This summer, my husband and I purchased a house in Sacramento. It was built in 1966, has a well-established (OK, overgrown) yard, and abuts a city park. It’s like living next to a golf course, with acres of well-maintained turf right outside the backyard gate. Tiny soccer players invade the park every weekend. It’s lovely.
We rent the house to our daughter and three other college students. They could give a hoot about the landscaping. Mow the lawn? Not a priority for four 19-year-olds. I, of course, can’t wait to completely overhaul the yard. Water efficiency is our No. 1 priority, considering the history of the house and the neighborhood in which it sits.
Interestingly enough, this part of Sacramento is not yet on water meters. There are outdoor watering restrictions, but the city of Sacramento charges a flat water rate, based on the number of rooms in the house. The monthly water bill, amazingly, is only $37 for what amounts to unlimited water use.
When we took ownership of the house, the automatic sprinkler system was scheduled to come on twice each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, for 45 minutes each cycle. That’s 90 minutes three days a week. There was runoff and puddling, and, despite all that moisture, the lawn looked terrible.
I was horrified. This was lunacy! This was downright irresponsible! Sadly, most of the neighbors feel the need to do the same thing just to keep their lawns green through the hot Sacramento summer. Some of the neighbors, however, have removed their oversized and unused front lawns. They’ve put in drip systems and sparse, colorful plantings, interspersed with gravel as mulch. It adds up to a very nice looking and easy-to-maintain compromise.
We have a plan of our own. First and foremost, we are trying to knock down the bermudagrass. We’ve sprayed the front lawn with glyphosate two times, about 10 days apart. Come spring, we intend to plant a meadow of ornamental grasses sprinkled with colorful Mediterranean natives. Once established, it will require irrigation once a week in the heat of summer, and mowing only once or twice a year.
The back lawn we killed rather easily by simply turning the sprinklers off in August. Where the lawn once grew will soon be a decomposed granite patio, a shade garden of ferns and camellias and a hammock tucked into one corner. In a sunny corner will stand a planting of more Mediterranean and California natives, ringing a small olive tree.
No mowing necessary! Our renters will be pleased.
— Kathy Thomas-Rico
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