Embracing yard work in retirement

[Jerry1]

There’s no doubt that yard work became much easier after retirement. The mere fact that I could do it at a time of my pleasing, versus trying to cram it in on the weekend or evenings after work made it almost enjoyable. However as time went on and my health decreased, it just got to be too much (I lived on a fully groomed acre). Ended up moving to a condo and miss yard work only a little bit and even then only because it was good for forcing me to get some movement in besides golf one a week. I don’t think I’ll miss raking leaves though. Not at all.

 

[Al18]

Looks good. Just wear long sleeves, gloves and goggles, and avoid the poison ivy. I’ve found there’s usually a little poison ivy mixed in with regular ivy.

 

[ncbill]

More power to the OP.

As the oldest kid I got stuck with all the yard work.

Including maintaining a large side yard where a ~5,000 sqft. house now sits.

So I moved to a townhouse over 20 years ago.

In-laws are struggling with outside maintenance now that they're both in their 80s...

 

[disneysteve]

Looks good. Just wear long sleeves, gloves and goggles, and avoid the poison ivy. I’ve found there’s usually a little poison ivy mixed in with regular ivy.

Yep. I wear a long sleeve t shirt and a pair of gardening sleeves over that which come to my elbow. Then gloves. I haven’t needed googles but I wear glasses. And long pants of course.

 

[disneysteve]

In-laws are struggling with outside maintenance now that they're both in their 80s...

Yeah I don’t know that I’ll be doing it in 20 years but at 61 I’m enjoying it.

 

[Mark1]

I enjoy being outside and doing yard work. As my friend used to say about me "you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy".

 

[disneysteve]

I enjoy being outside and doing yard work. As my friend used to say about me "you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy".

I was born and raised a city boy but I enoy it too in limited quantity. As I said it’s very satisfying to step back and see the immediate results.

 

[sdawson]

Daily yard work is actually great exercise in retirement. It thus has triple benefits. 1) your property looks nicer and is better matintained. 2) You get your daily exercise and dose of outdoor activity 3) you save money by doing it yourself.

For me the key is to treat it as 2). It does not need to be done all at once and become a chore. Rather, it is just part of daily exercise --- one hour a day makes the difference in your yard and your health.

 

[TheWizard]

When we moved this summer from a 2.5 acre lot in Wisconsin to a small xeriscaped lot in Tucson, the mowing all went away. There is still some trimming of native shrubs and making sure the big Saguaro and lime tree get enough water but not much else. Oh, I do have one new yard task: a nightly patrol of the back yard for scorpions with a black light. Found quite a few in the first couple of weeks but rarely now.

What happens to the scorpions you find?

 

[audreyh1]

Over our long hot summer it’s just too hot to do yard work even at sunrise. Thank goodness we have yard maintenance. Over the cooler months we do some maintenance of shrubs and beds. We don’t have a winter, so stuff grows all year.

 

[DJRR]

Embracing yardwork for me = HOA

I cut enough grass back in the day to pay for my college spending and still hate trimming. Can never get that damn wire wrapped correctly around the spool.

 

[Sojourner]

What happens to the scorpions you find?

I was wondering the same thing. We have lots of spiders around here—mostly the big yellow/black garden spiders that spin huge webs—but I just leave them alone to do their thing. I know spiders can and will bite if provoked, but IMHO they do much more good than harm with all the flying bugs they consume.

 

[disneysteve]

Over our long hot summer it’s just too hot to do yard work even at sunrise. Thank goodness we have yard maintenance. Over the cooler months we do some maintenance of shrubs and beds. We don’t have a winter, so stuff grows all year.

I didn't embark on my yard work plan until late August. We'll see what happens next summer. I know from experience that even going out at 8am can be unbearable and going out at 8pm usually results in being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

My thought is that if I stick with it through this fall and next spring, taking a break over the summer won't be so bad because I will have cleaned everything up very well by then. A couple of months of new growth will be easily handled starting in September when the weather breaks.

 

[Koolau]

And this was after I cleared the next section. View attachment 59320

Thanks for sharing.

I love your ground cover. Looks great.

 

[SecretlyFI]

For me it was a cordless reciprocating saw for the branches that are too big to cut with the hand pruning shears.

I need to do a similar clearing of overgrowth on fences. Can you recommend the brand of saw you bought?

 

[disneysteve]

Thanks for sharing.

I love your ground cover. Looks great.

My wife hates it!

She’s upset that I’m focusing on clearing all of the vertical growth. She would much rather I focused on ripping out the ivy. Personally I’m fine with the ivy although it does steadily swallow up more of the yard but we never do anything out there anyway.

My plan is to finish clearing the vertical growth and then start cutting back the ivy a bit. Maybe reclaim 3-4 feet of ground and leave the rest ivy-covered.

 

[disneysteve]

I need to do a similar clearing of overgrowth on fences. Can you recommend the brand of saw you bought?

I got a Bauer from Harbor Freight. I’ve been perfectly satisfied with it. I’ve had it for a few years.

 

[SecretlyFI]

Thank you

 

[Koolau]

My wife hates it!

She’s upset that I’m focusing on clearing all of the vertical growth. She would much rather I focused on ripping out the ivy. Personally I’m fine with the ivy although it does steadily swallow up more of the yard but we never do anything out there anyway.

My plan is to finish clearing the vertical growth and then start cutting back the ivy a bit. Maybe reclaim 3-4 feet of ground and leave the rest ivy-covered.

I think it looks elegant and it's great for the shadier areas.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

wow it looks amazing

 

[Ronstar]

I do yard work now self limited to 4 hours a day. Otherwise I could be doing yard work 24/7. I don’t embrace it, but I do enjoy mowing on my riding mower, and riding around in my Polaris ranger side by side.

 

[JBTX]

You might try an electric mower (no exhaust) and mowing when there is still dew on the grass (less dust)

I have found with an electric mower and leaf blower, both EGO, these tasks seem a little bit easier. No worrying about gasoline or oil, no pull cord cranking, quieter, lighter, no exhaust. The downside is my mower doesn’t quite cut St Augustine grass as well, leaves a few stragglers.

My young adult daughter is even mowing our yard now, she needs the money. Much easier for her to navigate the electric appliances than gas powered. She had never mowed our yard before.

 

[skyking1]

we have always done our own mowing. Sometimes it was not too convenient with the busy schedules and we are not slaves to a manicured environment for that reason.
The new place is different. With 35% of the rainfall, it won't require as much mowing. I will leave most of it as the hardy pasture grass that was there, if it will come back after all the construction abuse. I will have to get a brush hog type mower or hire it done.
We plan on having one small patch of traditional lawn for our dog.
It is a really good gardening climate and I will have to be careful with that slippery slope.
I think we will let the Shasta daisies have more time, next time. They are the dominant life form out here it seems.

 

[disneysteve]

I think it looks elegant and it's great for the shadier areas.

I agree. DW not so much. I think a reasonable compromise, as I said, is to try and cut it back a few feet from the leading edge but leave the rest, which will include the shaded areas closer to the back fence. I'd be good with that. I do share her concern that left untended, it will eventually overtake the yard and even eventually threaten the house though we're years away from that.

wow it looks amazing

Thanks. I'm really liking the transformation. It's a bit of whack-a-mole since stuff keeps growing but I'm definitely clearing it way faster than it grows back.

 

[audreyh1]

At least it’s not kudzu!