damsel bugs, minute pirate bug, encarsia formosa (an almost invisible parasitic wasp that parasitize whitefly eggs), ladybugs, predatory mites for the dreaded "two spotted spider mite", etc.
Enjoy the GW planter pictures here of blue flax and a closeup of a minute pirate bug dining on a two spotted spider mite!
Questions? Comments? Contact the website administrator at: admin@greaterworld.org
Phone: 505-613-4108