Lawn, or Lack Thereof

I live in a hot dry place. We've been getting less and less rainfall each year and our winters are getting warmer and drier. The amount of water in the dams doesn't go up much during winter.

As a result we've had garden watering restrictions for quite a few years now.

In summer we are only permitted to turn our sprinklers on two days of the week (allotted according to your house number). If you have a private bore (which I do) you are permitted one extra day.

This year we also have watering restrictions in winter! Watering via sprinklers is totally banned at present. The exception is that private bore owners are allowed to run their systems once per week - so as to ensure proper operating functions (they can seize up if not used for long periods of time).

This, together with my many battles with lawn - the bindii, the clover, the dead patches, the bits where the sprinklers don't reach anymore (because the water table hand pressure has dropped), , the mowing and fertilising, the fight to find the sprinklers when they've gone underground... I'd had enough of battling with the front lawn - it's not as if any of us go out there and use it.

So I now have NO front lawn. This is not such a radical departure from the norm; many people are getting rid of their lawns.

Most lawns are replaced by paving or concrete (sometimes cheekily painted green), one person on my way home has put down fake grass and it doesn't look too bad!

Me, I've currently replaced my lawn with mulch/bark chips. Most of it was the free mulch from the council. Here's how it looks at the moment:


It's pretty bland at the moment, however it does look better than dead lawn with the added bonus of no watering and no mowing. I poison off the few weeds that rear their heads from time to time.

My long term plan is to plant natives in there - but have no definite plans as yet (though I do like the idea of having a dry creek-bed effect)