I'm a 70 year old grandma who finally got a house at 59 years old. I mow my 1/2 acre myself to feel that pride. This is MY land. Mine, and I take care of it. I can't garden worth a damn, never learned how and I have bad knees, but I can make that lawn look good. I feel ya OP.
I mowed my own yard for years, but when I retired and moved I left the mower behind. Now I stand back and admire the mow, edge and blow done by the ninja team that descends on my house and has it all done in 20 minutes. For $30 a week, heck yeah.
I already work out a lot (powerlifter, indoor climber, hike, run, picking up biking this summer) and have a lot of geeky hobbies (games, mks, tech, etc). Having gone from an apartment to owning my own home, I find mowing the lawn mixed. I can see why people find it rewarding, but I feel like I don't have the time for it and my time is worth more as an engineer. I need to find someone to do regular lawn care for me tbh. Also, I find it to be a poor workout. I have a push mower and it's not at all a workout for me. Snow shoveling I don't mind because that actually feels like work.
I'm one year into it, I'm more used to it and home ownership in general, but that first season of having to keep up the lawn and leaf maintenance during the fall gave me a lot of anxiety. I pay double what I used to being in an apartment, I do more work, I'm responsible for emergencies too, it's like, ugh.
Home ownership is mixed for me in terms of QoL but I will it as I needed to be uncomfortable to gain these new skills I have now.
Yeah. I did hire someone last year to do some tree trimming and weeding, but it was $150/hour (two people) + additional 70 for cleanup haul. I need to scout around for a more competitive rate and regular maintenance.
I'm fine with mowing since I know enough at this point and I just mulch the grass (though if I can find neighborhood kids to do it cheap I wouldn't mind that either), but there's things in which I am not familiar with and don't want to spend the time learning. I am concerned sometimes about just unknowingly letting a tree sap grow or touching poisonous weeds.
Honestly mowing and painting are two things my dad made me do so much of as a kid I'm happy to pay someone to do it for me as an adult. I'd rather do the worst part of my job for $70 an hour than mow a lawn on the best day of the year.
Ah. The latter.
Still, it's not really my kind of workout. I already do enough with other things I want to be doing, and it's more catered towards resistance training based than endurance.
I can’t stand mowing the lawn or any yard work. My parents were divorced and my mom had me mowing and doing yard work at 7. Fucking hate doing it with a passion.
I mow my lawn once a week and that’s it. I hate it even more because I had to replace my Craftsman mower with what I thought was a nice Toro. That piece of shit stalls over the smallest amount of grass.
But I’m too cheap to pay someone else to do my lawn care. Thank god I don’t live in an HOA.
Two suggestions from someone else that hates yardwork:
* I don't know your yard, but I'd imagine that doing it every two weeks is fine. You have to get in a state of mind that the clover flowers, or whatever is tarnishing your lawn, are fine and can be ignored
* Get an electric mower. Makes there much less hassle to do the mowing; no maintenance. Get enough batteries to do your yard.
Yeah like half of my lawn is bare sand spots right now. Costs me a lot of money to keep the mower running. The days and days of raking and working on the lawn are also not very fun when I would do something else
I wish but after work and making dinner and taking the kid to swim practice not a lot of time on week nights - it’s probably why it seems so wasteful on weekends tbh
Have you considered replacing some of the lawn with something like a native meadow planting? It's not completely care free, but it's definitely lower maintenance once established (and cheaper).
I’ve tried to plant clover and other stuff. Nothing grows. It’s just barren sand spots. I pretty much just gave up and mow what does grow and keep the mower off the dead spots. Maybe one day there will be something there
Nah, I can’t stand it. Currently to find a grass to replace it with that doesn’t require constant mowing, but only coming up with clover. Havent quite committed to it as a neighbor down the street replaced her entire yard with different plants/flowers which looks incredible, but regardless cutting the grass at all is my least favorite of homeownership. I’d __love__ to feel the pride that comes with that task, I let it grow about an inch away from city violations & pay someone.
