Landscaping ideas

[MrsBeatrice]

Hiya all! I live in So Cal, and I'm sure you've heard we're out of water. So, we're going to be replacing our 5k+ square feet of lawn with "drought tolerant landscaping." Oh yeah, sounds easy- throw down some black fabric and mulch and some grasses and lavender and we're set? WRONG. If anyone has ever free-ranged their girls with some mulch, they'll understand my plight. I'm in desperate need of feedback from people that have free ranging ladies. I'm thinking about the different kinds of mulch (shavings, barks, the cheap junk), maybe river rock? Gravel? What about that high-falootin' rubber mulch stuff? Does anyone have this on their property? Do the ladies disturb the rock and gravel or do they avoid it? Here's who we live with: Rhode Island Red (x2), buff orpington, a few silkies (3), lakenvelder, australorp, wyandotte, cochin, speckled sussex. So you can imagine the damage they're able to do..... The reds and the orpington team up to destroy my hard work, and that speckled RUNS across the yards to get to the new plants. Every time. She's a machine.

I was hoping for a cute yard with a pathway, and I think that'd be the lynchpin. I don't want the ladies throwing mulch from the bed into the pathway, since that's just a huge raking disaster. If the consensus is nothing is safe, I'll end up scrapping the path or just making peace with a mulchy/rocky path. Whatever. In the end, they're cuter in the lawn than desert landscaping is anyway. And, yes, they've got a nice fenced-in run, but we all know they prefer to wander and chase bugs.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Mine scratch up EVERYTHING. They dig under pavers until they're unstable and I have to regrade and lay the paver again. I'd go for a REALLY natural look where whatever path material you go for filters into and out of the "bed" naturally.

 

[Ifish]

A buddy of mine lives in Tampa FL. He has chickens, ducks, and dogs. He laid crushed shell over his entire property and it holds up very well. It packs tight so it's easy to walk and drive on, fire resistant, drains water well, and the chickens will still scratch, but just takes a couple minutes to rake it out.. It is by far the most low maintenance yard I have ever seen.