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In the 43rd installment and part three of flipping your grass into a beautiful water-wise garden, I discuss the perfect plants to grow. for either a personal garden lawn or community garden. Prepping Your Area But first, before planting your garden, design it. Do you want tall plants intermingled with smaller plants, all tall plants, all small ones, or a cascading effect of tall, smaller, and small? Install the water system. Even though you will grow drought-tolerant plants, you still need to establish them first, which takes regular watering. Drip systems work well for this because they allow you to meter the watering, thus ensuring the correct amount of water at the right time. Next, are you putting in rock, gravel, or dirt? Any substrate has advantages and disadvantages. Now, onto the good stuff. Here are tried and true plants to grow in your garden. The Right Plants for Flipping Your Grass 🌵 Cactus plants (of which there are many) take very little water and repel many pests due to their sharp stickers. 🏵 Yarrow is a great addition to any drought-resistance garden. Multiple bushy flowers are on each sturdy stem in beautiful colors, including red, purple, peach, yellow, and white, with different shades of those colors. 🌻 Sunflowers can make a rock garden shine and make a bold statement. Small and mammoth sunflowers can be used as a backdrop or centerpieces. 🌿 Aloe doesn't need much water, and it's medicinal. Have a sunburn or mosquito bite? Aloe vera helps to calm the itch and pain. 🌼 Rockrose has a perfume aroma and displays large, papery flowers. It is fast-growing, loves the sun, and doesn't need much water to thrive. 🏵 Brittlebrush is a bush teeming with yellow daises that need minimal watering and offer a bright addition to a water-wise garden. 🌸 Crape Myrtle puts on quite a show in summer with gorgeous, showy blossoms that linger into fall. The beautiful, dark bark contrasts with bright pinks, purples, reds, and snow-white flowers. 🌼 Bougainvillea provides an instant tropical feel to your garden. It features vibrant, often vining blooms that peak in summer and bloom from early spring to late fall in milder climates. 🏵 Marigolds, with their strong, aromatic scent and mustard blooms, do quite well in a water-wise garden. The bonus is that they keep away nasty pests, so your plants stay healthy without being food to unwanted insects. This is a small sample of plants that do well in deserts or without much water. Do you have a water-wise garden? Post your pics below! Happy Gardening!! Hi, I'm Julia Nielsen, your guru gardener of 30 years. I have grown over 500 species of plants and add to my collection yearly. I'm on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/julianielsen  so please check out my posts - like, comment, share, and hit the 🔔  for notifications. Enjoy gardening & murder mysteries; consider joining my newsletter, Musings & Mysteries. Visit my website, Jewels Writes and IG @hotmamagard

In Part One, I went into steps to kill grass in preparation for removing it for a garden.  In Part Two of the 42nd installment of Gardening Tips & Tricks, I will offer steps to cutting or digging out lawns to make way for a rock garden. Flipping Your Lawn: Step One There are several ways to remove grass: tilling, cutting, or digging.  Tilling - Sharp blades break up the soil, including roots, using a high-powered rotating motion. Depending on the time needed, you can rent a tiller to cut up the grass, making it faster and easier on your back. Cutting - A sod cutter is the next best thing if you don't have a tiller. Once you have cut the grass, you can shovel it out. Digging - If you have a small area to be removed, simply get a sharp shovel and dig out the grass. Note that it will take longer but save money. Early fall is the best time to remove a lawn, as it needs to be dry, or late Spring.  Use a sod cutter and a sliding device, such as a sled, thick plastic sheet, garbage can lid, or a contractor's bag, to save money and ensure a smooth, faster, and easier process. If you have a folding garden cart, this is the best, as it lays flat on the ground, allowing you to tip the layers of grass onto it - the cart then transforms into a wheelbarrow for easy disposal.  When you cut up a lawn, you will be removing the soil underneath as well, which makes it easier to dispose of the grass. To use for the garden, shake out the grass on the tarp to catch the dirt, and you can reuse it. This will be about 3-6 inches. TIP: If you have a Home Owner's Association, you may need permission to remove your lawn and flip it into a garden. Also, contact your city so they can mark utility lines with spray paint. Here is the step-by-step guide to removing the grass. 🏡 Slice the grass into vertical sections. When using a sod cutter, slice small sections of grass to make removing it easier. If you plan to transplant the grass to another area, cut slices of about 18 X 18 sections, as they transplant best. 🏡 Tilt the grass on its side. After you have cut the sections, place the blade in the cut. Tilt the tool away from you to give you more leverage to force the sod up.  TIP: Use a trowel as a knife to scrape off excess soil at the bottom of the sod. 🏡 Tip the grass onto the carrying device . When using a sled, tilt the device to the side to match the angle of the grass layer. TIP: To avoid breaking up the grass and reduce mess, slowly tilt down the device flat again. Slide the grass onto the platform.  That's it. Part three will discuss the best rock or dirt garden plants. Happy Gardening!! Hi, I'm Julia Nielsen, your guru gardener of 30 years. I have grown over 500 species of plants and add to my collection yearly. I'm on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/julianielsen so please check out my posts - like, comment, share, and hit the 🔔 for notifications. Enjoy gardening & murder mysteries, consider joining my newsletter, Musings & Mysteries. Visit my website, Jewels Writes and IG @hotmamagardener