Growing a Green Desert Lawn

One of the most controversial and misunderstood principles of xeriscape landscaping is the concept of choosing appropriate turf. Turfgrasses may consume more water than other plants, but they do have a place in the xeriscape. A lawn not only gives children and pets a place to play, it also helps keep the landscape cool, reduces the risk of erosion, and is a lot easier on the eyes than bright desert sun glaring off rocks or bare soil. Although turf requires more frequent care than many other landscape plants, it's not especially difficult to maintain.

Choosing Turf for Your Needs

If you've decided to include turf in your xeriscape, a little planning will help ensure you get the green lawn you want. Before you go out and buy seed, consider how you want to use your lawn (for football games or just to look at?), what times of the year you'll use the lawn, where you're going to plant your lawn, how large you need the lawn to be. Answering these questions gives you an better how to limit turf to useful spaces and choose the type of grass that will best meet your needs.

For the cold-winter high deserts located in northern and mountainous areas, cool-season grasses such as fescue or a fescue-bluegrass mixtures are best for play areas. They also have a long growing season. If you live in the low desert, then drought-tolerant, warm-season grasses such as buffalo grass, blue grama, or bermuda grass should serve your needs, although theses grasses tend to be less rugged than cool-season varieties.

Correct Lawn Irrigation

If you have a small lawn, consider installing pop up spray sprinklers with heads of 3 to 6 inches high. These sprinklers use less water than portable sprinklers because they water in a tight pattern and can emit a large quantity of water in a short period of time. Typically, the area of coverage can be adjusted from five to 15 feet and the the nozzles are adjustable to create sprays from 90 to 360 degree. Pop-up spray sprinklers are also more convenient and attractive because they're recessed into the lawn when not in use.

Even with pop-up sprinklers, water conservation is still a concern, so you won't want to leave sprinkler usage up to guesswork. In order to determine how long to run your sprinklers, first you'll need to find their hourly output. To do this, place out five or six small containers of the same size (such as tuna or petfood cans) on your lawn within the sprinker's range. Run the sprinklers for twenty minutes and measure the water in each can with a ruler. Take the average amount, multiply it by 3 and you've got the hourly rate of output. Because water pressure varies throughout the day, try to do this test at the same time you plan to water your lawn. Make sure there isn't a strong wind when you do this test, as wind will blow the water away before it can reach the cans and your measurements will be inaccurate.

If your sprinkler puts out an inch per hour, you'll want to leave your sprinklers on approximately half an hour during winter and spring and one and a half hours during summer and warmer autumn months for warm-season grass. For cool-season grass, you'll need to increase this amount somewhat to forty minutes in winter and spring up to an hour and forty-five minutes at the height of summer. In milder weather, weekly watering is usually enough. In very hot months, though, you may need to divide your irrigation into smaller, but more frequent waterings.

Automated Lawn Care

To keep better track of your water usage, add a rain switch or a moisture sensor. A rain switch will automatically shut off the sprinkler system during rain storms, while a moisture sensor "feels" when the soil is dry enough to merit turning the sprinkler system back. If you have a automatic timer, remember to adjust it throughout the year as weather and water requirements change each month.

Turf Alternatives

If you're considering planting turf only for appearance, other ground cover plants may be more appropriate and may be easier and cheaper to irrigate. Learn more about desert groundcovers to add more variety to your xeriscape.