my neighbor has her washing machine water emptiied into a large trashcan, then a hose at the bottom delivers water to her garden, but her yard is farly flat, slightly sloped to her advantage (away from the house).

I pump my washing water straight to the garden via a hose which is attached to the W/M outlet hose. Just make sure you are not trying to pump uphill, if using a barrel the barrel shouldn't be any higher than your current standpipe, or whatever your used water is pumped into at present.

Cheryl.

I have my wm by the window in my laundry room and pump the water out via a hose attached to the back of the machine. It was like that when I moved in, thank goodness. As a result I have a huge Siberian Elm which volunteered and serves as great south facing shade in my hot NM summer, and has grown to be the biggest tree in my yard!

I have a 30 gallon trachcan with a hose too. you can raise it up a few feet from the existing standpipe, I have mine raised about 2' off of the ground which is high enough to be able to drain the hose anywhere in the yard. There are a couple things to consider- you will need a screen to catch some of the lint, but don't just screen over the hose intake, or it could clog. I have the screen about halfway down the trashcan. also, don't use detergents with high sodium, bleach, or borax. they aren't so ggod for your plants. finally, make sure that the hose that pumps water into the trashcan is set up in such a way that if the can fills up all the way the hose is not sticking into the water. the pump can pull dirty water back into the washing machine. The ggod thing about this system is total cost is less than 40 bucks!

Are you guys buying the trash cans already with hoses or hose attachments or are you rigging it yourself? If so how is this done?

For years I used a old syphoning hose. I pump the washing machine water into the utility tub then syphone it out to the garden. Finally the old syphoning hose, that I used with my wringer washer, gave up. Lee Valley in Canada, has a small plastic syphiner that goes onto the garden hose and will just sit in the bottom of the tub. When I want the water to go up the hill, I put a sump pump into the tub, hook the garden hose on and can even run the sprinkler

Ben,
In Pennsylvania, We used to pump the washing machine water into pickle barrels. it is suprising how much water is used by a large laundry cycle! I knew someone that pumped it staight into a garden hose and watered from it.....but I still hauled the buckets of water. Not easy... but beneficial to the shrubs and flowers. My washer never missed a beat...and my flowers were appreciative because we were under a watering ban at the time. I live in North Carolina now and the rainfall this spring has been very little. I don't know where to purchase pickle barrels here...but large plastic trash cans should do the job just as well! The laundry soap...no bleach... seemed to keep the bugs down too. In Pennsylvania my washer hose was connected to another hose that pumped the water up and out. It was higher than the existing hose at the back of the washer....but the washer could handle it!
Good Luck!
Dianne

It shouldn't be too hard to put together Lowes system and have your washer running into it. Check it out. I plan to put in one of these for my washer. You can then use a hose or pvc pipe to run it where you want the water to go. My neighbor has a similar setup and waters her whole backyard with it.

http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/idea-library/videos/Rain_Barrels_0408.aspx

gemfire