California Gardening: What are you doing about California's water situation?, 1 by SingingWolf

SingingWolf wrote:
Gosh, that just makes you mad, doesn't it? Whenever we had to drain the above ground pool, or the jacuzzi, I made sure the hose went out to the garden. I really don't like wasting water.

I have a photo to show you what I've done to help out with the dirt that gets tracked into the house. I went out and bought some indoor/outdoor carpet for $20/6'x10' piece.

I really have a problem with the dogs digging a sleeping hole in the corner where the concrete sections meet up. So I decided to stop them from throwing dirt all over the patio, by anchoring the carpet with landscape stakes. If they can't easily pull the rug up, they won't dig. I realized after I set it in place it would also solve the problem I have on the rare occasions when it rains of mud spatter all over the patio. Mud won't spatter if the rug is there. Yea!

I put another one at the end of the patio, to try and catch the dirty feet before they get to the patio. I expect they'll last about 5 years before they deteriorate enough for me to want to change them. By them I hope to have down more concrete.I'm thinking of just continuing down the side seen in the photo, til I get to the end of the patio.

I realize that this is not the preferred option for a lot of people. But for me, at this point in my life, with the allergies to grass, and the lack of water in the environment, it seems to be the best option for keeping the dust down, and the dirt out of my house. The dogs are a lot cleaner since they aren't laying down on the dirt.

It also prevents weeds from growing, so no weeding. All you have to do is level the ground before laying it down.

Lovely photo of your garden. Don't feel guilty about the flowers. I think that having something beautiful growing in your garden is a soul healing thing.

Let's just hope that this coming winter will bring us an El Nino weather pattern. It's looking pretty good. The water temp. at the beaches down here is at 68 degrees right now. The last several El Nino's were preceded by water temps of 68 or above. Of course the warm water does bring out the jellyfish, but it's a small price to pay.

WIB~
SW