The lawn plan:
- Kill the existing Bermuda grass
- Add organic matter (home-made compost) to the dirt
- Install automatic sprinklers for the lawn area to minimize the neglect factor.
- Plant a new lawn to enjoy for a couple of years
- Sell the house with the established, upgraded lawn and convenient watering system
In the decades since the lawn was established, new varieties of Bermuda have come (and gone), with increased pest and drought resistance. However, it's still a water hog and requires frequent mowing to keep it looking good.
Native grass seeds are available and often used in landscaping, but they don't tolerate foot traffic and don't make a turf-type lawn.
That left us with one choice - buffalo grass (Bouteloua dactyloides).
"Buffa-what?" is how most of the landscaping contractors I contacted replied, because they usually do a "roll and go" with Bermuda sod. It took some phone calls and web searches to locate a source of the UC Verde clone of buffalo grass. This will be an experiment. If it works, I'll have one of the few buffalo grass lawns in the Phoenix area. If the lawn dies, we roll out the traditional Bermuda sod.
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