Rain Rant - Caution, Irritated Individual

[steve54]

Move to Manchester, England where I come from if you want consistency - You'll get very regular rain ( daily) and regular temps (50*) winter,fall,spring (60*) in summer

Enjoy!

Your lawn will be green but so wet you can't walk on it or mow it

[lazylulu]

Don't be so sure about the landscapes in Austin being designed for the lack of rain. You'll see plenty of dead yards and hear much cursing about the lack of rain there too.

[lovemaine]

Originally Posted by NC to Austin

That's the way I went. People thought I was crazy to do it, but now I am the one who doesn't have to start over with a new lawn. Bermuda still does need water, so the sprinkler still comes out. Mother nature could help that out a lot.

Our house in Wake county had Bermuda grass. Sure, it was ugly during winter, but it came back year after year without any major watering. I think it's the way to go!

[frankpc]

Ignore what the bag says. Fescue in NC is pretty much an annual. Not 100%, but some will die every summer and you will reseed every fall.

I'm at the point where I use grass as an accent to natural areas that contain trees, azaleas, lirope, dwarf mondo grass, boxwoods, crepe myrtles, etc.. There are many low maintenance sun or shade solutions in various colors and textures too.
Unless you need turf, say for football practice, why try to grow vast amounts of grass?

Frank

[lovebrentwood]

I think it makes a whole lot more sense to grow vegetables in your front yard. This guy, John, from Northern California, who I found on YouTube, is my new hero. He has a lot of videos about his huge front yard garden. Of course, here in NC, you'd need a lot of water, but at least you'd save on vegetables!


YouTube - Growing Food in my front yard raised bed square foot garden may update

Originally Posted by frankpc

Ignore what the bag says. Fescue in NC is pretty much an annual. Not 100%, but some will die every summer and you will reseed every fall.

I'm at the point where I use grass as an accent to natural areas that contain trees, azaleas, lirope, dwarf mondo grass, boxwoods, crepe myrtles, etc.. There are many low maintenance sun or shade solutions in various colors and textures too.
Unless you need turf, say for football practice, why try to grow vast amounts of grass?

Frank

[just_sayin']

water. at. night. It's the only way to keep any cool/temperate climate grasses (i.e. fescue) alive in an area with a climate like that of central NC. If you water in the day, the roots reach up to get at the water and then the sun burns them out. This also happens when those summer "pop-up" storms come by, dump an inch or two of rain in less than an hour, and then the sun comes back out. You'd be better off if it didn't rain at all during the day and then it either rained or you watered after dark.