Drought or not?

I was at a home earlier this week doing a consultation for the homeowner who wanted to remove some lawn and take advantage of the turf removal rebate. Her lawn looked really healthy – and she only watered once a week.

I hope one thing we are learning from this drought is that lawns DO NOT need to be watered every day. That’s just

plain wasteful (not to mention against the drought emergency regulations). We know with scientific accuracy how much water fescue lawn needs.

A watering schedule to keep your lawn healthy would look like this:

• Once a week in spring as the weather warms

• Twice a week as the heat of summer sets in

• Three times a week in the middle of summer if the lawn is stressed (grass doesn’t spring back after you walk on it)

• Back to twice a week when the hottest part of the summer is over

• Once a week in fall until it’s time to shut off the irrigation for winter

Two “lawn substitute” plants are yarrow and buffalograss. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) can be a low water use

flowering plant in the garden, or it can be seeded into the yard and mowed occasionally to keep it low, and your

neighbor across the street will never know it’s not grass. A yarrow lawn needs about half the water needed by fescue lawn.

Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides) is a bunchgrass native to the southwest desert states. Seeded in, it will make a lawn that is taller and a little more lumpy than fescue lawn, but you can water it once or twice a month and keep it green.

Remember that seeds are food for our feathered neighbors, and you do need to protect your seeded area. There are

all kinds of netting and seed guard fabric options to choose from.

Ready to give up the high cost of lawn living? No cost yard consultations are available to help you get started.

Call me, Liz Block to set an appointment at (661) 822-5504 or email [email protected].