Petaluma's Mulch Madness program helps homeowners ditch water-hogging lawns for drought-tolerant gardens

Petaluma is known for its charming downtown, quaint neighborhoods, family-owned shops and strong sense of community. It's also known for an innovative decade-long program known as Mulch Madness.

"I really think it is the way of the future," remarked Barbara Josephine Rolfe or B.J. as she is known to her friends.

Rolfe rents her Petaluma home to her cousin Lyons Filmer and her husband. When they moved in, the front yard was a thirty patchy lawn that no one wanted to water. 

"There is a limit to the amount of water on the planet," noted Filmer.

Filmer then read about an intriguing program run by the city centered around a free turf conversion for qualified residents.

"I thought fantastic. let's do it," she said, chuckling. She asked her cousin who immediately agreed.

The Mulch Madness program involves sheet mulching, a landscape technique that involves layering cardboard, compost or manure, and mulch. It helps build rich healthy soil, prevent weeds, and retain water. During a stormy winter with heavy rains, these landscapes also prevent soil erosion.

They applied and got approved. Their once-dying turf is now a lush, thriving garden blooming with flowers, populated by pollinators, and in very little need of water.

"The transformation that i see has been just phenomenal in a very short amount of time," exclaimed Rolfe.

The program supplies all the equipment plus delivery for free. The city is converting its own lawns and also creating rain gardens, built in depressed areas of the landscape to collect storm water runoff. The gardens filters pollutants as the water soaks into ground, recharging the ground water.

"The goal is to keep as much water on site and to really infiltrate the ground water," explained Lauren Lum, environmental services analyst with the city of Petaluma.

To qualify for the program, you have to be a Petaluma water customer with at least 500 square feet of lawn, and in-ground irrigation which gets converted into drip lines.

"We have been able to convert nearly 2 million square feet of turf which saves nearly 45 million gallons of water every year," said Lum.

This year, Mulch Madness is also supplying free climate-friendly plants.

"When you choose the right plants, like plants that are adapted to your climate, they're not going to take as many resources as plants that are from another region," said Liz Platte-Bermeo, who works with Daily Acts, a Petaluma-based environmental educational nonprofit and a key partner of the Mulch Madness program which runs workshops to teach residents the skills needed to convert their turf and plant their gardens.

One striking example of a Mulch Madness garden can be seen at such garden is found at the Petaluma Regional Library. It is a living, learning landscape that's packed with climate-friendly plants and trees that provide a benefit for all kinds of creatures. The plants include salvias, black lace elderberry, French lavender, coast goldenrod, a fig tree, pomegranate, deer grass, and a phenomenal mulberry tree that was grown from a slip.

"They're nurturing and supporting our local species, our pollinators that are essential to life," Platte-Bermeo said. 

As for the cousins, they're thrilled. 

"The ceanothus is blooming now. I've got woolly bluecurls with their fabulous purple, strong smelling flowers," exclaimed Filmer.

"Every time I see it it's more wonderful," added Rolfe.