Back Yard

When we were house hunting in ABQ last fall, we wanted a xeriscaped yard, no grass, and no swimming pool.  The house we bought has a nicely landscaped yard, mostly xeriscape with water-wise plants and stone and rock mulch.  We replaced a few shrubs that needed more water than we were willing to give them.  But along the back of the house by the covered patio, there is a patch of grass that is about 10' wide and 70' long.  What to do with the grass?  A lot of it looked dead already since the irrigation system had been turned off for several months.  In the spring I took a Saturday morning class at the Water Authority in which the instructor went over irrigation systems, water budgets, the ABQ laws regarding watering, and water-saving tips.  Using the guidelines in the handouts, I programmed our irrigation system and watched to see what would happen with the back yard.  I also planted 4 little plugs of nepeta (catmint) in the shadier area, and 5 little plugs of creeping thyme in the sunnier area, and I scattered a bunch of red clover seed on the advice of the folks at Plants of the Southwest. 

The red clover sprouted and covered the bare spots pretty well, but now it's dying off.  It is a biennial, so we should see some of it coming back in the spring.  The thyme and catmint did VERY well, and I plan to add a lot more creeping thyme (most of the area is sunny).  At one end, the grass survived well enough that it looks like lawn.  At the other end, some grass survived -- enough to create a need to shorten that grass.  I did not bring any lawnmowers here from NY, so I used my weed whacker to keep things under control for a while, but it's heavy, noisy, messy, and gives a somewhat uneven-looking result.  So yesterday I sent Stephen to the local big-box store to get this:

I assembled it in about 10 minutes and then spent about 10 minutes mowing the "lawn."  (Remember, in my book, if it's green and I can mow it, it's lawn.)  Another 10 minutes of raking and done!  It doesn't look great yet, but if I get more thyme in there this fall, next summer it should look better and need less water.