I pride myself on my sustainable lifestyle, but I confess the greenest part of my home is the most environmental unfriendly. I live on Maui
in the dry region of the island and my water bill is unacceptably high. I planned my yard and garden during a time of cheaper abundant water. Quite frankly I have much too much lawn covering my property. After paying my last water bill I wonder if I should just let everything die and revert back to a natural landscape. But that would be a little extreme since I enjoy toiling in my yard and my garden is a great source of pleasure as well as food. Not to mention having a glass of wine in the evening watching the exotic birds or reading a good book under the shade of a tree. Actually, I'm proud of some things about my yard. I designed it, at the time ten years ago, to be somewhat water frugal. I planted indigenous and drought resistant ground cover, shrubs and trees. The trees were strategically placed to shade the house and yard. My garden has Japanese cucumber, lettuce, wild tomatoes, and string beans, egg plant and peppers. The fruit trees include mango, and papaya.
Also, composting works great. I use an old garbage can with holes in it a pile in browns first (saw dust, newspaper, cardboard and leaves) followed by greens ( vegetable waste, fruit scraps and coffee grounds). I keep watering to no more than 1.5 inches a week and cut the lawn at about 3 inches high letting the lawn clippings fall where they may. Some people buy a special lawnmower like the resorts have and cut the Seashore grass very short but this requires a lot of water.
What needs the makeover is the lawn. So I decided to reduce its area by 50 percent and go with a drip line system for my trees and scrubs. If my calculations are right I should save substantial amount on my water bill. My first idea was a desert landscape, stream and pond to catch and store water during downpours but my neighbor's pond is a breeding ground for frogs. My second idea, because I already had an enormous amount of plant material, was to go with a combination of lava rock and drought resistant shrubs on a drip line to take up the space. But it seemed a little boring with so much lava rock. My last and final choice was creating a European type fountain and garden in the back center of the yard with walk ways leading up to it. It's quite dramatic and cool to sit by on hot days and creates the feel of getting away while at home. The best part is that it creates a useable space that once water thirsty lawn.
