Can you imagine the frustration of spending thousands of dollars a year on something that is an unavoidable expense? How exciting would it be to find out you don’t have to keep spending this money. It would be great to learn a new way of doing the same thing only differently with less waste and better results. This is exactly what was happening to Kevin Malamma at his home in Bakersfield, California.
Kevin had a large turf landscape (about 4500 square feet) in front of his home and as the price of water increased he was spending more and more each month to irrigate it. So Kevin reached out to Nick Martin owner of Kern Lawn Borders to see what could be done.
Save water and improve the look of your home
He reached out to the right guy. Nick Martin has been in the landscaping business for about 30 years now. He’s done work on large commercial properties and in the last 10 years started working on residential properties with a focus on water management. Nick understands the industry needs to start showing consumers landscapes can be more water wise and more attractive at the same time or else there won’t be a landscape industry in 10 years. Nick is committed to the landscape industry, he knows the value of water, and is also interested in helping those less fortunate. That is why in January, Nick is taking a trip with Chapin Living Waters and Jain Irrigation to the Dominican Republic to help teach drip irrigation to farmers so they can grow more crops with less water.
Nick and Kevin agreed to remove almost all the turf in his front yard and replace it with drought tolerant plants and drip irrigation manufactured by Jain Irrigation. The remaining turf is watered with subsurface drip irrigation. This was a 105-degree day during a string of 100 degree plus days. The turf and plant material were thriving. Where they removed turf they planted Texas Ranger, Mexican sage, salvia, creeping rosemary and red yucca to name a few of the plants you see.
Homeowners can now use a program called the Hero Program to help finance projects like this one. This project expects to save 70% -80% on water in the front yard over the next year. This is great news for Kevin, but it is also good news for the rest of us too. Look at these recent photos of Kevin’s front yard and his before picture and I think you will agree moving to a drought tolerant landscape irrigated with drip can be a step up.