the country gardener

Steve, I am blown away. This is incredibly well done. Bravo!

Well done! For someone with that strong an aversion to turf, you put it very well! I'm defensive about lawns because the anti-sod retoric is really winding up, and I still see appropriate use for it occassionally. My expression is, "you can't play catch in a cabbage patch." So, I agree with everything you wrote, but you left a pair of really important options off the list, bioswales and rain gardens. If people are going to continue to pour water on their property - and let's face it, they are - the addition of a bioswale or raingarden provides a means of collecting it onsite and letting it soak back in to the ground instead of down the drain.