How much lawn care do you do?

[DayDreaming]

Inspired by the recent thread on lawn care, I'm wondering how many take a more hands-off approach to their lawn.

Personally, I have never watered, fertilized, or applied any weed-killer to my lawn and I've always felt that it looks just fine. I don't mind dandelions or violets in the lawn, I actually think it looks nice. If there's a dry spell and the lawn turns brown, that's fine with me, it means no mowing for a while, and it will turn green again when the weather changes.

Okay, I'll admit that part of this might be my laziness, but I've also become aware of the environmental impact of traditional lawn care and I prefer to take a more environmentally sound approach to everything in my yard.

So, not being judgemental, I am curious where others fall on the spectrum of lawn care. If you pay someone to do your lawn, answer as to how you tell your lawn people to maintain your lawn.

 

[sengsational]

I put minimal. In the spring it looks nice without doing anything. If I put pre emergent on, it doesn't get as raggedy looking quite as quickly. This spring, I didn't get pre emergent on, and it's looking pretty raggedy. We're really too hot here for fescue and not hot enough for warm climate lawns, so no good solutions (without watering, and that's a non-starter).

 

[statsman]

I mowed and edged the lawns last summer when we first moved into our new house. One Central Texas summer was enough to convince me to get a mowing service. Actually, 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. It is one of my few allergies.

We have Bermuda grass (yuck!), as planted by the builder and throughout the neighborhood. The intense summer heat reduces new growth on the grass substantially. As such, we normally have the lawns mowed and edged every two weeks.

We have a separate service perform a yearly schedule of weed & feed, along with any other needed lawn treatments. Weeds will overtake lawns here in a season if you don't keep up with the maintenance. In some neighborhoods, it appears many have opted to just mow the weeds and whatever grass might be growing in their lawns.

 

[Ronstar]

I routinely water, pumping from the lake in our back yard. I mow at least twice a week. Mow approximately half acre of a 5 acre mostly wooded lot.
I use Scott's 4 part fertilizer/weed killer program via spreader. And I'm going to do another series of spray applications in the fall to take out creeping charlie.
I put down 14 cubic yards of hardwood mulch in planting beds every couple of years. Probably going to hire this out in the future.

Lawn looks great in the spring and fall, but doesn't look as good in the heat of summer.

 

[Midpack]

I water weekly unless rain does it for me, and I put down organic fertilizer (every 6 weeks), pre and post emergent weed killers, insect control, various soil amendments, and core aerate annually. I do not have the best lawn in the neighborhood, and that’s not my goal - I’m not interested in spending even more time & money.

That said, I know letting the lawn go natural would be far better for the environment, and I hope that becomes preferable some day...

 

[jcretire77]

Too much.

 

[aaronc879]

I put hands-off but I did have a service come and do weed and feed in 2017 and will probably do it again next year since the weeds are getting a bit bad. I never water the lawn and I mow it myself and as little as possible. I'm not picky about my lawn I just don't want a lot of weeds.

 

[ransil]

I weed whacked once this year.

 

[REWahoo]

My "lawn" is completely natural, consisting of wildflowers in the spring and weeds thereafter. I mow the wildflowers after they've gone to seed in May and I will mow again a couple of times a year, maybe more if we get above average rainfall.

 

[Lakedog]

Hands off but do pay to have a couple of acres around the house mowed biweekly. I am ok with a mix of grass/weeds as it looks fine with frequent mowings. Another 2 acres or so is bush-hogged once every 5-6 weeks. The only watering I do is for several trees planted back in the spring.

 

[Walt34]

I do like to have a nice lawn but I'm not going to go crazy or work myself too hard trying to achieve it. That's why I took the time to reeducate myself by reading a bunch of books on lawn care recently. I wanted to see what changes had been going on since the last time I did that (not many) and I knew that timing in applications is important - "work smarter, not harder" is very appropriate in this case. Walking around the yard with a broadcast spreader and then washing it off takes about 30-40 minutes three or four times a year, not too much time in my view to spend on that. The mowing I actually like, it's kind of a "zen" thing for me, I can let my mind wander a bit, where I can do something that shows immediate results that we both like, and it really isn't all that much work unless it's 95° and usually by then the grass is dormant anyway.

One thing I learned from the books was that if you're very concerned about using chemicals, corn gluten meal is a preemergent weed killer but it is both more expensive and timing of application is critical for success, and may take two years for full effect. It is also a nitrogen fertilizer.

A couple of months ago I started mowing again myself, in part because I'm better now after some health issues, and I fired Trugreen in part because a soil analysis showed they were grossly overfertilizing, especially phosphorous and there's a creek right in our back yard that is of course part of the feed into Chesapeake Bay. The soil analysis reading was literally "off the chart" on phosphorous and I hadn't put down any fertilizer at all for at least eight years so I put that squarely on Trugreen. I'm not a fanatic about that kind of thing but I don't want to knowingly contribute to the problem either. Not to mention that I can do a "full service" fertilizer program for half what they charge. This year and most of next I can do fine with small amounts of nitrogen (which you can buy by itself) and I'll try some Ironite this fall too to address some other micronutrient shortages.

So I'll fertilize the lawn, and put down weed killer either by spot treating, or the whole lawn when called for but not as a matter of routine - I'll wait until I see a few dandelions before I bring out the chemicals and then just spot treat first. Even the Scott's Lawns book, published by the fertilizer/seed company, emphasizes that when it comes to fertilizer, just because some is good "more is not better".