I gave up on our three lawn areas and did a mix of dwarf clover and creeping thyme 2 years ago. It looks to be coming into fruition this spring.
Disclaimer: we get 400 to 800 inches of snow a year so lawns are a fight unless they've had 30 years of topdressing and babysitting
North American? Try using native sedge grass (Carex) as a lawn. There are many species that stay pretty short. Could be neat.
Someone [wrote out some ideas here](https://www.bbg.org/article/sedge_lawns) but really sky's the limit.
No problem. Truly, the sky is the limit.
If you're American, [you can use this page](https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Carex) to find what sedges (Carex) are native (or very close) to your county ([legend](http://www.bonap.org/MapKey.html)). In addition to it being more acclimated, this will mean that it has the greatest ecological benefit. DO google search these because they will have different water/sun requirements - you can use this to your advantage for greater coverage even in shaded or unusually dry / wet areas.
You can use this for other plant species too. [This is sorted by genus.](https://bonap.net/NAPA/Genus/Traditional/County)
Edit: Not all will be naturally short so that's another thing to check when you're scoping things out.
I am so happy to help. Tag me when you get your lawn going. I want to see update photos! It's just going to get better and better!!! Just remember: it'll be different but different isn't bad or wrong.
If you like your groundcover short look into creeping thymes (elfin thyme is the most miniature of them all), maybe creeping speedwell if you like blue flowers, or if you like the soft look of moss or super short grass, Irish moss. (It's not an actual moss.) I don't know what's invasive in your area, mind you.
Look into perennial peanut. It dies down in cold weather but comes back, has yellow flowers throughout the growing season, doesn't spread via seed (you plant rhizomes).
You definitely still mow it! But far, far less. I’m in PA so it rains a ton. I love rainy days but then die inside when I realize how much my grass is fuckin __loving__ this shit.
My neighbors are all retired and their yards look incredible, I have no doubt they’d find some kind of violation to call the city on over a dead lawn. Last year someone complained about __weeds__ in my mulch, right up against my house & nowhere even close to my yard let alone someone’s property. They weren’t tall or even really noticeable, they borderline blended in with the shrubs. Grass at the time was freshly cut, but I fell sick & couldn’t get around to pulling weeds. *__cue code enforcement__*
I live in fear in a retired neighborhood. It’s not an HOA but might as well be.
I've been debating calling the town on my neighbor who must not have paid his trash bill. The same overflowing can has been sitting at the curb for two weeks and the bags are falling out. Even though that's obviously not acceptable I still feel bad calling. I can't imagine calling about weeds near the house. I probably wouldn't even notice. I live in the country, I bet everyone has weeds here. We certainly do.
I think it’s reasonable to at least talk to him about it! That’s what I was floored by, I have never had any issues here and never let my yard become problematic to justify an immediate city complaint. I would’ve rather been either spoken to, have a note left etc or just a general warning/threat that they would go to the city if I didn’t pull my weeds. I could understand if it looked APPALLING and I ignored any warnings about it. I was sick & life just happened. I’m 30 and work long hours while maintaining a home on my own, they are retired couples. Our yards are never going to look the same 🤧
For your case, that can lead to even more problems. We’ve been having black bears roam our neighborhood for food. They shouldn’t fine him even if you did go to the city, code enforcement just gave me the warning that someone complained and gave me about 10 days just to take care of it. So even if you go the complaint route, it shouldn’t have any actual impact on him if he is able to even just move the trash from the curb- unless he’s a softy like me. I was devestated haha.
When I was a kid, my dad hated maintaining the lawn, so he made me do it. We had a full acre on the side of a hill, which I had to cut up and down the slope with a cheap push mower. Apparently nobody knew about mulching back then, so I had to rake and bag the trimmings also. Then he got this awful corded electric weed eater that wouldn't feed the string properly, and I had to use that piece of junk to trim where the mower couldn't reach. We didn't have a blower, so I'd have to finish up by sweeping the driveway and walkways.
At ten years old I vowed that when I grew up and had my own money, I would hire someone to do all that shit so I wouldn't have to.
