For those of you without lawns, or who don't care what yours looks like, this post will be utterly useless. Um, sorry.
A spring weekend summons the traditional running of the Lawnmower Derby – suburbia's answer to a horse race that offers keeping up with the Joneses as well as making your yard look purty.
As for keeping up with my neighbors when it comes to landscaping, there are a couple of old ladies to the west, and a couple of middle-aged hippies to the east. Both lawns are typically shaved down to nothing, so when the summer oven is on full blast, their grass withers and dies and our St. Weedistine lawn is nice and green (albeit weedy). I'm not one for keeping up appearances, but our yard usually looks tons better than anyone else's on the block. And it's not because of time or money spent on it. There's only one good reason:
Mulching.
Rather than collected grass clippings in bags that fill our landfills with obnoxious black bags of nature (I sound so environmental), my mower spreads the clippings back into the lawn. This provides a free fertilizer for the lawn. As for watering, I typically haven't done much. If any, it's a good soaking once a week. Watering every day makes the roots stay shallow and more reliant on constant watering. We already pay our city's water department too much, so I'm not about to run the sprinkler all day (in fact, it should be done early in the morning to lessen evaporation, but not late at night because that can cause mold and mildew). Mulching mowers don't have to be expensive, but if you have the means, I recommend a Honda or a John Deere because they come in pretty colors, are quiet and reliable (one pull cranks up the Honda).
Here are a few other random lawn tips to make your yard look as good as mine:
1. Have some overgrown trees chopped down. Our yard looks bigger after losing three of them, although we'll probably plant at least one nice one later on.
2. Plant some things around your home's foundation. In Texas, this is a must because the soil shifts and takes foundations with it. Plants promote watering the foundation, which curbs or slows this process.
3. Don't be afraid of flowers. Most of the landscaping in our neighborhood is evergreen shrubs (super snore-inducing!). Think perennials, which need a little maintenance but will come back year after year with care.
4. Trim the trees you have. Get an electrical pole saw (or nonpowered one) and lop off offending limbs. You might also be able to convince your spouse you NEED a chain saw to cut up the limbs once they're off the tree.
5. Mow your lawn often (with a quality mulching mower). Water it once a week. Thumb your nose at neighbors who mow their lawns too short. Or not often enough.
6. Don't buy a leaf blower. They are the dumbest inventions ever invented. All they do is blow grass clippings or leaves into the street. Really, you should have run your mulching mower over your lawn last fall to chop up those leaves (don't bag them!) because they also act as free fertilizer. Use a broom to sweep off your driveway or sidewalk, lazy minions!
7. If it blooms, it's not a weed. Harmful chemicals cost a lot, smell bad and can be dangerous to small children or zoo animals. Remember: dandelions are beautiful, baby! I'm considering designating half our backyard as a wildflower preserve anyway.
8. I have a gas-powered lawn mower, weed trimmer and chainsaw. I've had electric trimmers and they're a pain – our yard's too big for even the longest extension cord I have to reach the back fence area. However, if possible, think environmentally. Me and a co-worker several jobs back even talked about those old-fashioned human-powered rotary mowers (they're not as much fun or as effective as a real mower, though). One tool I found recently that I've been searching for a long time is a rotary edger – rather than a gas- or electric-powered monster to trim along a curb or sidewalk, this is basically a pizza cutter on a long stick. That's $25 vs. $100+ for something loud and fancy. I've gots to haves me ones a those!
9. In the end, it's all just grass. Don't obsess too much over it, or paint your lawn green at midnight. One thing that gets me about both sets of our neighbors is that they spend a lot of time (or money in the case of the old ladies; they use hired hands) on their yards, and then stay inside all day. In the case of the hippies, I know it's to sleep off their Friday and Saturday nights. Still, we try to get out and soak up what suburban nature can be found in our parcel of homestead.
10. Despite No. 9, pride is a renewable natural resource. Have some in your property, and you'll reap the benefits when it comes time to sell it. Yard work can be fun with an attitude adjustment, the right tools and putting it into perspective relative to the rest of your life. It's a chance to be outside, soak up some sun, do some honest work (unless you have a leaf blower – shame on you) and improve your property. Have fun!
