Dinah Brickel

Hi Emily! We will be installing a rainwater harvesting system for our home that will be built later this year. This system will service our entire household water needs. Here are a couple specifics you will need to know if you want to go ahead with this:
1. You will need 7500 gal per person. For my household of 4, we will be getting a 30,000 gal tank or several equaling that.
2. To figure out how much rain you'll be able to harvest: average rainfall X sq footage of roof X .623

We are having the system installed professionally, since this is for home use. For the land, I have no idea how to calculate what the watering needs would be. I'm sure it wouldn't be as complicated (and costly) a system as it would be for human use and consumption. I would go as big of a tank that you can afford AND that fits the formula (#2) above. For instance, no need to invest in a 5,000 gal tank when calculations only come up to 2,500 gallons of water catchment.

I'm very new to permaculture, so perhaps I'm missing something. Wouldn't burning that overgrowth be wasteful? That resource could be used for animal bedding, mulch, compost, or a hugelkultur ingredient.

Hi Brandon! When we were looking around for land, the developers always made it a point to let us know they've removed all or most of the cedar. The reason is because cedar will take up whatever water is there, leaving other plants/trees very thirsty. My guess is however large the root system of the desired tree/bush is going to be, make sure the cedar is outside of that radius. HTH!

Hi David! It sounds like your family is on the same path as mine! I know even less than you though. Good luck and I will be looking out for your posts on your progress.

Hi Luke! I read an article from a local magazine about some property owners in my area. Their lawn was lush and green whereas everyone else's was yellow. They had St. Augustine, which has a higher water requirement than zyosia or Bermuda, but they never watered it. The article was pointing out they had about 18 inches of good soil and credited the health and low maintenance of their lawn to the rich, deep soil.

Our property is "virgin" property and it's about 8.5 acres. We will start building our home this Fall/Winter; the lawn, the following Fall. I've looked into grass alternatives, but nothing so far is very heat hardy. The purpose of the lawn will be for our boys to play on, so it would have to to withstand the traffic. I really like your idea of adding clover. Thanks!

OK, so the 1st layer will be debris from the property, next layer will be a mixture of the dug out dirt and compost, last layer will be soil. I'll be adding compost to the grass every spring as well. Thanks everyone!

JD - We had neighbors who had zyosia for their lawn - beautiful. They're the first to green up in the spring. I think I crossed it out due to cost, but will revisit that option.
Miles - I will see what the nurseries and dirt yards have for manure. Here in Texas, if you apply 1/2 - 1 inch of compost to your lawn in early spring, you should be able to cut your lawn's watering needs by 1/3 in the summer.
Brian - This is a project slated for the fall. . . of 2015, but I will post how it all works out. My plan is to work on it up to the dirt/peat moss layer and have it watered and settled during the winter. In the spring will be the compost layer and the grass. What does it mean if mushrooms show up? Is it good?

BTW, we will be using rainwater for all of our water needs. Would love to hear more ideas/suggestions/corrections on how to achieve and maintain a lawn with no or very little irrigation.

We will be moving into our acreage property next year. In the meantime, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about smart design (permaculture, energy efficiency, etc). I'd like to put in a lawn (100' X 50' maybe) for our kids to play on. I was thinking of digging about 2 feet deep and fill in with stuff we can gather from the property like leaves and twigs. Then mix in peat moss with the dirt/soil and top it off with compost. I'm looking into using Turfalo or Grassology - both boasting lower water requirements and slower/restricted growth than Bermuda. We are in Central Texas (zone 8 ) where the weather is hot and humid for 5-6 months of the year. Is this the right way to do it? Please chime in with your thoughts and comments. Thanks!