Merodean LaRose

I live in northern Utah now, but did spend some years in St. George. I don't believe that there is a moist layer in the soil there. Add a drip system. A slow drip will help the roots to go deep and maybe prevent the area from baking in the summer. Wood mulch is a really good idea. I have my yard done in wood chips and it's unbelievable how much longer the soil retains moisture. I love your idea of Espalier. My four Espaliered fruit trees are doing very well. It's a fun project. Good luck with your's!

I live in northern Utah now, but did spend some years in St. George. I don't believe that there is a moist layer in the soil there. Add a drip system. A slow drip will help the roots to go deep and maybe prevent the area from baking in the summer. Wood mulch is a really good idea. I have my yard done in wood chips and it's unbelievable how much longer the soil retains moisture. I love your idea of Espalier. My four Espaliered fruit trees are doing very well. It's a fun project. Good luck with your's!

Forgot to add that mine are 100 percent cotton.

Good morning Everyone! I grew up with stinky, sour dish cloths, so I'm not a big fan of dish cloths in general. All the handmade and hand woven cloths do sound so lovely. I have a 2 part system that works for me. My dish cloths get changed out probably three times a day or more and I just toss them in with the rest of the white laundry.

My favorite cloth is the roll of 12 from the auto part section of whatever store you shop at. They are thin and about half the size of a normal hand towel. Large rags would work well too. I put them out as kitchen towels and as they get wet they become the new wash cloth and another is pulled off the stack to dry hands. This goes on all day. It makes very little impact on the laundry bill and I always have a fresh, clean washcloth. As they become old and, stained they move into the dirty rag bin for floor or shop.

I planted four fruit trees 5 years ago. First I planted in the middle of the lawn and got so frustrated mowing around them that I moved them along the fence and decided to learn espaulier. I have not regretted it for a minute. I have Plum, Peach, Asian Pear, and Apricot. This year I harvested 7 plums, 3 peaches, 0 Apricots, and about 5 paper grocery bags of Asian Pear! I love that I can protect my fruit from the hordes of Starlings. I do leave some for the birds. There's not so much fruit that it's wasted and I'm really enjoying learming the process . In between the trees are grapes being grown by the kniffen method. Its all very neat and tidy and fun. Sorry, can't get my picture to post. Think the ((old) maid on the raisen box ; )  I highly recommend the Espaulier method!

Oh, cool the picture posted. Tiny Asian pears this year. I got the 5 bags from the little tree at my elbow.

Hello 5 Bengi,

I have about 3 inches of mulch down and in some spots where the yard slops up to 6. This might be overkill in some areas, but the yard does look better level. I have no desire to use water just because my neighbor is using it. My goal with the xeriscape was to conserve water. I did put in some Scrub or Gambel Oak And other native species that in the future will not require water and will feed the native wild life, quite possibly the voles?. In another spot I have some fruit trees that are watered by a high water use neighbor.

My original question was did I create the Vole problem in the neighbor's yard. After reading these posts and researching I have come up with the answer. Yes and no. No, I didn't draw the Voles to the area. There are 5 species that inhabit our region. No, it's not my fault the Voles made tunnels in the lawn. The heavy snowfall provided cover for the Voles to forage safely. No, I am not providing food for the Voles. The neighbors with their yummy grass and seed pods are doing that. Did I provide habitat for the Voles in my wood chips? Maybe, yes, probably. I accept one third of the blame. Mother Nature and the neighbor are responsible for the other two thirds of the problem.

To me it's no longer a problem. This will be my defense if I get that knock at the door that I was so worried about a few days ago. The Voles are Mother Nature's little gardeners and are just doing their work. The problem arises when we try to change our environments so drastically that we have to kill, kill, kill in order to make a picture perfect life. This culture of planting grass in the desert and then poisoning and killing everything that interferes with the beautiful green lawn is the problem here not my efforts to work in harmony with nature.

Thank you for your responses. Hopefully no one will come knocking on my door with complaints. I just hate to think that I may have caused a problem by trying to do the responsible and water wise thing.

I live in Northern Utah. In an effort to conserve water, I smothered my grass with wood chips and love it. Wood chips have been in place for 2 years. My neighbors all have lush, green, weed free, water hungry grass and are not thrilled that I moved in and, "bucked the system". We had a heavy snow cover all season--snow melts and my South neighbor's lawn is riddled with Vole tracks. Some of the tracks seem to be coming from under my mulch, but many of the tracks are coming from their sidewalk, garden boxes, their cement driveway area, etc. North neighbor and East neighbor's lawns are not affected. My large strip of mixed, organic, critter friendly turf (that borders wood chips) is not affected. I can't help but believe that neighbor is blaming me for the rodent problem although, nothing has been said to me, just lots of boxes of poison placed along the property line( in plain sight where children and pets can get to them).

I'm not supplying the Voles any food. However, neighbor with the problem, has lots of tasty grass and several large Rose of Sharon bushes just loaded with seeds.

Ordinance Officer visited when I first took out the grass because people complained. I was asked to spread my woodchips rather than leave them in a pile, which I did. I am in full compliance with the city code and want to be a good neighbor. If neighbor complains about the rodent problem and blames me I would like to be prepared to defend my position.

Advice anyone?