The Dead Lawn Society

It's a lack of press. So to speak. the folks with stuff to sell, be it the grasses themselves or their fertilizers have no reason to spread the news of the hardier, native grasses.

I started to write substitutes... but actually bluegrass is the substitute.

more later, company's coming

Does anyone have a pic of a lawn of sedge?

I can get you a pic of a yard full of dwarf mondo grass, but that's about it.
Sidney

I'd like to see that, sugarweed, if you don't mind.

I'll work on that and try to produce it by monday. I have one in my 6,000 pictures.
If not, the house is about 6 blocks away.
Sidney

Thank you. No hurry for me.

I promised a picture of the mini mondo grass lawn. Well here it is;

And here is a house 2 doors away that aspires to the lush no mow lawn.
They have a great deal of weedy Johnson grass to overcome there.
Sidney

Thank you, sugarweed.
The mondo looks good.

Here is one more view, notice the stone patio on the rightwith the grass between it.
;)

Seems tame.
Very lush - do the neighbors like it's somewhat "wild" look as opposed to the neatly boring manicured grass?

Since it's all the same height, about 5", I think they envy it. One fellow just 2 doors away has started the transformation I showed above. They are on the Trout river in the back. He NEVER mows.
;)

Hey, I would like to join the society! We recently moved from a place that had a HOA that maintained our front lawn. Our new house has a lawn about 20 feet by 30 feet with some flower beds and tree circles, and no rules. I have plans to rip out a few sections of grass at a time and replace with low-water use perennials. I think I may get there this summer after a few more presssing 'new house' issues are dealt with. Until then we are trying to be as eco friendly with our lawn as possible. We picked up a push mower for $50; no gas required, just a few calories I can definitely spare. We don't want to use chemical fertilizer or weed killer because we have cute little frogs around the house. I'll post photos as the work progresses. Here's one from this morning :)

Katlian, it's the first of July and you're in Nevada - summer is here_
The plan to do a strip at a time sounds pretty good. You could maybe do the area around the tree on the left - that way you could lay out an entire new type system with seep or drip for your less thirsty plants.

It's always easier to do before the plants are all full grown ... my DS says water system first!! HAH !! I need to set the plants in place to see where they're gonna live. And THEN I lay out my seeper hose. around them.

Will keep an eye out for your new postings on the project. New homes are soooo time consumig. oh, yeah, so are old ones. ~~Blooms

Also you might incorporate these http://watersorb.com/prices.htm I use them to hold water in the root area since I have pure sand here.
They are very reasonable when purchased from these folks.
Sidney

Hi Blooms,
yep, summer's in full swing here too. We got started on my lawn replacement project two nights ago. We've been doing 'twilight gardening' around here; early morning and after sunset until we can't see anymore. That's why the shadows are so deep in the photo I'm posting. We pulled out about 30 square feet of sod the first night (30 down, 350 to go). The next morning I dug up the sprinklers. I capped one off and added a manifold with eight drip stations to the other. Now I can set drips for the plants and small sprinklers for the remaining grass. Last night we dug in some compost. We have the opposite soil problem from you guys in Florida and Moab; thick, heavy clay with lots of calcium. It's gooey when wet and similar to limestone when dry. This morning I planted lavender, gaillardia, yarrow, salvia, and a couple others. We just got back from buying a load of cobbles to lay down around the plants.
The photo is from early this morning. Tonight I'll lay out the drips and finish putting in rocks, but not till the sun goes down.

Ah, the familiar early and very-late gardening-maintenance schedule. I waited until the sun was behind the walls/buildings and I *still* came in dripping with sweat... for the second time today.

The water-holding polymer beads work in clay too! I would not get the "powder" but what do I know, I've only used the beads before (I would estimate their larger size, 2-4mm). I think I will e-mail them and ask for recommendations on which size for what type of soil (clay/sand/humus). The polymer-beads help equalize your watering schedule -- as it is decidedly difficult to judge WHEN it's time to water, in summer conditions in clay-rich soil. "When the top inch is dry" LOL -- the roots could still be sitting in saturated soil, as any hole you dig is more or less a clay-pot!

Anyway, I have added beads along with aged peat, perlite (not vermiculite, which breaks down to MORE CLAY!) or granular pumice, coarse sand or peagravel... and no organic material in deep holes -- it rots and uses up oxygen, suffocating the plants (this is procedure particularly for trees, I apply it to large "permanent" perennials like salvias as well). My nurseryman says that peat is aged enough that it is all right in moderate amounts (he sells planting mix that is one-third peat, to be used up to 1:1 with native soil = 1/6 peat. Organics should be applied near the surface, as nature does, where air is available for oxiding and the nutrients carried down to the plant with watering. Gypsum/gypsite is said to "break down clay" and I have used it previously, but I've never remembered to ask this excellent nurseryman about it.

For the organic top-dressing, I've been using Dr.Earth products for a couple years now -- ones that incorporate microrhizeae (sp?): either the "soil" mixes or the boxed fertilizers -- which I make up as tea first, water/fertilize with it, then dig the residual solids into the top few inches around trees or large perennials.

Actually, Blooms and I neglected to use water-beads this year (although almost everything was planted in beds where they've been added before, we like to add some more mixed in the bottom of new holes) -- I am out and forgot to buy more. WOW, those are good prices on Sidney's link! And I love how they do not penalize HI & AK residents. I think I'll stock up for future plantings, now.

~'spin!~

Just purchased a 55# sack and did a mini FL only, hand delivered via Tampa RU Co-op. That way We got them for $4. a pound!!.
Sidney

May I join? My lawn didn't die, it was just never planted. I wanted some grass just to keep the sand and dust down, but it just takes so long.

