aichtooh

AICHTOOH
thats the phonetic spelling of h2o
or for those nonchemistry folks thats
water

cactus bloom

in the last two weeks we got about 3 inches of rain
and
for those who collect and especially those of us
who rely on rainwater for our water system
that rain came at an important time
as
we head into our driest time of the year
without that rain the country n owners were looking
at possibly buying water which i hate to do

another type of cactus with flower

now i know most of you buy your own water
but
when you have it delivered in a water truck
you pay $300+ for 3000 gallons

the average homeowner in austin texas uses 7,727
gallons a month

we at the country n use about 1500 gallons a month

if it was delivered that would cost them $0.1 a gallon
so their bill would be $772.70

um maybe that would be a way to curb some of the water
use by raising the cost

plant salvaged from destruction from westwood high school

so i got about 1800 gallons per inch x 3 inches =5400 gallons
of water from that rain
thats $540 if i had bought it

the average homeowner in austin would have sucked that up
and out the drain in about 20+- days

native wildflower firewheel

what made me think about all this
is
austin is about to hit a water crisis soon
they are conserving water fairly well but could do better
this conservation has made the price of water climb
since less water is bought
less money in coming into the city
they have fixed water costs that arent being met well

i say raise the prices
let the market control the water use
not sure if that works well though

salvia greggi or autumn sage

i was at a friends house last night looking at his landscape
he is on the austin water system
he can only water the yard and landscape once a week
it still looks pretty lush
thanks i guess to the weekly watering and the recent rains

he has landscaped away a lot of his grass
and more is planned

he rocked that no mans land between the sidewalk and the
curb which covers half the length and width of his lot
he is on a corner lot

the other no mans land at one side of his house where
no one ever goes
you know most home owners have this spot
he is covering it with black plastic and rocks so he can stop
watering it and mowing it and fertilizing it and deweeding it etc

zexmenia

then i looked at all his landscape
he and the person that helped him choose his plants
did a good job
they are mostly xeric natives
and are in the grow green pamplet from the city of austin 

i reminded him which he didnt know that he could get some
reimbursements and credits on his water bill from all the
landscaping he had done
several hundreds of dollars

now i have the same plants he has minus a few that tend to
not do as well here
like indian hawthorne magnolia tree etc

crossvine

he waters his plants
yes they look good
but so do mine
in fact they look the same

my water use on my landscape is zero
his well he is an average austin homeowner

he could cut off the drippers to all of his landscape
and only water them during all the real dry times
or
not at all
he would have to accept some browning of some
of the plants when it gets real dry
but
these xeric native plants dont die

thistle

i have a solution
only xeric natives can be planted
no supplemental irrigation is allowed
unless
its provided from rainwater collected off the roof
a requirement that should be made when homes are
built in this area

heck what if all those big mansion high schools that they
build around here were equipped with rainwater collection
systems to collect water for irrigation and flushing toilets

you know we are paying for them and we are paying their
water bills

eventually the added expense will pay for itself over time
either at home or at school

but
i guess nothing like this will happen until its too late
thats what we always seem to do here in america
crisis management

(note these pictures are a few of the flowering plants i have
planted in our yard at the country n
zero nadda no water has been used on these plants)

well here at the country n
we are well ahead of the curve

the only problem is
i may have to buy new fencing to keep people out
i may have to buy guns to protect my water supply
i may have to get another mean guard dog

sure hope it doesnt come to that
we all could just practice conservation
and
collect rainwater

