Ecomodded my front yard

[redpoint5]

I'm trying to convince the wife to let me put in artificial turf in the front yard. The only time it gets traffic is when I mow the weeds. The price for attractive artificial turf is too high though. $2.66 per sq/ft for this one.

I still have no idea how long the stuff lasts. There doesn't seem to be good data on longevity.

[jeff88]

Yup, that's the one!

Rocks will be easier to blow out and still allow for the drainage, rather than runoff. The hard part about rocks is keeping the weeds out. Make sure you put lots of weed-block!

Also, just thought about this. Setup all of your irrigation now! It will save you a lot later on. Even if you don't need it, a couple of runs of some main-line drip tube will save you a big headache later on down the road when you want to make changes.

Have you considered these for stepping stones?Recycled Tire Paver You can space them out so they allow for drainage and they're recycled! EDIT: There's also these: Permeable Pavers

[Fat Charlie]

If you're going to mod, why settle for just removing a negative when you can add a positive in the process?

New Fruits for Arid Climate

[KFM]

I'm gonna throw in my vote for dragon fruit. It's delicious, healthy, and has a cooling effect when you eat it; at least, in my experience.

[campisi]

Good ideas, all of em. Cacti are OUT ... as the wife doesn't like them. I'd be fine with em though.
I'm moving dirt to where it needs to be and running drip lines before we even start with planting and any hardscape. We'll probably have a few rocks and I was thinking of, instead of rocks, using decomposed granite for general coverage. It is allowed as it is water permeable.

[Longsnowsm]

On this one I would recommend doing some homework on your location. I am a certified Permaculture designer. One of the biggest problems with people is we tend to modify our climate and in many cases in a negative way. If you don't want to have to mess with your lawn then approach it with the strategy of low maintenance and low water requirement plants and mulches. The last thing we want to do is to continue to create deserts even if we live in one.

Look up Xeriscaping and research the plants that would work well in your climate. Consider water catchment systems on your home such as relocating water downspouts to locations where you want water to go. Look at how your beds are designed and take advantage of landscape contours. Heavy applications of free resources like wood chips can make for a fairly low maint landscape while retaining water, suppressing growth you don't want, and providing food for your plants.

Consider tree and perennial plants so that they come back year after year and your not constantly investing more in your lawn unless you simply want to. Tree systems are amazing and can provide shade for you home, food, and a place for lots of beneficial creatures to make a place called home. There is so much to cover here and lots we can talk about. So it all depends on the purpose of the landscape, how much time you want to invest, and what your goals are.

My objective is to learn from nature and mimic what she does, not to interfere and create a bigger problem. The more complex we make our landscapes the more life lives there and the benefits are huge. I personally have garden in the front and back at my home and started putting in tree systems this year. However I don't have an HOA that can tell me what to do. Deep mulch systems, swales, and water catchment make for low impact and low water use, and I get amazing veggies, flowers, and fruit in the process... And I live in an arid environment where we get 15-18 inches of precip a year on a normal basis. So anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I use free resources, and sweat labor to get it done and it has been great.

[campisi]

Never updated this thread but, yep, I finished the project and it came out fricking awesome. And absolutely all of the things mentioned by Lonsnowsm were considered when the new xeriscape was designed (by my wife mainly). Santa Clara Valley Water District has very strict guidelines about how to go about this if you want them to reimburse you.
Since I did all of the labor and bought materials cheapest I could find them I ended up spending less than what they gave me. Cost me about $1200 total and we just got a check from SCVWD for $1880. Unfortunately, I have to report that as income to the galdurn revenoo'rs (fed and state).

[jeff88]

Any pics?

[campisi]

Before and after. Not one of the plants died and it's really looking good as those plants start to grow some. All the plants are native / drought-tolerant. I've been using my old sprinkler system converted to drip for about 10 minutes once a week. Really happy now that I don't even own a lawnmower anymore. Our backyard is vegetable garden (no lawn). We're already seeing hummingbirds and various bees/bugs coming around!

PS - SCVWD forced me to put that bark down. I originally wanted just dirt but they wanted the whole field areas mulched as well as around the plants. OK. No biggie, but I won't be replacing it as it decomposes or goes away.

[acparker]

About stones and gravel, you can put down all the weed guard you want, but eventually, enough detritus will settle in between the cracks to form a rich, water retaining soil for weeds. Raking, pulling, weed killer, steam or flame are your principal options, after that.