I opted for natural and ornamental grasses in the front yard with regular grass in the back yard for the dogs. And I'll tell you, they can track some sand in like you wouldn't believe.

When I made the path plan, I put the plants in and used pine straw as mulch and in the pathways. I have a pine forest in the front acre or so. Well, the pine needles have either decomposed by now or washed into spots from the heavy rains that come by periodically.

I still like the concept but I am patiently (yeah....right) waiting for the sleep, creep and leep rule. Many of my grasses are just now starting to jump after being in the ground since March.

I have salvias, cupheas, b'fly bushes and various other plants scattered about in the planted areas. There are also some bananas now with a couple shade trees and specimen trees and bushes here and there.

Even tho the filling in process seems to take some time, I am no longer limited to controlling my plant hoggedness. Although I am TRYING to get with the natives and xeri as much as possible so one day I won't need to water as much.

I am even letting the Flaming Sumac grow back. Can you picture those when they are flaming red????

That was looking on from the grape arbor/gazebo and pond.

This one is looking back that way from the fire pit.

Molly
:^))))

Now if some of those things would just get taller so I can hide my 5 gallon buckets by the orchid house to catch the rain run-off.

They do look ugly sitting out, but then, the nearest neighbor is behind a bunch of trees and wild shrubs about 3 acres away from sight and their yard looks worse than mine. heehee

Molly

''3 acres away'' sounds like heaven.
only thing about our buckets is the way white draws the eye
they are really the best things going until the sun eats em up

Nature will fill any space you leave blank, so you are doing just great. mulch thick between the specimens and in a few years they will be making their own claims on the land.

I know what you mean about disappearing path mulch. It's how I ended up with carpet paths here in the desert. Your space looks wonderous. Like you'd been there much longer than you have. the shed still looks wonderous, and the planting you've gotten done is truly amazing to me.

~~waving and ;-)) smiling ~Blooms

I am interested in that mini mondo grass sugarweed posted pix of. Does that stuff spread at all? And if it doesn't how many plants do you have to plant for an area? One every foot or less?

Or less I would guess. I think I'd try to get plug trays and plant a plug every 4 inches. If you can get them to bloom and go to seed, then harvest and plant those seed I think maybe 2 years it would look great.
;)

wintergreen as a groundcover/lawn. do all of them turn purple in the fall?

anastatia - mine did in MN. Then they'd green up in spring again. you must have rich humous for a lawn of wintergreen! Depending on where you are, you could add the beautiful bunchberry to the mix as it tends to grow well in the same conditions.

~ ~ ~ Blooms ,

Heeeeeee, someone whispered in my ear about your society .

Finally found some of my own kind !

Can I be a member ('-'?)

Pwetty pweeze ..... hahaha

Do I get a card to flash and show doubting Thomas's that their way of thinking is not normal and 'WE' are right?

There's the ticket - if you have a card that says you're somebody, must be somebody and know what you're talking about. Or put in on TV - then it's the truth. lol

heeeeeeeeeeeee :-[)

scooter, Welcome, I am still lawnless. Still haven't worked out a proper desert looking setting but there's no lawn out there. And I think card carrying member would be fun... I never thought about cards.

And now I have a huge new lot to not put grass on. 'The lot next door", is it's designation - and it's going to have fruit trees and a coupla new shade trees. And not much else. So far. I'm still working out where to place the things that will get watered and how to make the rest look nice == not just abandoned.

Watch out, Nature hates a vaccuum and every bird that flies by will drop tree seeds and every wind that blows brings weed seeds. It won't be empty long. Flower gardens are so much nicer anyway. ~Blooms

Plants that need to be watered ????

Put both ( or do you still have 3 ? ) in funky pots so you can move them around to confuse your passers-by ........ harhar hardeeharhar

Need sleep, my 'midnight goofies' are sneaking into my musings here.

BTW, 'Midnight Goofies' are the Uuuman form of Feeeleyene 'Midnight Crazies' ( it eventually subsides for about 23 hours , heeeeeeeeeeeee

Ah ha ha! A chinchilla with a helmut! What a riot.

Me thinks the cat is NOT amused!

lol
Scooterbug, I've been thinking of you....time to get back to that hypertufa stuff so that the rain of winter (oh no, please!) can make them ready for plants. I'm not good at keeping plants alive in pots, so I want to make myself a bathtub. Think that's over the top for a newbie project? lol

Sorry off subject (sort of).

I hate to steer toward being on topic given being off topic is so much more fun at times but I eliminated another 5% of my lawn this year. Doesn't sound like much but I try.

I'm not sure I actually started with "lawn," but since the former owner had two riding lawn mowers, and I hear he was out every day raking leaves, I guess it was a lawn. It's not a lawn in any way now, so one could say it is 100% eliminated.

Weedwacking is best for most of the place. The only thing I'm looking forward to the rainy season for is to use my new flame thrower on nasties.

:-)

Flame thrower work good on cheat grass this spring. hopeful got at least some of the seeds.

the cheat grass in the "lot nextdoor" has been slowly illiminated - it being a major fire hazard when it goes dead in late spring. I know, I accidently burned the lot once, before it was even ours. Ooops. I'd never seen a field of dead grass go up. fire started because of the igniting poperties of Cottonwood cotton.

have spent the better part of two springs pulling before it seeds. And this year was really rewarding with only a small patch left to deal with.

Equil, it's still an ongoing process here too. Nasty creeping grass moved into lawn area. Not easy to exterminate. But progress being made. LOL
~~Blooms

had a rough time in keeping the veggie beds trimed around this year - so i'm gonna try the carpet scraps method.

Another convert!
lol

All my old paths are covered in carpet. using thick cardboard temporarily on some of my newer paths. chickweed comes up all over without something. and then also when the wind blows there goes the real estate.