Welcome to my gardening blog.

This is my first post of Landscape Design and I intend to try and post once to twice a month. I would love any feedback about what you would like to know about etc.

We have seen a fair amount of rain this winter and hopefully will continue to see more. Even with this, we are not out of the woods as far as the drought goes.

One of the main things that you, as a homeowner, need to do is to plant the right plants in the right areas and keep plants with similar water needs together. This is one of the things having a professional design can help you accomplish. If you decide to go it on your own below are some tips to help you succeed.

When planting any new plant it is important to use the proper soils. So many homeowners buy their plants and go home without soil amendment. Your native soil may not have the ability to hold nutrients or water or may hold too much water. This is why adding planting mix or soil amendments is important. Products like planting mix, humus, and mulch help sandy soil better hold the water or a clay soil to drain better.

When creating a drought tolerant landscape many people believe you can’t have a lawn, but this is wrong. You can have a lawn as part of a drought tolerant landscape. The trick is choosing the right type of lawn and sprinklers.
The best lawn for our area for low water usage is also the one most people do not want, and that is Bermuda grass. Bermuda grass makes an excellent drought tolerant lawn, but is considered a weed in most areas. The other problem with Bermuda grass is that it goes dormant in the winter months, so your lawn looks brown and dry all winter.

The type of grass that is going to be evergreen and drought tolerant is fescue. Dwarf Fescue lawns are very drought tolerant and disease and insect resistant. The type of sod that is preferred is a blend of 80% dwarf fescue and 20% bluegrass. The small amount of bluegrass helps with filling in any divots or bald patches that can occur during normal wear and tear of the lawn. Artificial turf has also become a very viable solution to having the appearance of lawn without having to water. I will be writing a blog later on this spring about the benefits and installation of artificial turf.

The other very critical item is irrigation. I have given classes about this in the past at various nurseries and garden clubs over the years. It is important to select the proper sprinkler. The type of sprinkler I recommend is Hunter MP rotator. They use 30% less water than your average type of lawn sprinkler. In planter beds I recommend using drip irrigation or drip tubing to help conserve water and achieve deeper rooting plants. I will be going more in depth this coming year about sprinkler installation and plant selection for drought tolerant yards.

I hope that everyone enjoys these blogs and again if you have any questions or would like me to address any issues in your yard please feel free to contact me through my website MIKE DUNN DESIGN or Facebook page Mike Dunn Design.