Have a good weekend, fellow lawn jockeys!
I thoroughly enjoyed your post! B and I are house-hunting, and hoping to make the transition from condo-dwelling to actually having a lawn to cultivate and maintain. B is particularly excited about this, already telling me about the kinds of sod he wants, the kind of mower he wants, his plans for our future weekends. We live in West Texas, so I can't imageine what it would be like to be the person on the block with teh *worst* lawn, but I imagine it would be pretty embarassing. Have a great weekend!
I think you and my husband went to "lawn school" together. Your list of to dos matches his.
We also have a Mantis, a mini gas powered tiller, which is really great in my garden, and he uses it occassionally on the lawn. Last week, he scratched up the surface of an area that needed seeding in just moments, and spread the seed. It comes in handy for lots if things.
oops pardon the typo. I saw it after hitting the post button Of course, I meant of, not if.
I'm with ya on #7. Are you following in the footsteps of LadyBird Johnson and launching your own campaign to beautify Texas with wildflowers?
mulching. that's like grass cannibalism isn't it ?
it's a grass eat grass world out there.
wanna trade yards? Our's is over an acre, I'll even through in the riding lawn mower.. what da ya say?
hehe... just called my parents this morning, because my live in BF didn't care, but knew my parents would! that my whole block has tons of dandelions in their yards and because I used Scotts we only have 3. Such a joy little yard victories are!
Thanks for the info. We manage to have foundation problems our first summer in North Texas due to lack of watering. I am happy to report though...no leaf blower in this home!
Good advice, all of it. What sticks with me is the neighbours who thought the garden hose was the be-all and end-all of... sidewalk cleaning, I presume. These ladies would come out and spend an hour or more watering their front porch, walkway, hell, even the damned gutter! One hour out front. Then, out back: another hour or more hosing down the back porch and the DRIVEWAY! Why dontcha do the back alley behind the house while you're at it? Well, yes, they did the alleyway behind their houses, too. I stood at my window and prayed to the municipal gods to give us water meters just so's the Rest of Them could finally get a clue.
Meanwhile, I'm out there looking like a babushka with my broom.
Gah, that was my rant for the day.
We - and when I say we, I mean my husband - got the mower out this weekend, had to do a little maintenence (fill up the tires and replace a belt) then away he went! Already the grass needed cutting. And today it's raining... grow baby, grow! We have about 3 acres to mow, and we don't pick it up unless it's really long and starts to look like a hay field. Happy lawn-jockeying! And dandelions are a pain the butt! I disagree with you on that one....
J
matt has become obsessed with the lawn. the other morning he woke up and the first thing he said was "how much do you think one of those seed spreaders cost?" i thought he was still dreaming. it's crazy! i spent 13 hours over the weekend on the yard...digging holes...planting shrubs...mulching...putting screws in the gutters for hanging baskets...prize winners :-)...i am exahusted! it is sooo fun though! i enjoy your appreciation of the great outdoors.
I don't normally like yard work.
Dirt+bugs = unhappy, creeped out Tina
But I did sweep under the deck, collecting up all the old leaves and general crud. I even washed down the screen door.
It felt nice to be out in the sunshine.
My Mom and Dad get this guy to come over and do "lawn maintenance" for them occasionally. When he calls he blurts out to my Mom..."do you need me to come Fert your lawn?" why does that sound so wrong?
We've been doing yard work for the past two months, but the grass was cut for the first time this past weekend. If course we live a lot further north than you.
I might quibble with you about #7 from a garden point of view. There are some freebies I keep in the garden, like Dame's Rocket, but dandelions get the heave-ho. We use the long toothed tool to kill off dandelions in the lawn.
Since I just closed on my house today (woo hoo!!!!) and have not bought a lawn mower yet, your post was very handy. I knew a lot of it, but it was still useful. I won't be doing any landscaping this year because I want to see what's there, what I like and what I don't. I was planning to get a mulching mower because I don't want to deal with clumps or bags of grass.
when can we expect some pics of that purty yard?
In item 8, you mention "those old-fashioned human-powered rotary mowers". Were these fully human powered? If so, could you point me out a reference to them? Thank you.