How did this Sacramento family spend their summer? Inspiring others on local billboards
The Dal Ben family's front garden no longer has lawn, but does have many happy low-water plants. Courtesy Anthony Dal Ben
Ditching the lawn isn’t just for grown-ups; kids like water-wise gardening, too.
The Dal Ben family of East Sacramento all has green thumbs as parents and kids nurture their slice of nature.
“Our front yard has been a labor of love for many years,” says dad Anthony Dal Ben. “The whole family is involved.”
For their efforts, the Dal Ben family were honored by the Regional Water Authority as “Summer Strong Yard Winners” and featured on local billboards. Read more here: https://bewatersmart.info/summer-strong-yard-winners/
The transformation from traditional turf to flower-filled garden started simply:
“We had a lawn we didn’t use,” Dal Ben explains. “It was difficult to mow. At the State Fair, they had a low-water landscape design display. I always looked at that section. Everybody has a lawn. I thought it would be cool NOT to have a lawn.”
As with many people, home ownership prompted Dal Ben to think more about plants. “When I bought a house, I got interested in gardening,” he says. “We rebuilt our entire Craftsman house. We took everything down to the bones. We wanted to make the property look really nice, too.”
Dal Ben, his wife, Maria, and three children – son Bradlee, 11, and daughters Vianna, 9, and Camilla, 5 – became an active gardening family.
“We’re constantly doing something,” says Dal Ben, who also creates videos of their gardening adventures. “It’s been really fun.”
At their home, a funky strip of turf next to the street became a forest of 6-foot sunflowers every summer.
“Sunflowers reseed, so the park strip has been solid sunflowers,” he says. “We have an intense amount of bees; that’s really cool.”
In addition, the garden is studded with lavender, geraniums, two large crape myrtles, hollyhocks, poppies, naturalized bulbs and much more.
“It really looks so beautiful,” says Dal Ben, who works as a maintenance engineer for Sutter Health. “We get so many compliments from neighbors or people walking by. (The garden) gives our yard personality.”
The garden makeover evolved slowly; it’s three years and counting, says Dal Ben, who did all the heavy work himself. All plants were bought at discount, keeping his costs down.
Dal Ben also got big savings on a Rachio smart controller for his new drip irrigation, thanks to the City of Sacramento (his water provider) and the Regional Water Authority.
Taking care of the old lawn wasn’t fun for anyone, he notes. “I’m no longer mowing the lawn! That’s a big time saver. As for water, we’re now all on drip, so there are savings there, too. There’s still work but it’s not bad. We enjoy gardening.”
Dal Ben urges other families to find their inner gardeners and create a yard that reflects their style. “Make it unique, make it your own. Instead of just plain lawn, there are all sorts of cool plants to match your personality.”
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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