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Sitters or owners who have a yard - how do you keep it nice?

Looking for advice from some green-thumb people!

The yard at my house is overrun with gophers. Between the holes they create and the holes dogs I am sitting create to try to get to them (even though I always supervise, it's surprising how quickly a dog can dig a good size hole!), the yard is an uneven mess of divots.

Secondary to that, I live in Southern CA where we are currently in a severe drought, so I've limited watering my lawn to once or twice per week, though thanks to the heat my grass is dead/dying anyway. Needless to say, my yard is quickly becoming a scraggly dust bowl.

Sitters and owners, what do you do for your own yard to keep it looking nice? How do you keep the grass green and growing with your own dogs or guest dogs? Extra points if you're in a drought area where water usage is a concern! Or do you have alternate ideas for yards/ground cover that's still nice for pets and people? I use our yard to entertain friends as well as the dogs I sit, so I'm trying to find something that would be beneficial to everyone!

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Hey there! I don't know if this'll help or not but it sure did help me! I have a fenced backyard, but the floor is brick. We recently got fake grass back there but it needed some sand, so my puppy started digging holes. I put down some chilli powder on the holes and it worked perfectly! Try it?

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This might sound weird, but have you considered a low growing herb lawn? You can either mix with grass or have all herbs. One of my clients has an herb lawn and it smells really good when you walk on it! (I think it's creeping thyme) No, it's not a lush green lawn like a golf course, but it is green and covers the yard! (You could get pink or purple too if you like more colors!) You might want to check with your local garden center to see which herbs would work best for your yard, and dogs!

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That would be amazing! But I wonder if it could establish itself while I have dogs using the yard? That's my concern with grass/greenery in general, as it would be difficult to limit usage while it's still new

Maybe you can try to do sections of the yard at a time? I'm not sure how you'd block off a section though, as dogs would just hop over or crawl under a roped off area. Perhaps putting up chicken wire would work?

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Hi, Carly! I am in a Facebook Group for Rover sitters and someone recently posted about this product that they are going to have installed in their backyard for similar reasons (no grass, just constant dirty/muddy dogs). http://www.foreverlawn.com/k9grass/

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:) we must be in the same FBgroup. That said. K9grass is really pricey, and only lasts about 10 years

I love this idea, but due to the gophers (would they continue to dig under the fake grass?) and the fact that I rent, I don't want to invest thousands of dollars...

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Have you considered wood chips?
I know when I was looking for a place to board my dog with lots of white fur...I saw one house with a muddy back yard and one house with wood chips. I picked the wood chips.

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I looked into wood chips for the dusty areas of my yard where it's hard to grow grass. I decided against it because I live in a rainy/humid part of the country...apparently wood chips aren't always a great idea for dog areas because they grow mold/fungus/etc.

I've been thinking about wood chips - maybe wood chip and gravel combo?

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Carly, I'm new here so I know it's been a while and this situation may have remedied itself. The grass you want is zoysia and hire an exterminator for the gophers or put in vibrating stakes. The dogs are digging to get the gopher...remove the gopher and the digging stops. You should reprimand the dogs when you catch them digging.

Mike

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Search the internet. I found a couple of web pages for you. First this one for a lawn: http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-drought-grass-html-20150723-htmlstory.html (http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-dro...) and this one for your gopher problem: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Gophers (http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Gop...) I hope they help you!

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I live in Nor Cal and have a large lawn and garden. Proper irrigation is essential and a good investment. The lawn will take the most water, but if done correctly won't waste water. My irrigation comes on 3 times a week at 11pm for 15minutes. Even so, I've had to supplement with a rotating sprinkler a couple times a week to keep it green as it is large and coverage from the irrigation isn't enough at the height of summer and the ground being so depleted of moisture. Always water after the sun goes down, and make sure your plants are mulched. Gophers have been an issue, but I keep on top of spreading the dirt and the grass comes back. You could cover problem areas with mesh to keep dogs from digging.

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I'd say use coffee grounds or poison to get rid of the gophers, but because of the dogs it's not a good idea. IN your case I'd recommend to flood the tunnels with water. Just stick the end of the garden hose into one of the tunnels and let it run for a while.

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I have a problem with grass burns from urine I put this in one corner and they seem to be doing most the unrinating there now. https://www.chewy.com/simple-solution...

Also to keep gophers and moles out I got this I have one in each corner, so my neighbors and I both benefit http://www.pulsetv.com/prodinfo.asp?n...

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I tried something similar to the gopher thing you posted - but the gophers dug a hole right next to it! Even I could hear the sound it was emitting, but it didn't deter the gophers :|

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Right! I have 4 dogs and usually have 2 to 3 more every week/end. I live in NorCal where it can be as hot as 110 degrees in summer. One of the most important things is to keep poop picked up as best as possible. Second, keep the lawn mowed every week (even during winter, except when its too wet to mow) and leaves picked up. After every mow, put down fresh dirt and lawn seed. After awhile, you'll be surprised at how much of a difference a little extra maintenance does. Make sure your water irrigation is not over-watering certain areas that might puddle and cause muddy spots. And, if it's too much for you to do....look for a yard maintenance service who can do it for you. We have a huge front and back yard and I found the service to be super affordable and it made it so that our days weren't consumed with worrying about the yard.