Dry weather – dry yard
As we all know we've been a little short on rain these last few months. In fact, data for Mobile indicates that for 2011 we're very nearly 16 inches short of our yearly average rainfall. What can individuals do about it?
We hear about the need for conservation of our natural resources all of the time. Most of us on the Gulf Coast think of fishing regulations and recycling as conservation measures but there are other ways to help but they're just not as obvious.
A green and perfectly trimmed lawn is one of the things most of us associate with home ownership. We've all seen that neighbor who spends every weekend making sure that the yard is the pride of the town. That perfect weedless lawn, flowering plants, shrubs and prize hybrid roses all take more that a little extra water, herbicide, insecticide and fertilizer to stay just perfectly so.
Some people say that the little bit that the water they use doesn't hurt the environment that much, if at all. Well it does if you add up all that water use across the nation. Billions of gallons of water and millions of tons of lawn and plant care additives are used every year to keep those lawns and flowers green and growing. Most those products and water end up in our water systems contributing to oxygen depletion, fish kills and ecosystem degeneration. Granted, most of us like a well-kept lawn but who said it had to contribute to freshwater depletion and pollution? There are other ways to have a beautiful yard.
There is something called Xeriscape (dry view), which is a systematic method for saving water in landscaped areas. Most of us are not familiar with the term because it was only coined in the last 25 years when water availability became a severe problem and subject to strict regulation in the western United States. In times of severe drought some states don't allow swimming pools to be filled and when a home owner's monthly water quota is used up the water supply is turned off. It has and can get that bad. The western states are currently in their ninth consecutive year of drought.
To put something like Xeriscape together in Alabama requires learning about the native and non-native plants in our area that have low water requirements and maybe even some experimentation with a few plants in a small area of your homestead just to test things out. As an example many irises, tulips and even some roses are introduced plants that have been adapted to non-irrigated landscaping in the Rocky Mountain area.
Who are we trying to impress with that perfect yard? As children we were told not to judge people by how they looked but rather by what they did? You can find out more information about Xeriscape by typing it into your favorite Internet browser.
Think Global – Act Local!
