By Cindy Poore
It’s a big undertaking to consider taking out your grass to save on water. I deal with it daily. You want to save on your water bill and reduce the need for maintenance. Rock starts to sound appealing. There are choices that you need to make to do a desert landscape. What kind of plants, what kind of rock or gravel could you get by with that would justify all the effort and money you will need to spend to get it done right? There are lots of decisions to be made and the wrong ones will get you an ugly looking yard that needs just as much if not more maintenance and water.
But what if rock is not all that appealing? Most of us really love our grass. Taking it out is not a pleasant outcome for us. There are some things to consider before you decide to remove your grass.
1. How do you use the space with grass in it now? Is it merely for looks? Do kids, fur kids or others play or walk on it regularly? If so, how would having gravel there affect the use of the space?
2. What will happen when it rains. Most of the time, grass will absorb the rain and keep it from eroding your yard. Having gravel, may divert the rainwater to other areas and cause run-off issues. Think it through. Definitely NEVER use plastic under your gravel which will not allow the rain to penetrate the soil where we need it!
3. Rebates only cover a very small portion of a total landscape redo. What if you don’t have the budget for that? Consider forgoing the rebate and keeping your spray system in place. You can remove the grass you have and replace it with one of several drought tolerant ground covers or the new breed of low water use and low maintenance grasses.
4. How emotionally attached are you to your grass. Some of us just have to have it, others not so much. This should be the determining factor for you
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Time is Running Out!
It’s December already?! Where does the time go? Getting ready for the holidays and time with family and friends is on everyone’s schedule this time of year. 2015 is on the way out. Did you make some mistakes this year? Not to worry. We all did. But each new day is a chance to do better. As long as we keep getting days given to us, we can work on that. We will turn the page on this chapter in our book in just a few weeks. But it’s not over until it’s over. Make it a good one. Make it a memorable one. Make it one filled with love. You still have time if you are lucky.
“The best thing about endings is knowing that just ahead is the daunting task to start over.”
― Jodi Picoult, Keeping Faith
By Cindy Poore
According to a recent article in the Los Angeles times, El Niño is a sure thing. Los Angeles area is supposed to get 60% above average rainfall during the months of January, February and March. That statistic was confirmed by Bill Patzert, climatologist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge who said in the article, “I’m quite optimistic that the entire state is going to get hosed”. ( Hosed being a very technical term for WET!)
This is going to make things difficult for lots of us. We have been conserving on our water all year. Now, it is going to be wet, very wet!
New challenges come with too much water versus too little. The first thing that you will notice is the ground will get saturated early on and continued rainfall just rolls off into puddles, lakes and actual new streams all across your property!
Not sure if you are good in the drainage department? Prepare by buying straw wattles and sand bags. Store them in a dry location so you can get to them when needed.
If you are lucky, your lot is properly graded and you (or previous owners) haven’t added anything that prevents the natural run off of excess water. If you are unsure, ask us to check the grade on your property and help you spot problems before they happen.
Before it gets too late, lets look at a few other things you can do to prevent problems.
Check your gutters and valleys on your roof. Blown leaves and dirt can accumulate in these areas, causing back up which will make water back up and get under your roof and cause water damage inside.
Clear piles, equipment and debris away from the house foundation. This will help water move away from your home and reduce the chances of flooding.
Check your outdoor lighting. Longer night hours mean we will be coming and going in the dark. Maybe you need some additional lighting outdoors to make that easier?
With rain, comes weeds. Call us to apply a weed killer and preventer now to keep your yard nearly weed-free all spring and summer! Before weeds show up is the best time to apply a pre-emergent weed control.
Several years ago, we had a very wet winter and even though people wanted us to spray their weeds, we couldn’t because it was too wet or windy and the weeds went wild! Early is better in this case.
I have quite a few clients who live in Apple Valley. Now it is getting really cold! What are their winter hours? How does the drought rules affect the watering schedule? NOOOBODY knows! There is nothing on their website I can find. I called and got info from Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company directly. Yes they have winter watering hours. 9 am until 6 pm addresses ending in odd numbers are still Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and addresses ending in even numbers are Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. No watering on Fridays.
