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I guess with this heat wave I should be glad my sod installers have been slow as molassas! I was told my zoysia was getting put down today, but no sign of them. At least I won't have to water through a 100+ degree weekend right off the bat.
If we have the resource and its a renewable resource why should I care if someone is willing to pay for it and use it on something they enjoy.
Sorry, but that's an enormously irresponsible attitude. As we saw last summer, water is NOT a renewable resource in the quantities we require, if there is a drought, but so many people still thought "water will always be there" and continued wasting it until we were counting down the days of how much was left. Thankfully, local governmnet realized that a "lush green lawn" was way down the priority list of uses for our limited summer water supply and put restrictions in place. The groundwater is still way down from last year, even if the lakes are full; I was hoping people had learned from the experience of last year, but maybe I was mistaken.
PS--may I suggest rain barrels; I have two that are still mostly full from the recent rains and do all of my watering from them (though not the grass, which I don't water at all).
Oh I learned.. which is why I'm putting Zoysia in. I really dislike the warm season grasses in general, but I have to be able to sell my house and a dirt patch front yard isn't going to cut it. My backyard is just weeds and I'll just advertise it as "dog & kid friendly!" My 20-year old "new" house has fescue - I'm hoping with some reseeding and whatnot I can keep it looking reasonable without watering (or maybe 1x a week).
Until having a dirt yard, or some sort of desertscape with cactus and rocks, catches on, I think we'll continue to be dealing with the grass questions.
I do like the rain barrel idea though - will have to look into getting one after I move.
Here's an ignorant question -- when you say "highest setting", do you mean cuts the grass the least (e.g. highest as in height of grass) or cuts it the most (e.g. highest as in "most cutting ability")?
Good question! I am meaning cuts it the least. So The highest setting for my mower would be chopping off the littlest amount of grass possible.
We stopped watering the fescue yard last year as well and we also just let it go when it's hot and dry. It's fared really well, although we do overseed every fall. I'm not watering because I got tired of paying for it. With some effort, I got my last water bill in Cary down to $50.00 and that's where I want it to stay!
I guess with this heat wave I should be glad my sod installers have been slow as molassas! I was told my zoysia was getting put down today, but no sign of them. At least I won't have to water through a 100+ degree weekend right off the bat.
So of course as soon as I type that, the sod guys show up. They don't have enough to do my full yard, so I'll just have a small area to water this weekend.
Off to get a watering permit from the Town of Apex!
Sorry, but that's an enormously irresponsible attitude. As we saw last summer, water is NOT a renewable resource in the quantities we require, if there is a drought, but so many people still thought "water will always be there" and continued wasting it until we were counting down the days of how much was left. Thankfully, local governmnet realized that a "lush green lawn" was way down the priority list of uses for our limited summer water supply and put restrictions in place. The groundwater is still way down from last year, even if the lakes are full; I was hoping people had learned from the experience of last year, but maybe I was mistaken.
I think maybe I didn't make my point very well in my post, I thought maybe I had. I did say when we have the resource, in the case water, which is renewable since we get some back when it rains then I don't see the problem. I also stated that we need to follow the laws and restrictions that are in place. For example Durham where I live still has restrictions in place and we are only allowed to water on Wednesday and Saturday between 5 and 8 am or 5 and 8 pm. If I chose to do that I don't think it's irresponsible and I certainly don't feel guilty for doing it since that is specified by the local government as acceptable. When we were in stage IV restrictions I followed those as well and in my household we cut back our water usage just like everyone else.
I watch the water levels. I know even though in Durham we essentially have full lakes that stream flows and the water tables are low and I know this is the time of year where water levels typically drop from full due to increased summer usage, less rain and evaporation. I also feel that the reason water levels got so low last year was not just a function of water usage and hot temperatures but primarily it was lower than usual rainfall which could happen any year (including this one) but isn't the norm.
One of the reasons why this area is so desirable is because we have quite a few lakes and water is abundant (a lot of which is untapped by local public water systems) and we get a good amount of yearly rainfall and typically we have green grass and trees and plants are abundant and do well here. So while we should never take for granted that will always be the case, thats why we have the experts and elected officials to do their best to set forth responsible policies and to plan for future usage as well as potential rain shortfalls.
Personally I want to live in a place where I can water my grass and wash my car and have my kids run through the sprinkler or play in an inflatable pool in the back yard. We aren't there right now in Durham because we haven't gotten the rainfall over the last 18 months, but why shouldn't we want that oppertunity? Good news is most years we will.
I am no expert, but I believe that if you don't water, the grass will just go dormant when it gets too hot and then come back when it gets rain. If you water, I believe you create a more shallow (less healthy) root system that overtime gets spoiled and will die if not watered. Again, I'm no expert but I thought that was the way it worked.
This house we just moved into here in NC has an established fescue lawn. Its the first house I've had in about 15 years that didn't have an irrigation system, but those were in NY. The house we are moving out of had no top soil to speak of... practically straight sand and it was like a sponge. You could water it non stop and as soon as you stopped the grass felt brittle.
I am not planning to water here, but we'll see how it goes. I think I'm OK with the lawn turning brown if it gets too hot.
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I am meaning cuts it the least. So The highest setting for my mower would be chopping off the littlest amount of grass possible.
