Question
Hi Mark, I have a raised ranch in MA.  My home is on the bend of a street.  so my land looks like a pie shape.  Problem.  Too much grass.  I replaced it so many times and water bills are crazy.  The sun beats on this property all day long.  On each side of the main walkway, in the middle of the grass is a maple tree on each side.  They are about 8 feet tall now.  They are doing great.  I also have a driveway on each side of the house with a walkway coming from each one.  so when you are standing in the street the three walkways look time the letter T.  There is a post and rail only in front of the land on the street.  Nothing on sides where driveways are.  Please help me with ideas.  The grass is just too much for me to handle.  Any ideas.  If you need me to I can take a pic and email it to you.  Please please help.  I cannot deal with the burnt grass anymore or the high water bills.  Thanks so much, Gina

Answer
Hello,

You might want to look into a rain harvesting system. This would reduce or eliminate the amount of municipal water you use for your plants.  A rain harvesting system consists of things like rain barrels fed from roof gutters,water fed into diversion channels from your roof and then to planted areas and bermed or concave holding areas.

In many cases a large rainwater holding tank can be used to irrigate the entire property by running drip irrigation lines from it or a battery of conncected smaller rain barrels can be used.  Plastic garbage cans can be used for rain barrels,but they should not be used for drinking water.

Catchment areas for water can be something other than the roof.  Other catchment areas could be paving,such as a driveway,a hillside or a swale.  

Collecting rainwater could help you keep your grass,but if you do not want grass, look into alternative drought resistant plants.  Consider planting a rain garden where the lawn is.  You would have to construct a concave water collecting area for this.  A dry landscape consists of rocks of various sizes and shaped into an attractive curved form.  This protects the soil from weeds and erosion,but eliminates the maintenance and other problems associated with a planted area. A dry landscape could also be used to collect water for another area.  French drains can also be used to collect water for plantings,either by directly collecting rainwater or by storing rainwater from a roof or other catchment area.  Ornamental grasses and sometimes semi-aquatic plants can sometimes be used for rain gardens.

The texture of the soil also affects water usage. Loam soils have a greater water holding capacity than clay or sand soils,so you might want to consider adding organic material to your soil.  

Send the pic and I will try to make additional comments.  Good luck.

Mark Harshman
http://www.mahdrafting.com
Email: [email protected]

http://www.scribd.com/markscrib47




Judging from the pic,looks like you would have two good spots out front for a rain garden or a dry landscape. The two lawn spaces are already sunken,so you probably wouldnt even have to excavate for a rain garden.  Have you fertilized the grass? That could be a reason your grass is doing so poorly.

You would have to do a perc test (basically dig a hole in the ground,fill it with water and then observe how fast the water soaks into the soil) to determine how fast water soaks into the soil before you installed a rain garden. Water must soak into the soil of a rain garden within about 24 hours. Since you have clay soil,there might be a problem,but simply adding organic matter would be a solution. Another requirement is that a rain garden must be kept a minimum of ten feet from the foundation. From a rough guess,looks like those sunken areas are ten feet from your foundation.
Well,good luck with whatever you choose.