The MGS Forum

Gardening in mediterranean climates => General Cultivation => Topic started by: John J on August 24, 2015, 07:24:53 AM

Title: What do you think?
Post by: John J on August 24, 2015, 07:24:53 AM
The following photo was taken outside one of the houses in a complex being built by contractors for sale as, mainly, holiday homes. Any comments?
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: oron peri on August 24, 2015, 10:47:33 AM
Looks like the work of Spodoptera littoralis.
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: Fermi on August 24, 2015, 12:35:14 PM
A very poor attempt at an outdoor chessboard?
 ???
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: John J on August 24, 2015, 04:27:05 PM
You may well be correct, Oron, but personally I think it looks more like the work of Gardna pseudoexperta. Even if it were a good idea to create a lawn under the circumstances the way it has been carried out is very amateurish. The quality of the turf looks to be poor and no-one who knew what they were doing would  lay it out in the checkerboard design as pointed out by Fermi. It would not have taken a lot of imagination to create a far more attractive area using drought tolerant planting that would have required less water to maintain.
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: JTh on August 24, 2015, 07:41:18 PM
I hope the contractors' building skills are better than their attempt at gardening, what a waste!
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: Fermi on August 25, 2015, 08:19:27 AM
Quote from: John J on August 24, 2015, 04:27:05 PM
...Gardna pseudoexperta....
;D ;D ;D
Most likely, John,
and as one of my friends liks to say "x" is an unknown quantity and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure!
If they are selling this as a holiday house they obviously have chosen to provide a "quick and easy" lawn regardless of how difficult it would be to maintain in the future and how much better it would've been to put in a xeric or low-water requirement garden of interesting plants,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: What do you think?
Post by: Pauline on August 25, 2015, 10:48:15 AM
An architect here suggested that it would be a good idea to cover our very sloped plot with lawn, and be so much cheaper than re-terracing it. He wasn't best pleased when, having realised he was serious, I told him he had a lot to learn about gardening.

He did manage to persuade our poor neighbours, novice gardeners who installed a (fortunately) small area of lawn complete with automatic watering system. It was on the north side of the house so I suppose it stood a chance. He neglected, however, to tell them how very often it would need cutting. It lasted a year or two, I think.