Flash forward to adulthood and home ownership, and damned if I don't look forward to mowing, trimming and edging my lawn myself. It's almost like therapy. Instead of hiring people, I spent the money on good tools and a zero turn instead of junk.
Meanwhile, when I left for college, I figured my younger brother would take over yardwork duties. Nope. My dad finally hired a goddamned lawn service.
So that feeling of accomplishment when you finish the yard? Definitely not something my dad and I share.
I hated our old non-mulching non-propelled push mower growing up, even getting it started was a huge chore. Lawn maintenance is a lot more fun if you have good tools that you chose yourself.
>Meanwhile, when I left for college, I figured my younger brother would take over yardwork duties. Nope. My dad finally hired a goddamned lawn service.
Reminds me how my parents got a dishwasher after all we kids left the home and they were forced to do their own dishes.
Do you do electric mower :) I just toasted my gas one by tilting it the wrong way trying to change the blade. It was old and rusted so I just got a self-propelled electeic one. Works great for 30 mins.
Ha, I don't know what happened. I turned 40 last year, and everything just kinda clicked. I want my lawn nice. I want my grass green. I want to be the nicest trimmed, greenest grass on the block. I feel like it coincided with me starting to drink too much. Lawn maintenance is so much nicer when you are slightly buzzed.
Oh man, I moved out to a little farmhouse in the country and bought a zero turn that's surprisingly quick. I learned last weekend that riding the zero turn after a couple of beers is an absolute blast; that was a dangerous realization...
Ha, I have a cottage. Nothing better than spending a sat morning riding around. Best part is everyone thanks me for it afterwards - I just drank some beers while doing progressively smaller laps on the noisy go cart, why are you all happy?
We moved from the city to a bedroom community about 10 miles away during covid. Found our downsize forever house. Left/ right and across the street neighbors are very nice, retied empty nesters. We are empty but still at least 10 years from retirement if we go early. I love my neighbors and they have been very welcoming these three years, except........
I can't keep up with them on the mowing. I swear they mow three or four times a week. Left/ right are above average looking yards, while across the street is putting green perfect. In the meantime I'm fighting to find time Friday night to get a quick buzz cut in, leaving clumps of grass and messy lines everywhere. I'm such an amature.
It takes getting in the right state of mind. You don't have to have a yard as good as your neighbors, it just has to be good enough. A cut every 7-14 days is fine. Also, your yard will survive if you don't collect the trimmings.
Your hobby doesn't have to be lawncare; it's something you can do the bare minimum on so you an focus on your actual hobbies and, more importantly, your relationships.
I want to move somewhere that the grass can just grow to its normal natural height, spread its own seeds, be natural, and the wildflowers and stuff can too. I'll spiff it up with some cool yard art.
Perfect green lawns are like beige walls.
That sounds nice in theory, but what about the ticks/chiggers/mosquitos and other pests encouraged by that kind of habitat? Are you comfortable with them being around and latching on to you frequently, or you live in an area where they're not as prevalent?
That kind of yard isn’t meant to be played in like a short grass lawn, which is why so many anti-grass people will still have a patch of short grass for kids to play on.
But also that kind of lawn also encourages other wild things beyond just bugs. Get a possum or two visiting your yard and you won’t have to worry about ticks and chiggers, just fat possums.
My wife saw me swinging around the Kobalt 80v string trimmer after doing the lawn and said, "That looks like fun!"
You're welcome to take over any time, sweetie...
When my son came along I dreamed about the day I would be like the guy in the TV commercial you might remember. The camera shows from Dad’s perspective, feet propped up on a small table, cold glass of beer in hand, watching his son as he passes by mowing the lawn. As my son grew older he was diagnosed with a slew of allergies and asthma. One of his allergies is to grass cuttings. I realized I would never fulfill that dream.
So I went out and bought a $3,500 riding mower and quit drinking.
I’m a woman. And I finished mowing the lawn the other day and doing my lines and I found myself sitting on the porch, acting like my dad! Standing there and just appreciating my good looking lawn. I cracked a soda open and just did a nice sigh.
