From my limited experience. I prefer to add grass clippings to my compost when still green/wet. This adds moisture to the pile as well and they are not all matted together. However, I have been *blessed* with an overabundance of grass clippings at times and have not had enough browns to offset them. On those occasions I spread the clippings out no more than 3-4 inches deep and let them dry. When I get sufficient browns, I add the dried grass clippings and wet the whole thing down. As for mulching. I have mulched with grass clippings over the top of newspaper. Very good at keeping weeds down. Not very pretty, but effective. I would be cautious when using grass clippings as mulch around veggies especially if you are not certain about what chemicals may be in the clippings. Now for an interesting story. Years ago (I don't dare say how many) when I was using the newspaper/clipping combination for mulch between rows of sweet corn I found something interesting. I would put newspaper/clippings down each time I mowed the lawn, starting with the first row of corn that was farthest from the house. Each week I'd get a little farther along the row. I never did get all the rows mulched (I planted a lot of corn that year). The stalks on the rows that had been mulched were much taller and healthier looking than the rows that did not get mulched. Ear production was almost double on the mulched rows compared to the unmulched rows. I know corn is a nitrogen hog and I've always thought this had something to do with that. I think it might be interesting to hear some of your opinions on this experience.

If it is repelling water, soapy water can work wonders. Just mix a little soap into a bucket of water and pour over the area. I've bought shredded wood much that repelled water like that and one dump of soapy water cured the problem. I have to say that the lasagna beds that I have made hold moisture better than any other areas of my yard, for years. Then I replenish with compost and organic mulches.I "lasagna-ed" two new tomato beds that we bulit last year. They are mulched with leaves and holding water extremely well. Another suggestion because you said you are new to gardening. Since you live in a hot climate, consider growing plants that are drought tolerant if you're growing flowers. I get frustrated as hell with plants that are water hogs. My established hydrangeas wimp out and wilt every afternoon when the sun hits them around 3. They're just hot, not dry. I kind of wilt then, too. They just have to suck it up and tolerate it. When temps start to drop in the evening they perk right up. I suggest that you get a moisture meter as suggested above. They cost about $5 or $6 at Home Depot. Your plants might be wilting just because they're hot. Or they can wilt and turn yellow from too much water, too. It's easier to kill a plant by over watering than to kill it with too little. Karen

I have a Senna corymbosa that was mislabeled when I got it, so it's much too big for its current spot. I'm considering moving it on the berm to the area where the 'head' of the creek is. I also have a Lindheimer's muhly that I'd like to place next to on that left (east end). The camera makes the whole area all look huge and really long but from the front, what's to the left of it, is the neighbor's driveway/front and what's behind it is my side yard and wooden fence. So there really isn't a field behing it, thought it may appear that way. I also have 2 switch grass 'Prarie Sky' Panicum virgatum that I think I'll put where there is a wedge of grass righ now between the head of the creek and the berm, where the water will funnel in. I think the switch grass will be OK being in the water when it rains hard. DH really likes grass and doesn't want to mulch the berm. For the winter I think I'm going to put a cover crop on it and then next spring we can do the Habiturf. We'll have to edge the front side of the berm to do that to be sure no other grass runs up in there. Then hopefully we can leave the berm unmowed. I am going to plant all of it between the creek and the house and I've already done carboard/mulch over a big portion of it. We've been waiting all this time to get the walk replaced but they finally told us they'll do it next week. So that will help me a lot getting going forward on this. I do have some of the plants that I've picked up on sale, repotted and kept in morning sun only. I'n hoping to have it all prepped and be able to get them in the ground late September/early October. I'll do some more pics after the walk way is finished.

Thanks so much to Wattleblossum for the great inspiration. I'm embracing the rugged beauty of my difficult garden. I too didn't have much of a clue about north or south facing situations before I bought my house. Boy am I aware now. Of course not long after moving in I thought I made the biggest mistake of my life! The living areas were south facing, the front garden where we invisaged a lawn for our 2 year old was shaded by the house 6 months of the year and pretty much no sun reached the rest, the back yard being higher than the house. But great views of the bush from up there. But rather than wallowing in what seemed at the time bad real estate decisions, I now love my garden (always loved the house) and can see that it will be a very interesting and beautiful place to be, if I succeed in nurturing it. Also thanks to Danili for your suggestions. I'm churning through them. I actually planted a boronia a few weeks ago. It lasted about 3 weeks before curling it's toes and disintigrating in front of my eyes! Am a little scared of them now! A