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We are contemplating relocating to Las Cruces. I have lived my entire life where grass and trees were abundant. However, I am getting old and yard work is not on my list of 'things I like to do'. The rock landscaping is appealing because it seems to be low maintenance. What I need to know is what is the maintenance for rock landscaping. Will I be weeding a lot? Raking rocks to move them back in place after a rain? Give me a realistic picture of what it takes to keep it looking nice. Thanks!
If the xeriscaping on your property was done right, all you'll have to do is turn on the water emitter. If you have it hooked up to a timer, you won't have to do anything.
Las Cruces has grass, trees, shrubs, bushes, cactus, yucca, wildflowers, weeds, you name it. There is more to landscaping than "rocks".
Whatever the landscaping, weeds can always come up. Many people use landscape fabrics under gravel areas to prevent weeds. Gravel does move around and you want to keep sidewalks and driveways clear of it, but it's not a big issue. A stiff broom usually does the trick. You can rake gravel if you're going for a Zen garden look. ;-)
I have rocks in my front yard (grass in back and gravel on the sides). I will use Round Up and treat my front yard every 3 months or so, and that kills them. Monsoon season here last year, really, really brought up more weeds than any other time in my memory. But Round Up kills them within a day.
If you got rocks, you're good. I see people rake their rocks in their yards all the time. If you wanted to be super industrious you could plant a few cactus that never need watering. The whole idea of this is to get the yard set up like you want it and never have to fuss w/ it again as long as you live. The polar opposite is a yard in Florida or any city in the South, where every day is a constant battle to fight things back. One of my favorite landscaping ideas there is the tree that is growing on someone's roof in the drain gutter channel.
Weeds will eventually come up no matter how good the weed cloth is. Dust in the Wind will blow into your gravel and eventually provide enough soil for weeds to germinate. You'll need to pull weeds or spray them periodically. I use the persistent roundup and it lasts most of the year, with just a few weeds here and there to pull.
We are contemplating relocating to Las Cruces. I have lived my entire life where grass and trees were abundant. However, I am getting old and yard work is not on my list of 'things I like to do'. The rock landscaping is appealing because it seems to be low maintenance. What I need to know is what is the maintenance for rock landscaping. Will I be weeding a lot? Raking rocks to move them back in place after a rain? Give me a realistic picture of what it takes to keep it looking nice. Thanks!
If you use rock landscaping you have to do something to discourage weeds. Do not use that black plastic under an inch of dirt, it deteriorates and is useless after 2 years. It is better if you dig out 2 inches of the soil, soak the ground in white vinegar, then put 2 inches of clean sand down before you lay your rocks. After that you may find a few weeds pop up after a couple of years but they are usually easy to pull if you stay on top of it.
There are other materials that are used as "weed guard" but they don't work either. You can add a few yucca or cactus to your rock garden if you want some low maintenance flowering plants. Both bloom in the spring. If you plant cactus make sure it is local so you don't have to water it. Some exotic cactus needs more water than the local cactus. Another nice plant is agave, it does veery well in Las Cruces. You do need to give it a bit of water occassionally.
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