I’m in a bit of a bind. My lawn is clay soil and turns into a slip and slide nightmare when it rains, the ground takes a while to absorb the excess water because it is so. dry. I’m highly against grass lawns in my area because they need an extreme amount of water. I’ve been letting whatever grow, but I need ground cover.
Issue? My area has a lot of feral cats and I’m the only person caring for them. I have young kittens, old senior cats, and all cats in between in my yard. I’m working on tnr and sterilization, as well as getting the kittens adopted, no advice needed there! I want native ground cover but I don’t want it to be too toxic to cats. I’m also disabled so high maintenance is not an option either.
Ideally i’d like something that stays somewhat short, and that I can just throw the seeds down and let it grow. I don’t own a lawn mower. If my situation is too highly specific for any one solution, I’m open to pretty much any advice that doesn’t involve water guzzling grass.
by Low_Wish_8469
11 Comments
I’m also totally down for throwing wildflower seeds on the edges of my yard where the cats don’t really go! They like the taller plants and I love seeing butterflies. I especially love seeing monarch butterflies since I’m in their migration zone.
SE new mexico isn’t exactly known for its dense vegetation or groundcover. I think your best bet is a hardscape solution like a patio for usable outdoor space and planting native vegetation as a landscaped feature.
Cacti to keep the cats away? I’m not from your area but maybe there are succulent ground covers that could work
Edit: I meant, keep them away from areas that aren’t safe for them or where you want to keep safe from them
Hi from Central Texas! Check out Native American Seed. They sell mixes made for harsh Texas conditions and degraded soils including out in west Texas near you. I think the [Western Rangeland Mix](https://seedsource.com/western-rangeland-mix/)could be a good fit. The [scorched earth recovery mix](https://seedsource.com/scorched-earth-recovery-mix/) could also be good.
Catmint. It isn’t short but it is profuse and the cats will love it. Try some natives prairie grasses, again, not short unless you mow it, but resilient and meant to be there. Some native flowers also. You can also grade it so the water washes away and doesn’t sit, but native anythings are going to be your best bet and as much soil amendment as possible, maybe a massive chip drop to start? (Usually free!)
Purslane is a good native groundcover that requires 0 water. I also recommend buffalo grass and blue grama. Both extremely drought resistant once established but blue grama won’t have that low lawn kinda vibe when full size. Outdoor cats are extremely detrimental to your environment and I suggest…not feeding them… however if you want to continue to bend the land around their needs thats up to you.
Buffalo grass
Blue gramma
https://www.npsnm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CNM-Gardens-2017-11-28.pdf
Pretty useful guide here.
Catnip would love those conditions!!
The slip & slides happen when there isn’t organic matter in the soil holding it together. Try something native to your location, one that creates organic matter, drought tolerant yet vigorous, drops enough seeds to resprout and expand into a colony.
Try the Evening Primrose, Oenothera speciosa. That is my suggestion. It won’t kill your cats. One can walk on it and it won’t hurt anything. It grows to about 2′ high under optimal conditions, but at your location it won’t get that tall.
I live in the Southeast but I purchased mine from Etsy, someone out of Joshua Tree, CA (in the high Mojave Desert) and they shipped them to me. 5 roots for $24.00, they said, but they gave me more, about a dozen rootlets. You can also get seeds for $3.00 plus shipping at [Seeds > Wildflowers – Native-Seeds-Search](https://www.nativeseeds.org/collections/wildflowers?page=1&phcursor=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzayI6InBvc2l0aW9uIiwic3YiOjUwLCJkIjoiYiIsInVpZCI6MzU1MzgzMTg3LCJsIjozNSwibyI6MCwiciI6IkNEUCIsInYiOjEsInAiOjF9.AYcv8rcVpgV8PhhWtCjaJJA9E-xVTPoBernJenrGP7M) and see also their articles on how to grow in the Southwest.
Be prepared to water whatever you decide on until it gets established. Save the bathwater, dishwater, laundry water and use them until the rains come.
You just need one native plant that multiplies, nature will do the rest.
Use what leaves you have, instead of raking them aside, rake them to where you walk and plant the seeds/roots and also keep some under the tree and plant some seeds/roots there too.
Don’t bother trying to plant something that isn’t native or proven to your location. It won’t work. Use [2014 BONAP North American Plant Atlas](https://bonap.net/NAPA/Genus/Traditional/County#refO) to ‘weed out’ (pun intended haha) any other suggestions or to get new suggestions.
https://preview.redd.it/ygwm044weulf1.jpeg?width=1468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cbca386019d579f4d622fca127b01737749e5b0
My parents are out in Artesia. They xeriscaped their yard with large flat sandstones (probably 3-5 ft across) to retain moisture and had some grasses grow between them.