Tell me more about a flame thrower. I got a reciprocating saw several years ago. It was such fun! It cuts almost anything, including small trees. It can't cut vinca, though. What can I use a flame thrower on? I have a little kitchen torch for carmelizing suger on top of the creme brulee, but this flame thrower idea sounds much more grand. Can I use it on vinca?
The Dead Lawn Society
I'd use it on vinca! Not in the middle of a summer drought, however.
This is the thread that got me started on one. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/553897/#new
I bought it in the spring at the tail end of wet season, so I haven't used it much. We had something similar in Western CO - lots of farmers used them (or similar) when it was time to clean out the irrigation ditches.
Blooms, I used to be in Moab almost often when I was in Western CO. It was a bitty little place then, and I know what you mean about the wind taking away the real estate!
Yep, it WAS a lovely bitty little place when I moved here. Fell in love with the place on a visit and never left. Unfortunately, people with boocoo bucks have found us. It's both spoiled and expensive now. But it's ok because they can't spoil the surrounding canyons... and a town is just a place to have a roof.
I hope they can't, but you never know about people, and ones with money can be dangerous to the landscape.
Doesn't Moab have a light ordinance to protect the night sky?
What a great thread. Maybe the Dead Lawn Society could have its own forum:-)
Equilibrium
Feb 03, 2008
I love this thread too!
It's been a while but a little update from me- I've knocked out another 20% of my lawn!
My goal is to eliminated the lawn by the time we need to buy a new riding lawn mower. Ours is over 20 some odd years old and it's not going to last forever. I'd really prefer to spend all the money I would have to spend buying a new riding lawn mower on plants!
You go girl!
I have only the drive way left. And a path to the back.
I'm using an electric push mower.
Sidney
Equilibrium
Feb 04, 2008
Hey Sugah, how be you? Sounds as if you're blowing me out of the water getting rid of yours! I've still got about an acre left to eliminate but I'm plugging along. Have you any photos of how far you've gotten?
When my laptop returns from the Geek squad.
;)
Equilibrium
Feb 05, 2008
Awww Sugah, I feel for ya. I just had my new slave ripped off out of my rental car while traveling. Jokes on who ever stole it... slave requires a fingerprint to log to be able to gain remote access to my desktop at home which is password protected even after they log on. It was new but was basically nothing more than a conduit to my desktop. Bunch of dingdongs.
Wow, it's been a while since I've checked too. Sorry about the loss of your 'puter Eq. It sounds like you guys are making so progress though.
In 2007 we tore out about 1/3 of the remaining lawn, installed a bulb bed near the street, a raised area in the middle for xeriscape plants and shrubs, and a flagstone walkway to separate the two areas. We also marked out the small area of lawn that we do want to keep ( the part that gets enough shade to survive with a little less water). The rest will probably come out this summer.
I don't have any photos on this computer but I'll post some when I get home.
Here's a photo during construction of the native/xeriscape area in April. The berm is two to three feet tall and has excellent drainage thanks to the broken concrete and clay pot shards that make up the base. There is one to two feet of soil over the base, held up by large rocks.
Here's one from mid-summer. The perennials and "wildflower" seed mix really filled in nicely.
That is really lovely Katlian.
Wow, Katlian, that is a wonderful lawn replacement.
I have nature helping with globe mallow and yellow bee balm.
I think I'll throw out some more seeds and see if I can come close to your success. ~~Blooms
My back lawn is almost completely dead! Most of it is smothered, and there are just a few patches here and there peeking through the leaf compost that need to be pulled or boiled to death. I've planted some native perennials, grasses, shrubs, vines, ferns, and trees here and there. I'm using almost exclusively plants native to Erie County. The only exception I can think of is a couple of Male Ferns I picked up at a plant sale: they're native to the state, but not this county.
The front yard is another matter. There's a little bit of lawn left, although I never water and rarely mow it. About half of the yard consists of mulched beds with daffodils, tulips, coreopsis, spiraea, pieris, and such. Mostly not native (except for the trees: serviceberry, hemlock, hophornbeam, swamp white oak), but not invasive either.
Does plastic carpet count as not-lawn? Blooms -- got a pic?
~'spin!~
This thread is getting overlong, so I started another one here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/851898/