How much lawn care do you do?

[mystang52]

I believe it was Einstein who defined insanity as continuing to do the same thing even when it is unsuccessful. I water twice a day during the summer months, daily prior to and after the summer until October. I hire a lawn mowing and lawn treatment service. With all that, my front lawn looks...OK... but my sun-baked back lawn has more than a few bald and brown spots.
It's only been 35 years, so I'm sure at some point I'll get it done right.

 

[statsman]

We're in a HOA in Central Texas, and it's a relatively new housing area (2016-2020), so all of the lawns (Bermuda grass) were planted by the builder. Most people attempted to keep the lawns looking decent, but I wonder how long that will last. I'm starting to see a lot of stressed out lawns, many beginning to have weeds overtake sections and brown spots in others.

It hasn't helped that we're under restricted outdoor watering (now once a week) due to lack of rainfall. It also doesn't help that the houses were built on mainly limestone (and some clay), so the builder just threw a few inches of topsoil in the yards to plant the Bermuda. There is little soil under the grass to hold the roots, moisture, and nutrients.

It takes a lot of effort and money to keep the lawns looking decent in our neighborhood. No one here in the 120+ housing area has a showcase lawn. The model did, as it had something like fescue being watered daily, but the model has been sold and the lawn has died during remodeling to get it ready for the new owners (tear out office in the garage, add a driveway, etc.).

If we were back in California, we could kill the lawn, cover it with mulch/pebbles/rock, and plant shrubs instead. No one would bat an eye, and this was in a nice area of Silicon Valley. We also didn't have a HOA. Most of that area doesn't. I don't think we can get away with that here. You certainly don't want bare ground here. The slope of the properties along with the random thunderstorms (when they happen) would wash out the dirt into mud all over the neighborhood.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I voted do nothing as there was no option for those who pay for a services to do it all for them. Unless one is a masochist, gardening can be tedious at 90* with 75% Humidity. The Majority of our growing season.

 

[sheehs1]

I wasn't sure how to answer this poll. I cut my own grass, do my own minor pruning, and always have. Because the year before, it rained right after putting down weednfeed and I had 1 overseed that did not germinate, I hired True Green for weed killing and fertilizer. I hire someone to do the major pruning of tree limbs and to help mulch. My 3/4 acre takes 30 yards of mulch. For years, I did that myself too. A facet joint strain at C3 neck injury fixed that!

I've been having to cut twice a week this summer since we have had so much rain.

So for me, it's a combination of doing it myself and some help or hiring out some pieces of it.

 

[KarlH]

I don't use any chemical treatments, fertilizers, or weed/bug killers. Our lawn has plenty of dandelions, creeping charlie, and other weeds and has been this way for years. When my father was alive, and came to visit he saw our "lawn" and actually complimented me on it. I pointed out the weeds, and his only response was "its green". I am lucky that we are not in a HOA, but have actually had a neighbor bring by a full yards worth of weed and feed for me which went unused.

I wouldn't say I have extreme opinions about chemicals in the yards, but working as a chemist for years I have a habit of reading the safety data sheets before I apply anything. I learned that our local schools treat with materials that are clearly linked to childhood leukemia, and have noticed that the people applying these chemicals rarely if ever use the personal protective equipment recommended for the work. The one kid in the neighborhood with Leukemia... his father works for a landscape company. All of our storm sewers, and there is one in my back yard, drain into our local lake. Naturally it suffers from weed and algae issues.

I think that the lawn care companies are doing more harm than good, over apply chemicals, and rarely follow safety regulations.

 

[Mark1]

My lawn looks well above average. I fertilize with a chicken manure based blend several times a year; water deeply every 3 days; and mow the grass at a high height setting. I will do a spot treatment with broad leaf weed killer periodically, but not very often. I never use broadcast pesticides. We have lots of birds/wildlife in our yard/property and I don't want to kill the wrong species.

 

[DayDreaming]

I voted do nothing as there was no option for those who pay for a services to do it all for them.

Vote as to how your lawn service people treat the lawn - probably option 2 or 3. Or maybe option 1 if they just cut the lawn and do nothing else.

 

[audreyh1]

We’re between 2 and 3. Say 2.5 We do treat weeds and apply grub control. But we’re not aiming for the lawn to look as good as possible.

 

[pacergal]

Don't water the lawn, only the garden/flowers in the beds. Grass turns brown in the summer, and thats OK, cuts down on the need to mow
Used to use roundup years ago, now use a natural, home made weed killer occasionally for rocky areas. DH spends time pulling up the ground cover that comes up in the yard--it was planted on the hill on the side of the yard before we bought this house and we've been pulling it up for 30 years!! I gave up pulling it several years ago, but DH refuses to give up the fight--lol.

 

[Gumby]

Mine is neither the best lawn on the street, nor the worst. It gets a little brown in August and is not 100% weed free (creeping Charlie is my biggest problem). I mow regularly, fertilize with Milorganite a couple times a year, put down GrubEx in the spring and water when it has been really dry. I do my own leaves in the fall. Considering that it was bare dirt and a zillion maple saplings when we bought the house 28 years ago, I'm satisfied with it.

 

[O2Bfree]

We used to water, but the past few years noticed that watering seems to bring moles into the yard. We haven't watered this year, and the moles haven't been coming up in the grass, though they do poke up in the veggie garden now and then. The neighbors who water have quite a few dirt mounds in their lawns.

