Central Valley California Drought Lawn Removed (grass, tree, yard, leaves)

[LeeB]

I removed (some) of my side yard lawn and want to replace it with (Something?) there is a large older tree that looses it's smallish leave's in the fall. If the tree does not survive it would not break my heart. It really is old and has several burls

I was thinking about rock but with the leaves falling I am not sure a blower will keep it clean......

Any ideas?

Thanks DRY LeeB in California....

[Bulldogdad]

Get a drip system to the tree if you can Lee. If not then make sure to deep soak it at least once a month by hand from noon until next October. Rock is a better choice than just about anything else as you can just blow most of the leaves off of them. Just make sure not to go with pebbles. 2x4 river rock might be nice.

Has your water district gone to two days a week watering yet?

[luv4horses]

One day, the rains will return. If you remove the grass, at that time nothing will keep the soil from washing away. Using rock will slow down the pounding of the ground by the rain and will allow the rain to infiltrate the soil. You want that. Otherwise, you will just suffer run-off.

Use a light colored rock to reflect sun-heat. You don't want to cook the tree roots or sterilize the soil of beneficial microbes by using dark rock, which will just absorb more heat.

[LeeB]

There is not a means of watering the tree with a drip system however I am going to deep water once a month... Yes we are at 2 day watering and I monitor when we do pretty close......

I am going to go to check out rock and see what's there. As with anything in demand the price is through the roof.....

Thanks........... Lee