Posted on 08/24/2014 10:58:22 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Rick Blankenship was tired of an insatiable lawn he couldn’t keep green, no matter how he watered it, so he decided to tear it out. […]
As California faces an historic drought, more residents are following in Blankenship’s footsteps and tearing out thirsty lawns to cut down on water use. Water agencies across the state have been encouraging the change by offering thousands of dollars in rebates to help homeowners make the switch to a drought-friendly landscape with better odds of surviving dry spells common to the local climate.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which covers 19 million people, received requests to remove 2.5 million square feet in residential lawns in July, up from 99,000 in January, said Bill McDonnell, the consortium's water efficiency manager. …
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Yes, but if there is a few days, like right now, where those showers don’t come, St. Augustine curls up like old hay and looks like crap. Then takes weeks to recover. Just the worst variety of grass ever.
When CA is called the “land of fruits and nuts” in the non-derogatory sense, it’s one of that state’s greatest benefits to the rest of the Union, never mind many other lands.
No lawn mower for me either but the zeroscape landscaping is not maintenance free. Switch out the lawn mover for the leaf blower. The only way to get the leaves and stuff out of the rocks.
Crawford or thereabouts?
NWS is calling for wetter weather for TX starting the end of Sept... through January.
In Austin we’ve had the moisture sucked right out of us.
Just the worst variety of grass ever.
OH man do you hit the nail on the head. It’s just about time for the cycle to shift into four years of heavy rains. I know having lived here in S. Calif. all my life it goes in eleven year cycles. This cycle is about spent, and the day of the rains coming down is near.
We have never liked lawns, and being out in rural Riverside county we can do as we please, so we have whatever we want to plant landscape, and the good ol’ drip mist system to water it all.
The average person uses 100 gallons of water a day:
source:
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html
There are as many as 30 MILLION + illegal aliens in the US
so.... 30,000,000 X 100 gallons = 3 billion gallons of fresh water consumed per DAY by illegal aliens.
365 days in a year X 3 billion = 1.095 TRILLION gallons of water a year.
I have! it’s crazy aint it!?!
You want a workout? how about just doing some of the things you hire others to do!
AstroTurf.
A sheep can eat the grass, then you can eat the sheep.
I know my lawn here in DFW area is also St. Auggie. I like that it sends out ‘runners’ but in dry periods some patches go to thatch. I praise the Lord when we get summer rains as August is typically the driest month of the year and temps get over 100 for much of the month too.
Lousy, clay expansive soil doesn’t help with the home’s foundation so got to keep it from drying out. Always something somewhere to deal with.
That zero scape does real well when you give it enough water.
Kinda ironic, since it’s native to... Florida.
We have a San Augustine lawn, and are just trying to keep it alive again. I have several patches of Buffalo grass that look dead as ever, but will come back after the first good rain. If everyone goes native, what will happen to all the illegals and their lawn care businesses.
That is a VERY good question.
They wouldn’t have to cut down on water use if they’d kick out the illegals.
“Yes, but if there is a few days, like right now, where those showers don’t come, St. Augustine curls up like old hay and looks like crap. Then takes weeks to recover. Just the worst variety of grass ever.”
Oh yeah! Last year I was fined by my association for not keeping my lawn green. A week later I was fined by the city for watering my lawn.
This year I put in St.Augustine sod to fill in the dead areas. Every day I went out with the hose and watered for a few minutes. It was a battle. The sun won. I am soaking once a week and wetting it a couple of times a week in the hopes I can keep some of it alive until cooler weather.
Yup. We have lawn service trailer after lawn service trailer driving through our area. I think it ticks them off when they see a white guy mowing the grass in HIS yard. No way I am paying $50 to some illegal to mow my grass. Lots of other people do that very thing.
If you want a lawn of carpet grass, move to St Augustine-as in Florida, where that stuff comes from...
Intelligent people in some cities here figured that out 20-30 years ago-the water companies gave a rebate for native plantings. Here in the boonies, where your water comes from either your own or a shared communal well, nobody wastes water on yards anyway-you cultivate the native stuff, which is drought tolerant and very attractive. If the plant needs extra water, it is in a pot on the patio or deck...
Agreed. However, just imagine how much MORE they could produce if Big Government got out of the way!
Diverting Ag water to save a friggin’ fish? Come on!
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