the organicgreen doctor

goin green

GOIN GREEN

since green is in the name of my blog its obvious im for everything

thats green

im always looking for ways to do green stuff

i started working on habitat houses and it didnt take long

for my green to come out in their projects

ive recovered rocks and cement to use in landscaping in the

houses that are being built

then any excess rocks and cement i bring back here to the countryn

to use in my landscape projects

ive also recycled lumber landscape timbers and plywood to use

in projects

all this use to go to the landfill

then i started watching and helping with the landscaping

it was painful to be involved with that part

my feeling was that the habitat does such a quality job of building

the houses 

stuff just has to be done right or it gets redone

heck ive worked with contractors who said yall build these houses

better than we do

then when its done the landscape is quickly done to finish the job

the same quality wasnt being done with the landscape

as i told someone do the landscape like they were doing was like 

building a house without putting insulation in it

the homeowner who is already on a limited income

has to water their whole lot and its grass

fertilize it and upkeep it

in the summer half of their water bill is from irrigating the yard

and water is getting more expensive around here

and will continue to do so as there is more water shortages acoming

so i suggested xeriscaping

you know what happens right when you make a suggestion 

it becomes your project

so my goal was eg in the front yard was to eliminate as much grass 

as possible working with a limited budget

real limited budget

here are some pictures of the front of the house before it was landscaped

remember before it would have been all covered with grass sod

or seeded grass

which the owner would have had to water like crazy in our hot dry 

summers here in central texas

on the left side of the yard an old dead trash tree the arizona ash was

removed

the tree trunk was left in place

the ground was covered with packed hard soil that probably wouldnt grow

anything

we built an area of mulch that we obtained from a local landscape facility 

real cheap

they bag it and we all buy it at nurseries around here and at lowes and home depot

but when you buy it in bulk it cost about 1/4 as much

we added 4-5 inches of mulch

around the stump we planted in front of it a rosemary that will cover up 

the stump from the street side 

the stump will eventually rotten and actually increase the nutrition of the soil

on the other side of the stump a flame acanthus was planted which will 

provide a red flower that bees and butterflies and humming birds love

and it will grow to a 4ft x 8 ft size

that old stump wont be seen from the street at all

then we contoured the mulched band in curves around to the edge of 

the house edged with rocks obtained from the building site and from 

a relatives donation 

then along the driveway small 1 inch stone was placed between the 

mulched bed and the driveway and was extended along the driveway 

down the side of the house as the side of the house was completely 

shaded and no grass would grow

scattered large boulders were also added to this rock to help with the 

rustic appearnce of this area

then on the right side of the house we started win a area that looked like this

the stump in the picture was a sycamore that was severely damaged by 

the digging of the sewer and water line 

it had begun to lean some and had to removed

thanks they left another stump

this side of the front yard was about 1000 square feet

so we landscaped away 60% of this side and only laid

sod on 40% of the area

in front of this stump we planted another rosemary and added

a spineless cactus on the house side of the stump

both will eventually grow up and cover this stump so it wont be

noticeable at all

heres the final project

good landscape soil was brought in and the sod was laid on top of it

4 inches of the mulch was brought in and was used to cover the ground

on the right side and it was edged with that same rock

the tree on the right is a cedar elm whose roots were partially damaged

with the sewer line placement but i think we were able to resuscitate it with 

good revitalizer compost seaweed and keeping it watered

it is now growing its spring leaves and will eventually shade most of this 

side of the yard

xeric plants are planted along the fence to the right

knock out rose turks cap salvia greggii and 4 oclocks

a strip of rock was landscaped between the driveway and the mulched area

and the sodded area

all of the landscape materials except for the sod was donated by 

two landscape supply places-austin landscape supplies and austin wood recycling

so this home owner a single mom with two chidren will only have to water

and maintain a strip of grass about 400 square feet in her front yard

as 75% of the yard was xerically landscaped

the plants planted were from this free booklet gowing green

which can be obtained at most local nurseries

and even if they arent watered any when they get established 

they will survive

now thats goin green

we could use donations for landscaping

either plants or money

we need monterey oaks or red oaks or live oaks or cedar elms

we need xeric shrubs like salvia greggii dwarf youpon holly turks cap etc

so if you have extras pot them for me and ill pick them up

you can also contact habit for humanity and donate funds for landscaping

thanks again to austin landscape supplies and to austin wood recycling for 

their donation of supplies

the organicgreen doctor