We have an "old" home for Denver, built about the same year I was, 1954. It has an old established
lawn but I find myself dumping a lot of expensive
water on it to keep it alive. Last summer was pretty brutal with little rain and a lot of 100F days, unusual for around here. Right now, end of January, on the other hand it's going to go below 0F.
Native soil is high desert clay and native plants are some wiry buffalo grass and cactus. Colorado's native climate is tough on imported
trees, grass, other plants.
I think the soil is moderately healthy, lots of huge earthworms come up when it rains. There are some "bare" spots here and there. It's an upscale neighborhood and everyone has huge lawns but we don't have a homeowner's group dictating policy either.
Some things that have come to mind:
1. Just cardboarding over parts of the lawn and going more "native" or "permie" with other plants. Downside: we have this huge automatic irrigation system I'd have to mess around with (I'm lazy.) Of
course I could hire younger more flexible people to do this for me!
2. Overseeding with some improved variety of grass. Not even sure where to start with that. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some better cultivars than in 1954 though.
3. There are some things like "detergents" that are supposed to make watering more efficient.
4. Amendments, fertilizers, composts, mulches, whatever, that might make the soil hold water better
5. trenches full of
wood, mulch, whatever, to hold water as well. The lawn is mostly flat in back and has a slope in front. There's some fancy
Permie name for those trenches, right?
6. Maybe I'm watering too much and not letting it go dormant
enough?
We have Japanese Beetles now, for past few years. We have done the Milky Spore thing (I'm a PhD microbiologist and the milky spore appeals to me.)
Thoughts, what has not occurred to me?
.png)