I don't bother watering, we tried that once and all I got for my trouble was a $250 water bill. I saw no difference at all in the lawn.

A story: At our old house one of the neighbors a few doors up was an avid environmentalist. While out for a walk one day she took the time to congratulate me on my concern for the environment when she saw me using a small pressure sprayer to spot treat for weeds. What she didn't know was that the reason I was spot treating instead of spraying the whole lawn was that the weed killer stuff was expensive, I was on a tight budget, and I was merely being frugal in trying to use the stuff only when and where needed. Free time spot treat I had. Money to blow on weed killer where unnecessary I did not. At the time environmental concerns never entered my head.

On youtube this guy is an acknowledged "lawn care nut". His videos are interesting to take what is useful and you can go as far as you want to on lawn care. He must have a pretty well-paying job to pay for all that expensive gear he buys!

 

[Midpack]

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.

 

[Dash man]

I hire out all the mowing, trimming, fertilizing, pest control and pruning. I don’t water since we usually get enough rain. If it turns brown, it’ll come back. I occasionally do some weed control in the beds if it gets out of hand. Since my back and neck problems began, I really haven’t had a choice but paying others to do it.

 

[Koolau]

Only our last actual house required much lawn maintenance. An older residence had to be mowed, but since we had no neighbors, I never watered or fed (why pour gas on a fire, right?)

But that last house was in a modestly snooty neighborhood where folks noticed dandelions in your yard. I hated every minute of lawn work and resented every penny I spent on it. So I resolved NEVER again to own a place that required lawn car (from me, that is.) Since, we've lived in rentals or Condos. HOA dues are high - especially in Paradise - but I never have to do lawn work again! Well worth it. YMMV

 

[38Chevy454]

I have little over 2 acres of lawn that I mow and take care of. With such a large area, it gets the minimum to stay looking good, option 2 in the poll.

 

[stepford]

Tired of my lawn so I'm kind of just letting it die by benign neglect. Going with drought tolerant native plants next time.

 

[rk911]

none. didn't vote as my option isn't there. we have a lawn service that takes care of everything...cutting, seeding, fall and spring cleanups, etc. i just program the lawn sprinklers. i hire out tree pruning as needed...we're on a heavily wooded lot. even gave up blowing snow...we have hired that out as well.

 

[dfarr]

I fill the gas cans and keep the lawn tractor topped off. My wife mows our 1 1/2 acres twice a week. She enjoys mowing and I try to keep her happy. If it rains it grows, if it doesn't I save a few $ on gas.

 

[Cobra9777]

I answered #2, minimum. But the real answer is, "it's complicated."

We have a 2.2 acre lot. The part I mow is about 1.5 acres. There's no HOA. It's an older, very spread-out neighborhood with lots of trees, big lots, big houses, and mostly older homeowners. Some lawns are meticulously maintained by lawncare professionals and some are like a natural forest. Most, like mine, are somewhere in between.

Our front yard is dense with post oaks. The "grass" is ~85% monkey grass that I cut around 4 inches. There are a few surviving patches of fescue and St Augustine from ambitious homeowners decades ago. Weeds don't grow in the dense shade. I only water the front when absolutely necessary. The monkey grass rarely needs any. And the post oaks don't like a lot of water. So usually just once every 10 days or so in July and August. I mow the front around 6-7 times per year. One of those is just to grind up all the post oak leaves around Christmas. Never fertilize. Weed-whack and blow maybe 2 or 3 times per year.

The back is a different story. It's 90% thick, lush St Augustine, with fewer trees. We irrigate by pumping from a lake in the back. I mow every 5 or 6 days in the summer. A bit less in Fall and Spring. I fertilize once per year in the fall with a slow-release 3-1-2. Never need any weed or bug stuff. I weed-whack and blow every 3rd or 4th time I mow.

We keep the back nice because that's where we spend our time... in the pool, on the deck, patio, watching the ducks and geese on the lake, while drinking coffee in the morning. We maintain the front just enough that it's not an eyesore in the neighborhood. There's really not much we can do in the front without removing a bunch of trees first... and we're not willing to do that.

 

[davebarnes]

We are the lawn service for our lawn and our duplex neighbors.
They pay us $10/week.
We fertilize, mow, use limited amounts of weed killer, and insecticide.
But, living in Denver, both sides water a lot.
We use a Rachio controller and the use a smart Rainbird.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I am lazy, and my lawn used to grow quickly. I finally settled on Roundup 365 twice a year.

 

[RobbieB]

Lawns? We don't need no stinkin' lawns.

 

[Bamaman]

My neighbors all have yards that look like golf course greens, so they force me to take better care of my yard than I'd like to do.

I put down 1800 square ft. of sod 2 weeks ago. Now I'm having to manually pick out nut grass and weeds growing up through it.

 

[sturbridge]

I fertilize (organic) in the fall when I remember. All my energy goes to various gardens and not my lawn.

 

[splitwdw]

none. didn't vote as my option isn't there. we have a lawn service that takes care of everything...cutting, seeding, fall and spring cleanups, etc. i just program the lawn sprinklers. i hire out tree pruning as needed...we're on a heavily wooded lot. even gave up blowing snow...we have hired that out as well.

Yes you can vote, go back and read the last sentence in the OP's post.