So not too far from us on Main street just west of the Super Target, there has been a big building going up. Conversation every time we go by is ” Gee, it sure is going up fast!” “Gosh, I wonder what it is?” . No signs or anything, just a number to call for info and of course, being crazy busy, have not called.
When I went to pick up hubby from the repair shop, he said to me “Hey! Guess what is going in at that new building on Main!?”
Me: “I don’t know, what?”
He: (with a giant grin on his face) “A Tractor Supply!”
Me: “No. You are just joking.”
He: ” No, I swear!”
So we go by on the way home. YUP! a Tractor supply!! Whooeeee!
Everyone else wants a Trader Joes. But my hubby is in Hog Heaven! Life in a small town…
By Cindy Poore
I was recently blessed to hear Nick Schnieder from the Mojave Water Agency speak about “Putting your lawn on Life Support.” A very good talk.
The drought is causing us to do things we might not do if we had more choices. Nick spoke of a few ways to help your lawn through this stressful drought.
#1 best and easiest tip is to cut your lawn higher.
I think most of you have heard me speak about grass cycling and proper lawn maintenance for the different seasons. Cutting your lawn higher during stress conditions was always in the picture, it is just so much more important now.
Longer grass has more moisture reserve to keep the core grass plant alive in drought situations. Longer grass also shades the soil around the grass better, conserving soil moisture allowing your grass to get by with less. A small step that can mean a lot.
#2 Spread your watering out with shorter, more frequent watering. Some call it Cycle and Soak.
Normally I would want to have as many days between watering to encourage your grass roots to search for water training them to be deeper rooted and less susceptible to weather and top of soil conditions. Most cities have limited the days you can water. So the limited days to water lawns is actually a good long term plan. The problem is, most of our lawns have not been “trained” before the watering limits were fobbed upon us.
The best way to live with the 10 minute per station limit such as Apple Valley has imposed is to divide up the 10 minutes in half and water near the beginning of your allotted days and at the end of the allotted day so that you in effect get 6 days of (albeit limited) water instead of 3. So if for example one of your days is Wednesday, water for 5 minutes at 3 am and for 5 minutes at 11pm. The 3 am watering will help your Wednesday grass and the 11 pm will help your Thursday grass. If you do not have the 10 minute limit, then there is no reason you can’t keep you lawn going.
#3 It’s going to look different. Understand that things will look and act different than you are used to or would like. Your grass will maybe get a little thin. It will definitely not be as green. Remember, we are talking about surviving and not necessarily thriving.
Hang in there, it is not forever. But maybe this is a good time to re-evaluate what really is important to you in the long run to see if more permanent changes are needed. Be smart with your watering and remember, together we are better!
Call Us if You Need Help. We Are Here to Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
“Sometimes we are tested, not to show our weaknesses, but to discover our strengths” Anonymous
September is a pretty good month!
One of my favorite months because it’s my birthday month, but also because traditionally the month school started when I was a kid. I loved school because it came with a new box of crayons and tablet! And still do love to learn every chance I get.
I love to find new ways to create lovely garden settings for my clients. Clients will ask for something in particular that is important to them and I will try to craft a landscape around those needs and desires. It makes for a lot of variety in our landscapes. Ponds and waterfalls, contemplation gardens, medicine wheels, bocce ball courts, memory gardens, and tropical paradise are all requests that we have crafted into local landscapes. In every single landscape I learned something new from my clients. It is a very collaborative effort and tons of fun.
September is a great month for maintaining status quo. Not quite ready for fall cleanups, but the days are getting a little shorter. Now they just have to get a bit cooler and we will all save more water as the plants will need less then.
Loving the Designs!
I’m working on lots of different design and landscape projects at the moment and the theme for a few of them seem to be clean, simple lines. I was looking for a built-in bench that would be simple enough for the homeowner to put together. I found this bench online and can’t wait to try it! It would look great with a dark oil stain.
The predictions are for a lot of rain this winter. It has it pros and cons, but perhaps we should all think about getting ready. Look over your yard for potential drainage issues, plumbing to protect from freezing and perhaps store up some sand bags. Just in case.
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]