Severe water shortages over the last few months will, it is hoped, have encouraged at least some lawn lovers to give serious consideration to the sensibility of retaining what are, to put it bluntly, climatically unsuitable monsters — lawns.
With literally millions of people thirsty for water, wasting potable water on lawns really should be a criminal offence of the highest order.
Those using recycled black or grey water are exempted from criticism although, frankly speaking, if properly treated, these categories of water should be used for growing trees and food, not grass, unless there are grazing animals to be fed on it.
If you happen to be one of those gardeners who are pondering what to do about your lawn, then please do not despair. This month, along with all the other months of the year, is the perfect time to make a completely new start.
The very first step to take is surprisingly simple: take a deep breath, apologise in advance if you feel the need and then go out there and kill it!
Killing a lawn, without resorting to the use of toxic chemicals of course, takes a little more than withholding water. An unwatered lawn will, in hot weather, quickly dry up and look dead. But for quite a long time, its roots are still very much alive and all it takes is for a couple of showers or a week of heavy morning dew for new blades of grass to appear.
To kill a lawn, grassroots must be killed off and the most effective, organic way, is to suffocate them.
There are two ways of doing this:
If you intend to replace the thirsty lawn with a well thought out and well executed xeriscape (drought tolerant landscape), one that utilises — as much as possible — indigenous, drought tolerant plants/trees/creepers with, perhaps, a groundcover of gravel/stone chips, river stones and larger rocks as contrasting, natural, focal points then think ahead about plant nourishment. Spread one inch deep layer of manure on top of the existing lawn area. Top this with one inch layer of reasonable soil and then cover the area with a sheet of heavy black — therefore light excluding — plastic, and weigh it down here and there to ensure that it stays firmly in place. Leave in place for about a month and the grass roots, deprived of light and air, should be well and truly dead. Then either dig or rotavate the area, thoroughly mixing the manure and new soil into the existing earth, level or contour as you wish and then lay out the gravel/stone chips, river stones and rocks as per design before, finally, putting in selected plants in predesignated locations.