{"id":509255,"date":"2026-01-11T20:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T20:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:29:18","slug":"the-most-important-lesson-from-diy-turf-replacement-in-socal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509255\/","title":{"rendered":"The most important lesson from DIY turf replacement in SoCal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the longest time, I resisted replacing my lawn. I take great pride in mowing my own grass, trimming the edges, plucking dandelions by hand and snickering at my water-conscious friends\u2019 drought tolerant alternatives. My attitude: You can take my lawn when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.<\/p>\n

But on Jan. 7, Mother Nature forced my hand. The gale-force winds that fueled devastating fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades toppled over two gorgeous Texas Umbrella trees that had shaded my front yard since long before I bought my house in Monrovia. When the trees tipped over, the extensive root system tore up my manicured lawn.<\/p>\n

I developed a new attitude: If a government rebate program will help pay for it, why not overhaul my front yard?<\/p>\n

The timing turned out to be fortunate: My lawn had gone dormant for the winter, so I likely wouldn\u2019t have to battle a regrowth of my grass until next spring.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m coming late to the water-saving party. Southern California\u2019s turf replacement program, funded by the Metropolitan Water District, began 17 years ago and has helped remove about 233 million square feet of lawn, saving about 29,000 acre-feet of water per year. That\u2019s enough to serve 88,000 homes annually, according to the MWD. More than 65,000 households have gotten a rebate. <\/p>\n

\"a <\/p>\n

A drought-resistant plant in Times editor Hugo Mart\u00edn\u2019s front yard.<\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

A nearby nonprofit \u2014 Grow Monrovia<\/a> \u2014 gave me an estimate to remove my lawn, design a new drought-tolerant landscape, buy the plants and mulch and perform the work. But being an avid DIY homeowner (and a cheapskate), I opted to do the work myself and pay Grow Monrovia for the supplies only. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing like an extensive landscaping project to draw a procession of critics and commentators. As I toiled on my front yard project over several weekends, a parade of neighbors and friends stopped by to unload nuggets of advice. (Curiously, not one offered to help.) <\/p>\n

The most popular topic my walk-by pundits wanted to cover was how best to kill my lawn and keep the blades from springing back. <\/p>\n

Friends who live nearby advised me to cover my lawn with a layer of cardboard, topped with three inches of mulch.<\/p>\n

But a neighbor who saw me laying down sheets of cardboard on top of my existing lawn had other thoughts. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to work,\u201d he said, while eyeing my work. \u201cYou have to rent a tiller and dig up the grass first.\u201d<\/p>\n

A college friend who runs a landscaping company offered an additional idea: \u201cDig it up and then lay down herbicide,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But my yard is often visited by wild rabbits and deer, so potentially harmful chemical agents were out of the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cRent a sod cutter,\u201d another neighbor suggested, referring to a mower-type machine that slices out an 18-inch row of lawn as it plows along my yard.<\/p>\n

In the end, I rejected the idea of renting equipment (again, I\u2019m a cheapskate) and went with an old-fashioned pick ax to dig up my lawn. I added a layer of cardboard (filched from nearby dumpsters) and mulch on top. A few truckloads of river rock provided the material to build a dry riverbed that cut diagonally across my yard.<\/p>\n

Will remnants of my buried lawn come back to life? Probably. I imagine myself, in the warmth of spring, doubled over, plucking shoots of grass emerging from the river rock, only to hear some passing neighbor call out: \u201cYou know, there\u2019s a better way of doing that!\u201d <\/p>\n

You’re reading the Essential California newsletter The week\u2019s biggest stories \"A <\/a> <\/p>\n

A pedestrian carries an umbrella in Long Beach on Jan. 2.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

California hits a major climate milestone<\/p>\n