AlexKen

Hi, we are building a house near Narbonne and would like a proper lawn but the cost of watering in summer will be high if we have to buy it. One solution is to drill a well - not a 1 m diameter hole but a small diameter pipe ( I imagine say 15 cm). Does anyone have any experience or companies to recommend that do this?

audio

I have a little experience. Our geothermal heating needed two holes about 12cm dia. 75 m deep.Estimate (EURL Le Caignard 56) some years ago was around 39€/per meter depth. I seem to remember that included the pipe.

I have used wells in the US.
Pumps are expensive to replace (normally need a crane) and don’t forget the electricity, they use quite a bit. I cannot offer any true running costs though.

dennerlymum

a neighbour where we used to live sunk a well in his garden. First of all he called in a local water deviner to know where to dig then called in a company who drilled down.. the outlay was fairly significant but was worth it apparently

audio

An alternative for you; I installed a large récupérateur d'eau.
It is fed from rainwater from the house. It’s amazing how much water is collected with just one downpour. All you need is a pump for your sprinkler system.
Cheaper than a well.

Chatter Static

As said before burying a rainwater collection tank would be beneficial....

grannybunz

After more than 20 years of gardening here I have learned to stick with what grows in a particular place. Lawns therefore for us are out on three counts:
Not appropriate, don't want to play croquet or tennis
Too much like hard work
Cost too much in up keep.

We have a well. we on on a natural spring line, in our house garden and two in the potager. They have been there for the last 200+ years. I know that a neighbour who converted a barn and had huge problems with dampness and worse employed a water diviner to establish just where the underground springs were and then had them diverted.

As for drilling them from scratch, afraid i can't help

Pulaski

Wells are common in the US, and my home is supplied from a well as there is no mains supply where I live. Despite wells being very common, the cost of drilling one is high - probably around $8,000 for a shallow well, of say 20m depth, but you pay more as the drill goes deeper, and in some areas you can pay $20,000-$30,000, or more.

In any case we are not allowed to drill a well for extraction where mains water is available, and if we choose to connect to a water main, if one were to be installed, our well would have to be permanently capped/sealed.

I sincerely doubt that a well is an economic choice for you. Collecting rain water is almost certainly what you will want to do.

cyrian

Have you considered artificial grass?
My DD recently installed some:
1. Looks like grass. (modern stuff is much better than before).
2. Clean it with power washer.
3. Doesn't need cutting or weeding or feeding.
It is expensive to install but no ongoing costs.

audio

With all the problems I have had over the years with moles, rabbits, drought and weeds etc. I think you probably have the best solution.

dmu

I was going to suggest this, looking for "sourcier" and, if he finds water, "forage d'eau" in the Pages Jaunes.
But, before starting any work, the OP should enquire at the Mairie as to whether some sort of Permit is required, and also to explain in advance why their lawn will be emerald green despite the water restrictions in the summer!
We aren't far from Narbonne and you don't see many lawns, as such, in the Languedoc. As GB says, most people stick with what grows best in the South.... For watering the essentials, everyone has one or more rainwater collecting tanks (récupérateurs d'eau) which do fill up quickly.

Pulaski

Another thought if you go down the "real grass" route: look to see what sort of drought resistant grass is available. Parts of our lawns are zoysia and centipede grass, which stay green even after weeks of drought, and are also only low/slow growing (I usually mow only every third week).

Zoysia and centipede grasses are very similar, but the centipede is a little softer under bare feet. Both tend to choke-out weeds, and are very low maintenance. They also spread, so naturally cover up any bare patches. I would say they spread at about 18"/50cm year.

The drawbacks of these grasses are that they go straw-brown in the winter (so wouldn't be suitable in the north of France or at higher elevations - they would be brown for half the year) and only turn green again when it gets warm in the spring, and they don't like excessively wet ground or standing water. They also can suffer from patches of "die back", which our front lawn has this year for the first time since we moved here 13 years ago. The natural spreading of the grass should repair the damage before the end of the year.

For the reasons of self repair, drought tolerance, and low maintenance, zoysia and centipede grasses are very popular with golf courses.

This is a picture of the back yard I turfed with zoysia 22 months ago.

AlexKen

Thanks for the replies. The problem with a storage tank is that a 50 m2 lawn needs 1000 Litres per week and it does not rain in the South of France for 2 months so I would need to store 8000 L, which is a rather large tank of 2mx2mx2m. Not impossible but large. The Zoysia grass (suggested by another contributor thanks) needs less water so a combination of a smaller water tank and this type of grass may be a solution.

AlexKen

Thanks for the replies. I had a brief look into artificial grass and the issue seems to be that they need replacing every 5 years under the sun in the South of France and that's for an expensive one.

Pulaski

I have never watered mine after the year I laid the turf, and it is still remarkably green even after two months of negligible rain. If you can find a supply of Zoysia I would lay the turf/ sow seed, making sure it is on a layer of good quality soil with compost/organic matter, and irrigate it for the first year, then see what happens in the second year, because IMO you may not need any irrigation for it.

The centipede grass at the front of my house, which was already there when we moved in, is growing on packed-solid red Carolina clay. If it is moist it has the consistency of candle wax, if it dries out it is like concrete.

This is a picture of the grass in that area taken a couple of years ago:
http://s169.photobucket.com/user/Pul...20_54.jpg.html

The light patches are sun shining through gaps in the trees. I mow, about once every three weeks, from spring to autumn.�
Rake the pine needles off it during the autumn. Full stop. Yes, that means no fertilizer, no reseeding, and no weedkiller.

InVinoVeritas

Artificial grass is guaranteed 10 years and expected to last a good deal longer than that. Although not very common in France it is very popular in southern Spain where the sun is rather stronger.