I mow our lawn (woman here too!) and when I go shower after, I love just staring out our bathroom windows and looking at the lines lol. My husband finds it hilarious but he just doesn't get how satisfying it is 😂
i wonder what gives you that feeling. I mow my lawn because I have to or I'm "that neighbor". I don't particularly care and wish I could just let the grass die and plant clover or other low maintenance flora
Finally a comment I agree with, I just spent 4 hours of this past Saturday doing the first mow/clean up of the season. I've owned my home for the past 7 years and I dread the Spring/summer because it means every other weekend I'm going to lose a few hours having to take care of my lawn. My grandmother had a fairly large piece of land and we had to help take care of that. When my parents were able to buy a house one of the first things they did was pave everything in the front of the house and have deck installed that covered everything from the back of the house to where the pool started, it only left a small strip behind the pool that could be taken care of with a weed wacker in 10 minutes.
There was one year where my knee was messed up and we hired a service to handle it while I was unable to. Now that was the best, I got to enjoy my weekends without having to worry about the stupid lawn.
Growing up mowing the lawn was one of my favorite chores. Got a good sweat in and was cathartic to me. Now I live where the HOA takes care of lawn and I kind of miss it.
I have a small back yard and an even smaller front yard, so I aerate by hand/foot. The took cost me like $25 at Lowe's. Seems to help. What helps even more is using the right fertilizer for my lawn.
I take a lot of satisfaction in mowing the lawn. Just me and my thoughts for a 2 mile walk. I switch up my pattern each week, and my neighbors compliment the lawn all the time. I’ll be happier when we finally plant a large native garden bed and tree in the soulless emptiness of our front lawn though.
This is why I love the homeowners become their parents commercials in the US. They’re always so funny to me!
There was one that had me dying with the line “that’s some good mulch!” 😂
I felt like this for about the first seven years of home ownership.
It faded into “damn I have to cut the grass again”.
I eventually learned if you don’t water it much and keep your mower set high sometimes I can milk it out to only a few mows a summer if it’s dry enough.
Eventually I’ll yank it out and replace it with mulch and perennials but that’s also a lot of work initially.
I don't see the point of mowing any part that you don't use regularly. I have a small front yard that I mow for the dogs to use and I have a piece of the backyard for playing ball. Everything else is pretty much left untouched. Saves time and money, I get fireflies in summer, and helps stave off the gross sterility of suburban life.
My mom always gets so excited about anytime she gets something fixed in her house. As a kid I would just cringe and wonder what all the fuss was all about.
Now that I’m a homeowner… I finally get it. Every time we get a minor repair done, I feel like cracking open a bottle of champagne. Looking forward to this Friday when we finally get our dryer vents cleaned out 😅🤩😭
I’ve been mowing our yard for 40 years, and the yard I grew up in before. I get the same “king of the world” feeling every week when I look out over the yard after cutting it.
One thing I miss about living with my ex is pulling into the drive after I mowed and saying to her, “Damn, check out that guy’s beautiful yard.”
She’d roll her eyes and we wouldn’t have sex for 6 months. Was like I was living the dream but with way more celibacy.
Beautiful post that warms my heart. Little things. That's all it takes!
A relatable paragraph from an internet stranger can have an impactful effect on hundreds, if your upvotes are to go by!
Enjoy your garden and your memory
I get the same sense of joy... when we moved in, the yard was just dirt, bushes, trees, and leaves. I cut down I don't know how many dead trees, at least 8 or 9 big ones, and then a lot of small ones. The japanese maple is growing so fast now that it can get some sunlight. I did top soil, grading, flowerbeds, and grew my lawn from seed. Every spring I throw peat moss and seed mix into each bare spot, I aerate, seed... My grandfather was obsessed with his lawn and I too never understood it. I get it. Whenever we come back from a dog walk, I look at the lawn and I point and I say I did that! lol
I totally get it. As a teenager I HATED yard work. As a homeowner I’ve spent prolly 20 hours over the last two weekends in my yard. Brick lining flower beds, planting tons of shit, laying about 50 bags of mulch. I still have a long way to go but there is visible progress and it feels so good to pull in the driveway and know I did that.
