After this brutal summer, with the slam-bam combo of extraordinary

heat and exceptional drought, many central Texas gardeners are left

scratching their heads, wondering what to do with their deceased St.

Augustine lawns.

 

For folks in Austin, the city’s Water Utility will give you  $10 per 100

square feet of lawn if you replace the thirsty St. Augustine grass with

either buffalo or Bermuda grass.

 

This 10 cents per square foot makes up the difference in cost between

the less expensive St. Augustine grass and the higher cost of the drought

tolerant grasses.

        

Local gardener Marge Wood recently suggested another option:

join up with the ‘Food Not Lawns’ movement, and convert your lawns

into productive vegetable gardens.

 

 In a slow economy, food production could go a long way towards helping

This will work well if you have your own home, but not so well if you're

in a subdivision with a home owners association keeping an eye on things.

But at the least you could start converting your backyards to raised bed food

production.

 

Watch this food not lawns  video and you’ll see how you can bring together

a neighborhood with productive vegetable gardens, . Sounds like a  great

idea to me!

 

A third option?  Replace grass with  native ground covers, native perennials

and native ornamental trees. This way you'll have an attractive landscape

that will hardly require any water.

 

The best guide for this approach can be found in the excellent publications

of Austin’s Green Grow program. They have an excellent flyer called

Earthwise Guide to Landscape Design that we have (for free) at the nursery.

It describes the benefits of  waterwise landscaping and has a step by step

guide to converting your existing lawn into a beautiful, drought tolerant

garden.

 

Anyway, don’t lament the loss of this water-loving grass. Can’t say it’s
a blessing in disguise, but at least we have some viable options. Let’s not

replace our lawns with St. Augustine