Most of South and Central Texas is in a drought – no dispute about that. It’s hellacious and ferocious and there’s not much anyone can do about it but pray, which means Richard Dawkins would not be greeted kindly at a Hondo ranch right about now.
OK, so it’s hot and dry in Texas during the summer. So what else is new? Maybe what we need is a bit of Dawkins’ rationalism, but ixnay on the eligionray and more to do with common sense.
Y’all need to quit watering your lawns.
Water is a precious resource and there’s no need to fling it on the streets, sidewalks, and yards of the state. I haven’t watered my lawn for about 12 years now. Maybe more. It’s green and thick as ever when it rains. When it doesn’t rain, it goes dormant, like it’s supposed to. It’s survived many a drought and will continue to do so because it’s got a deep root system, thanks to my never watering it.
Lawns made of hoity-toity grasses serve no good purpose that rougher, tougher prairie grass can’t step in and do. The high-maintenance grass in my yard is gone. Prairie grass came on the scene and flourished. It’s not as tightly packed as Bermuda and not as lush as St. Augustine, but it keeps the topsoil from eroding and looks real nice when it rains regular.
It also doesn’t need any fertilizer or pesticide. That means I get to host lots of birds in my yard because there’s plenty of good stuff for them to pick at. I don’t have any bad bug problems at all. Well, if fire ants show up, I grab the Amdro, but that’s it. I will also use chemical killers to get rid of poison ivy, but that’s it on the herbicides.
Turns out, I’m green environmentally by allowing for the fact that I may be brown in a drought. I don’t mind because I know it’s better to do it the way I do in the long run. Now if the rest of y’all would get on board with this, we’d do better as a state, hear?
And as for the golf greens… time to cut that out, too. Head to a rodeo or a futbol match or something more worthy of the great state of Texas. All that water could go to a much better use: our children’s future.
I like the idea of people planting native Texan plants, ones that can survive in the heat without water… like cacti and yucca, etc. Not only does it look cool, it’s easy to take care of, and good for the environment! I can see how people with little kids would like a nice, soft, green lawn, though…
Nice and soft is nice… but also bad for the environment at times.
Texas i think needs to go back to how it was more like New Mexico or Nevada, with the desert like atmosphere. It would be better for the state as a whole, leaving a bunch of resources open for our use versus giving it up to the plants or vegetation that aren’t helping us out as much.
On top of that it would be cheaper and more user friendly for people like webb.
I think watering you lawn is just fine, just don’t do it when its a 100 degrees outside. Water when its early morning or late at night that way you can save water cause the sun is not soaking it up.
Beside right now with all the rain we are getting who needs to water.
The problem is with watering the lawn at all. Loads of gallons go into the yard, with only the temporary greenness to show for it. If there’s plenty of rain, there are still people running sprinklers on automatic with no gain for that expenditure.
Moreover, the day will soon come when we want that water to drink, not waste on decorative plants.
Not to mention all that wonderful fertilizer running into creeks and lakes and killing fish and stuff… and mowing the grass, which is expensive and not so great for the environment…
The fertilizer that runs into creeks do not kill fish, they cause algal blooms that kill everything. Not mowing the grass, though better for the environment, may not be so great on the individual’s health. I agree the watering the lawn is a clear waste of money and resources. At our house, we only water when door stop closing. Also we wouldn’t be about to have the desert environment that NM and AZ have because that is just not our climate zone, because ours is supposed to hot and humid.
Mowing is important: didn’t say not to do that. I’m arguing for not watering what’s already there. And, yes, one needs to keep an eye on the foundation. 🙂