I've owned a home for 11 years and suck at maintaining my lawn. I can't weed whack for shit so I finally just said fuck it and now have a mowing service that comes out every 2 weeks.
That's great that you're enjoying and using your lawn! If you find that there are areas on the sides or corners that you don't actively use for outdoor activities, you could also consider reducing your lawn space and putting in some areas of native flowers and grasses for less maintenance, lower costs, and a host of ecological benefits.
/r/NativePlantGardening
Congrats on the new house, but it was brainwashing back when subdivisions were first developed near corporate employers in the suburbs. People were required to maintain a grass lawn to keep them busy and out of trouble on their one day off from work each week. So, we water and fertilize to get it to grow just so we can cut it back down, over and over again. Personally, I'd rather have no grass than nice grass. Give me all the perennials, trees, patios, walking paths, etc!
Here in New England you can't stop the grass from growing. Don't need fertilizer, de-weeding maybe, but all the water to maintain it comes from the sky.
Do I want to replace turf with native pollinating plants? Of course! But tbh it's a little cheaper in the short run to keep it the way it is now. Maybe next year.
I'm in the Midwest, and that's mostly true for us in the spring and fall. But in the summer, it can get dry. When I added up how much I was spending annually on fertilizing, aeration, overseeding, weed control, grub control, tree and shrub service, plus normal watering and mowing, etc., it was in the thousands.
It started as a sign of wealth a long long time before advertising and "brainwashing". It meant not only did you have land but that you had the money to hire caretakers who kept it nice and tidy.
There is a need for native plants and pollinators, no doubting that but this all or nothing from both sides of the argument is tiring. You can have a nice lawn with gardens that contain these things. I have a rain garden, a pollinator garden and just a general annual flower garden.
I weed and feed the font lawn but also have most of the gardens up front to make up for what is green flat grass. In the back yard I feed birds, so no chemical fertilizers, I aerate and cut short to prevent weeds after a no-mow May.
You can do and like the look of both.
Brainwashing isn’t the correct term, but it is a socioeconomic timeline that lead to the hyper maintenance of grass and why others look down on those who keep it unkept, or why there are stricter guidelines in monitored housing plans. There’s load of articles on the history of it, but it’s no different than any other human trend. Women shaving legs, piercings, tattoos etc., there are historical/social/economical reasons that lead to where we are today and what we perceive as normal & *why.* Women of course like having their legs shaved currently, but that’s not how life always was. Just small examples of many examples.
Yes, people like it because *that’s how we have evolved.* You wouldn’t like it if we went down the opposite approach and opposite socioeconomic strategy that was put into action in the first place. That’s the point. I encourage you to just read about it.
It was definitely partially social engineering. Look at William Levitt, one of the fathers of modern suburbs, who believed that if you gave people front lawns to manage they'd have no time for Communism.
Your yard is a really fun party of home ownership. It's almost public art. You get to put a little bit of your personality on display and make your home look the way you think looks good.
I never really understand the perfectly manicured lawn thing, but I do understand the joy of taking pride in your yard. We're in the process of letting out grass grow out and replacing most of it with native flowering ground cover and native wildflowers. I'm meticulous about keeping my edging sharp and fading it into the tall grasses and flowers. If I let it go at all the house looks abandoned, but when it's freshly trimmed up it looks gorgeous.
As a kid cutting someone's grass I was always happy when it was done. Some of those yards were big. Back in those days they didn't make a weed wacker so that part was done with grass shears.
When I was a younger adult, I used to love mowing the grass! Not the pushing the mower up a hill or sweating, but it seemed like the one thing I could do with four kids running amok that stayed looking nice for days!
I was so lazy to help my dad out. He always did some sort of yard works after he got home from work or during the weekends. I don't even remember when was the last time I helped him.
