Is it time to re-think having a lawn?

[Hekate]

59. Since returning to California I've had 2 houses.The first one, all the grass died & I covered it...

… with wood chips, which look nice and organic. You can get them for free if you see a tree removal service with woodchipper down the block — I walked up and asked, and basically saved them the cost of the tipping fee at the landfill by pointing to my place and saying I’d love it if they dumped it in my front yard.

All I really had to do was lay down many layers of newspaper as a weed-retardant and then rake the chips over all. One of the advantages of this method is that should there be any rain, it will flow through to the soil beneath. Some years later when I had cause to do some digging, I found a surprising amount of life underneath where it was slightly cooler than anything on the surface — earthworms were over a foot down, but St Augustine runners were still there close to the surface, white and waiting for the sun. Amazing.

We were in that house 30+ years, and moved 4+ years ago. There was evidence of 3 iterations of watering systems in our new home. Sprinkler heads show through the strips of decorative rock around 3 sides of the house, where grass flourished when the house was first built. Currently we have a combination of drip and spray irrigation, much of which was replaced after the Thomas Fire melted it. It all gets checked weekly, as wild critters are thirsty and end up chewing on the lines.

It’s a bigger piece of land than the old place (almost half an acre) and a dryer microclimate, but half that space is a slope out back with a 200 y.o. oak. There is no lawn. We’re adjusting some of the plantings and adjusting the automatic system… and hoping for the best.