Environmentally-friendly lawn care in a drought?

Sinafey · February 2012

My lawn's a train wreck. I'm in Austin and we've had a horrible drought and severe water restrictions for the past year so grass is patchy at best. It's finally rained a bit in the past few months so there's some green but it's mostly dandelions.

I'm not committed to grass but we're in an HOA neighborhood so we have to keep it fairly tame and "normal". Any suggestions? Are the True Green-type lawn care places actually environmentally friendly? Is there a way to xeriscape without spending a fortune?

dosafyre · February 2012

Out here they recommend "top-dressing" with an inch or two of nutritious compost...then overseeding. It's a way to help keep moisture in the ground and encourage deep roots with healthy soil, while crowding out the weeds.

If you have a small yard, it doesn't cost TOO much to do.

cfisher2008 · February 2012

I'm in Dallas, I feel your pain. Unfortunately I have no ideas Besides composting. I read that it is best to water 1x/week really deeply than watering several times a week. It's supposed to make the grass drought resistant because the roots grow deep. 1 in of water is all that's needed every week.

kdello · February 2012

Water when your grass shows signs of stress, not on a schedule. "right plant, right place" is important, too, to be sure you haven't planted things unsuitable for your area.

Try these links:

https://savedallaswater.com/drought/

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/plant_problems/hgic2351.html

https://www.landscapetexas.org/irrigation.html

MelissaMiso · February 2012

Maybe you can use your grey water to hydrate the lawn? We've been researching what we can do with our grey water (we live really close to the ocean and our dry well is small and overflows with a single load of wash). We've discovered that grey water can be used to water plants. The recommendation is to only use it on lawns and non-edible gardens. Soap is not harmful to plants. We even use soap to help repel bugs from our veggie plants.

Since our dry well is only washer water and we use EF detergent, we are really excited about reusing this water. You do have to check with your counties regulations, bc some places do not allow it at all. We may reroute the line to allow for the grey water to bed directed to a soaker hose into our flower garden in the front of the house but we are still researching how it can be done.

Also make sure you reseed with the best grass for your area.

Good luck!

MelissaMiso · February 2012

And perhaps you can start xeriscaping on a small portion of the land to start and add to it when you can.

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