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| Photo Credit: Megan Bame |
| Southeastern homeowners with brown lawns are to be commended for following current watering restrictions. |
Well, it’s October 2007, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve mowed my lawn since April. Since June, my community in North Carolina’s Piedmont area has seen a grand total of 1 inch of rain, and the heat’s been searing – well-above average for being this deep into fall. We’ve seen droughts before, but our seniors who’ve been around awhile say this is the worst drought they’ve experienced. The National Weather Service has labeled the drought in nearly 26 percent of the Southeast as being “exceptional” – the worst drought category there is. Yes, it’s bad, but what does it mean to the gardens and usually lush landscapes of the Southeast?
First off, it means your lawns have likely bit the dust…literally. Strict water restrictions will do that to a yard. But there’s no need to panic. You’re not alone, and you can reseed. There’s no hurry, though. Frankly, it’s too late to establish a lawn now, and there really wasn’t a chance to do it this fall anyway. The ground was too hard to core-aerate, and there’s been no rain to supplement the irrigation requirements for new grass. The best thing you can do for your lawn now is to just sit back and see what Mother Nature has in store. Maybe more of your lawn than you expect will have miraculously survived come spring. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley may have summed it up best when he said, “A bit of mud on the car or patches of brown on the lawn must be a badge of honor. It means you are doing the right thing for your community and our state.” One thing not to do is try to circumvent water restrictions. I was terribly disheartened by the report that some wealthy new homeowners had found their own solution to the water restrictions. Since only municipal water use can be patrolled, these homeowners dug an “irrigation well” to get around the water restrictions, which carry a pretty stiff fine. That sort of stance is simply unacceptable, in my opinion.
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