Here in California, the drought is big news. In Sacramento, where summer temperatures frequently reach above 100 degrees and summer rain is scarce even in a normal year, keeping your lawn green comes at a high cost-- literally! According to this recent article from the Sacramento Bee, outdoor landscaping uses as much as 65% of household water use in Sacramento! Isn't that insane?
We have seen some homeowners cut down water use by redoing their landscaping into a desert-esque scene, some use rocks, or mulch with plants. All of these options use less water than grass, which requires a LOT of water to stay lush and green, especially in the dry Sacramento heat.
However, for those of you who have children, dogs, or just want to be able to walk around on your yard, rocks or cacti probably aren't the best option. Last week, we did an appraisal for a homeowner who is looking to sell his home. He's done a lot of recent upgrades in order to get the house ready and hopefully get top dollar in his sale, and one of the improvements he did was install artificial turf in the front yard. It looked awesome! It was the first thing we noticed when we pulled up, and it certainly stuck out as great landscaping even in a neighborhood of very well maintained lawns. This is a water-saving method that is receiving a a bit of buzz in the Sacramento area lately, and although it is technically not allowed in the city of Sacramento, there are several cities in the area (including Roseville) that are encouraging the switch to save water.
What do you think? Would you ever make the switch in your own front yard?
