Orange County is well known for our abundance of plants, both the ones that are used to provide citrus to the world as well as our yards. Because we have the ability to provide water through irrigation and sprinklers systems, we can grow nearly anything here. The weather is moderate all year long, and we almost never see frost or anything else that would harm plants or prevent them from growing strong. The one issue that we have is those pesky droughts that happen every now and then when the summers get too hot and there is not enough rainfall. When these types of things happen consecutively, we run short on the water that is needed to provide life to our people and animals, and as a result we need to make a choice between them and our landscaping. The counties in southern California put rules in place that prevent you from “wasting water,” which literally translates to “watering your lawn enough to keep it healthy.” Simply put, even if you can afford to pay the bills you are not allowed to water your lawn enough to keep it green. Your yard gets brown and dry, looks terrible and brings your property values down. Orange County is used to seeing lush green lawns, and when the droughts happen all we see is brown, dead ones. Unfortunately, it looks like that is going to continue this year because the winter is far warmer than typical. That will probably translate into a summer that is far hotter than usual, and the drought that goes with it. So are you going to put money into restoring the lawn that was pretty much killed off by the drought last summer, only to see it happen again? Or are you going to make a better choice this year, and spend your money more wisely?
A far better idea than trying to restore your lawn only to see it be killed by the watering restrictions is to install artificial turf and synthetic grass. These are plastic products that look and feel exactly like your living grass, only they are not going to be damaged by the inevitable drought restrictions on watering. Synthetic grass needs no water in order to look good, and will keep the exact same look and feel that it had the day it was installed. One tip is to make sure that it is professionally installed with an underfill material to make it soft and spongy like real grass. Too many people install the artificial turf right to the existing ground, giving it the hard “astro turf” feel that artificial turf used to have. With that said, it’s imperative that you use a company who specialises in Astro Turf Cleaning. Astro Turf can be difficult to clean, as such, it’s recommended to outsource the work.
As long as you use a good product and have it done by a professional, you should be able to enjoy your beautiful lawn every year while everyone else’s dies off in the summer. The warm weather that we can expect is a perfect time to get outside and enjoy your lawn, not worry about losing your investment. Ins’t it time you made the switch to something smarter?
