Water

[HeyBub]

As you may know, the City of Houston just implemented a stage one condition of water rationing. (Lawn watering permitted for odd-numbered addresses only during the dark of the moon on alternate Wednesdays. Even numbered houses on the fifth Friday of months that have an "R" in them. The few addresses that are denoted with "1/2" are neither odd nor even, but are called 'brown'.)

Meanwhile, the public works office has hired 55 new people to hold shovels upright as they labor with a backlog of over 700 water main breaks. They say they "fix" about 100 leaks per day, but more than that are reported. They should emulate our governor and try prayer.

There's two leaks close to my house, each about two blocks away.

If I had a 100 gallon tank and a small pump, I could water my lawn.

[JimT]

Apparently the Guv doesn't have our Lord's ear. :-(

Jim

[frag]

"HeyBub" wrote in news:trudne872b0F9NDTnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Why do people want to water their lawns?

[krw]

Because they're very expensive and get even more expensive when they're allowed to burn.

[Han]

frag wrote in news:4e4da42c$0$27985$c3e8da3$38634283 @news.astraweb.com:

What's a "lawn"?

[gfretwell]

Sounds like a great reason not to have a lawn or to plant drought tolerant grasses. If you live near salt water, seashore paspalum is an option. You can water that with sea water and we are not running out of that. It also cuts down on weeds. It is nice enough to use on a golf course.

[krw]

I have "drought tolerant grass". It isn't. Weeds still grow.

Nope.

[krw]

I don't mind mowing mine once a week. Every four days gets old fast, though.

[Ed Pawlowski]

wrote

My lawn is loaded with weeds. From a distance, it is still green so I don't care much. IMO, lawns are over rated, take resources such as water and get loaded with contaminates such as fertilizer and pesticides. We'd be better off without them.

[gfretwell]

My hard is Bahia that turns brown in the dry season and comes back as soon as it starts raining. That is mixed with an assortment of weeds and ground cover that all looks green when it is mowed.

[RicodJour]

And after that, they get really cheap.

That's a new one on me. Very interesting grass. Thanks for posting it.

R

[krw]

Two theories: One: weeds look good enough. Two: Grass is nice. There is nothing in between.

You sound like a lefty.

[aemeijers]

I don't use either one, despite the the dirty looks from my neighbors because my 'lawn' isn't a mono-culture of dayglo green. The small animals seem to prefer my yard, alas, because it doesn't smell/taste funny, or give them a burning sensation. I'm happy to watch them, but I'd prefer they didn't dig holes all over the place.

This year has been freaky weather, and Ma Nature is flat-out screwing with me. By 4th of July, lawn was into the normal dormant brownish (except in shady parts) slow-growing crunchy state. But around 20 July, it got hot and wet, and the lawn mode got turned to around Early May. It greened back up, and started growing like CRAZY. I almost suspected one of my neighbors snuck over and fertilized while I was at work or something. A lot of the empty or mossy spots filled in, which was good, but it about killed my 6 YO mower, and me as well. I HATE mowing more than once a week, but I had little choice, because my mulching mower has no side chute, and the bag is so tiny as to be useless. (I'd have to empty it every 100 feet.) As it was, the mower kept clogging, and I had to sweep the mounds of expelled clippings from driveway. And the grass held so much water, that 3-4 days after a rain, the clippings were still wet and clumpy. It finally seems to be slowing down a little again, but I suspect it will still be growing when the leaves start falling in a few weeks here.

[Michael B]

A little effort now pays off in a lot of effort later.

[gfretwell]

True. You will be using about 6600 gallons a week to maintain a real quarter acre lawn if it is not raining. Most people end up using more than that. (based on 1" of water a week)

[Harry K]

Depends on how often the tank fills up.

Harry K

[gfretwell]

If you are close enough to be pumping sea water onto your lawn, you already have salt in the ground water. In fact you would be fine just using a shallow well, right on your property.