I'd be ok with a clover lawn instead of grass. The bees love it! We also have some labrador violet in some places. I think it's kind of pretty and it's also edible. A little bland, but not bad in salads. But I don't like how it spreads everywhere, so we don't let it get too tall and I pull it out of the parts of the yard where it hasn't spread too much yet.

 

[skipro33]

I live in the woods but I keep my yard meticulous. It's a hobby I find relaxing. My lawn is impeccable. This is a side yard. Background left is my wife's she shed, an English Tudor Cottage I built her last summer. On the right is the playground for my grand kids.

Here's a closer photo of DW's shed. Built out of all recycled materials and timbers are salvaged from bark beetle killed pines I had milled. Tin roof from an old dairy barn in Oregon. Windows from a sanitarium out of California. Bricks from old San Francisco building 1800's. Tiny pot belly stove handed down from my grandfather who used it when working for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

 

[Sunset]

Images didn't come though ^^^^^

 

[Sunset]

We are soon going to water our lawn as we've had a drought for 3 weeks, and high temps. The lawn is brown, but we don't want it to die which can happen over 4-6 weeks of drought. It's too much work and expense to replace the lawn (and weeds).

 

[Winemaker]

I do 100% at my home, my mom's, and three rentals.

 

[skipro33]

Images didn't come though ^^^^^

I will try to fix that....


I live in the woods but I keep my yard meticulous. It's a hobby I find relaxing. My lawn is impeccable. This is a side yard. Background left is my wife's she shed, an English Tudor Cottage I built her last summer. On the right is the playground for my grand kids.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7YVskL1mKGrVT5FaA

Here's a closer photo of DW's shed. Built out of all recycled materials and timbers are salvaged from bark beetle killed pines I had milled. Tin roof from an old dairy barn in Oregon. Windows from a sanitarium out of California. Bricks from old San Francisco building 1800's. Tiny pot belly stove handed down from my grandfather who used it when working for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/voby8Ud1JRyb3djc7

 

[Midpack]

^^^ The shed and surrounding area look beautiful, well done!

 

[2017ish]

OK, we have 25 acres. I spray roundup on poison ivy and invasive thistles on the areas that we don't cut by lawnmower (Rotary deck cutting twice a year), and I do a lot of chainsaw work throughout. Given the phrasing of the question, I answered "hands off," as we don't care about weeds in the lawn, and belief that Darwin had it right with respect to survival of grass in the "lawn."

(FWIW, our 4-5 acres of "lawn" can't be seen by any neighbors.)

 

[Dawg52]

I weed and feed(separate applications) in the Spring. Water when needed. So far this year I've only had to water twice. My yard looks nice and healthy.

 

[dadu007]

Pre-emergent weed killer/fertilizer as soon as the ground thaws in the spring (MN). Fall/Winter fertilizer in the fall. Our sprinkler system started leaking about 3 year ago...Never fixed it. Part of my reason is that I lived in AZ the first 40 years of my life and I'm very averse to wasting any water at all! I'll spot water if it looks like it might die (too much work to let go, as someone said above). Some midwesterners overwater horribly...I think in the back of their mind they think the Great Lakes will provide an endless supply. If my city allowed prairied grasses (natural habitat) instead of suburban grasses, I would switch over in a heartbeat. That said, I do like mowing the lawn and hand weeding...meditative for me too...nobody bugging me...I get some of my best thinking and problem solving done while mowing or puttering in the yard.

 

[Rustic23]

Almost 0! DW even writes the check!

 

[HI Bill]

... DW was pleading with me to have someone else do it right after moving in. Part of it is due to me being partly allergic to cut grass.

I, too, am allergic to cut grass. So I use a half-face respirator with air purifying HEPA cartridges. No problem with allergies, then! But it's pretty hot to wear in the summmer time!

 

[Time2]

I do almost zero. My wife spends hours on a little stool with a bucket and a knife she has worn 2" off of digging out weeds over the past 20 years. When I say hours, easily 10 hours a week, often much more. I would just hire a company to spray it and let them make it look good. I have given up and just call it, her therapy. She got a real deal on a zero turn mower about two years ago. After hurricane Michael Home Depot cleared out all their mowers to concentrate on rebuilding supplies. She's very good at maneuvering it around.

 

[meleana]

I wonder who above lives in a neighborhood with an HOA, and who lives in a rural setting? Very different. The poll breakdown above would not fly in a neighborhood with an HOA.

We used to live on 10 1/2 wooded acres- rural. At first we had a large lawn that we seeded and fertilized but a lot of watering wasn’t necessary due to the climate. After many years with our son growing up and leaving home and not needing the play space, I told my husband to let most of it go to meadow. He then just mowed around the perimeter of the house enough to walk around it.

Such a waste of time and money and effort and for what? The weeds were green and look fine mowed down- Especially when you live in the woods.

We even dug out our big bushes and replaced them with dwarf bushes so no need to trim them.

Now that we have downsized, our lot is .012 of an acre! Lol! The HOA takes care of it- not very well I might add,- but we refuse to do more than maybe throw a little seed on the bare spots and we have watered it because we have had an unusually dry spring and summer.

They gave us 4 bushes and a tree and they mulch them. Not doing anything else. This is a community in a tourist area in the Lakes Region of N.H.

 

[rk911]

we are in a regular neighborhood. when we were looking back in 1988 we prefered rural but not much rural near where we were working (suburban chicago) and we refused to even look at housing that was in an HOA. we have a nice, mostly quiet neighborhood.