Reusing kitchen water for irrigation

[ChrisRJ]

Hi all,
Wanted to know what you thought of my irrigation idea - whether anyone else has tried it or any other thoughts.
My idea is to get a 1.5 kitchen sink (those ones with the half sink next to the full sink). The half sink has separate waste drain which I'm planning to run into the garden to supply the vegetable plots with appropriate kitchen waste water. E.g. when rinsing vegetables, that water could be reused in the garden. The water pipe would run down the side of the garden and feed in to the top of each vegetable plot. I would feed one vegetable plot at a time, blocking the others off, sort of flooding it (though not fully flooding it) for a day or something during dry weather, and then move on to the next one.
I think it'd a brill idea but haven't tried it before so would really welcome comments, concerns, suggestions etc.
Thanks in advance
Chris

[FionaH]

I moved this out of growing techniques so people can see it

[Jeanied]

Hi ChrisJ and welcome to the vine. Your main consideration will be the speed of emptying - those little half sinks fill quite quickly and from what I can remember when we used bathwater in this fashion, it takes quite a while for the water to drain away into the garden. I don't think flooding is going to be a problem for you!

[Two_Sheds]

I just wash up in a plastic bowl, then pour the dregs on the garden - the low-tech solution

[Bigmallly]

Good idea but it would be easier to fit one of these and connect a hose. You can then decide if you want it to go on the garden or down the drain.

Bath Water Diverter - Natural Collection Select

[shmeen]

Along similar lines, I've often thought about using washing up and bath water for the garden, but wasn't sure of the effect of the soap. Do things like fairy liquid harm crops or insects - do you need to use water that hasn't had soap in it, like when rinsing veg, or is all bathwater and washing up water with it's soap and grease OK?
Thanks!

[Two_Sheds]

Don't use much soap; use a biodegradable one like Ecover; use straight away, don't store it; don't use for edible crops (flowers & lawn is fine)

I use one of these for syphoning out the bathwater: http://www.droughtbuster.co.uk/