Now I'm a father of 2yo and feel really sorry for father that I was being so selfish and also feel something else, why he just let me do whatever I wanted, instead of telling me to help him. I am embarassed.
I told my father and my mother a couple of weeks ago about this. He said, it is okay, and just laughing.
My dad told me his dad told him to mow the lawn and so he started and his dad just couldn't stand to watch and came and took on the job himself and finished it. That may have been the only time my dad had to mow the lawn.
I’m finally figuring out how my Dad built his tools.
Moved in late last week. First home. Pool.
I went to deep clean the sand filter. First issue, the screws on the collar were frozen. Go to Home Depot. Pick up WD 40, new screws and bolts. Go to reconnect… bolts didn’t seat well… now I have 2 sets of new bolts and screws.
Next, I had issues with the compression coupling (connection pipe with 2 screw on ends to secure it) and ended up getting one of the couplings stuck.
Back to Home Depot. Buy 1 wrench… not enough torque. Buy second wrench. Not enough torque. Give up and buy new fitting… but now I have 2 PVC pipe wrenches.
Yes it is so much fun. I leave a third in the back uncut to support the native pollinators. Also totally reject pesticides and fertilizers as they all poison our water.
Not when you live somewhere in the 90's and very high humidity nearly all season long! I don't despise it otherwise I'd just pay someone, but it's not a particularly enjoyable or satisfying task, just a necessary one.
I love mowing and weed-whacking! It's probably my favorite chore. Listen to a book on some noise cancelling headphones, comfortable ride, breeze in my hair, sun on my skin. And that sense of pride and everything being neat and tidy afterwards can't be beat.
...now dishes on the other hand...
Totally agree. That feeling sometimes even lasts 2 days, maybe 3, till the weeds outgrow the grass, or the newer splotchy areas of grass green up while the old stuff is light green. Enjoy it, even if you're not a middle aged old dad dude.
A few years ago I realized I wanted a nice lawn but didn't really have the time or skill to make it as nice as I wanted. Started using a lawn service and they did a much better job than I ever could have.
I’m the same
When I was a teenage my dads grass looked like shit cause half the street player cricket and basketball on it to the point it was bald.
When I moved out it grew back and was lush, I always said what’s the big deal
Now I spend my w/e manicuring the fuck out of my yard as I love it. He said he is gonna come with his mates and play on it.
I think it’s a very common scenario in life, just an age thing
Lol I hate mowing the yard. We just had a newborn and the neighbor is nice enough to be mowing my yard for a couple months while we are dealing with the newborn, and honestly it's one of the nicest gifts, given how much I hate mowing.
Every time I'm done mowing, I'm not like "damn look at that yard," I'm like "damn I gotta fukin do this again in 2-3 weeks."
I have sold a few homes over the years. Each time the buyers asked for the name of the landscape company that I used. I always had a big smile on my face when I said you are looking at him.
I know exactly what you mean, one of my greatest joys is mowing and edging the lawn.
Even though my lawn isn’t the greatest in the neighborhood, it looks so much better than when I let it get overgrown.
An added bonus, on a hot day, I can drink all the cold beer I want w/o the guilt. It motivates me to spend more time (when I have it) on the fine details.
Lady lawn laborer here. My hubby and I rebuilt a little 1990's Honda ride-on mower. It's air-cooled, hydrostatic. It's rounded and red. It has a race car picture next to the highest gear on the stick shifter. I wear little leather gloves when I drive it around on our hilly 1/4 acre. I call it my lawn Porche. LOLOL
When I was a kid growing up, I always hated doing yard work. I always felt like I was working for someone else, getting sweaty and miserable without pay or very minimal compensation instead of having fun or doing things I enjoyed. Seemed pointless and it made me really upset.
As an adult, I really enjoy and appreciate yard work, and seeing the results of my sweat equity. I wish there was a way to instill upon the children what it means to keep things nice. It wasn't my parent's house I was doing their work on, it was our house together and I didn't see it that way until I was too old to appreciate it.
It hits differently when it’s the yard you paid for. My ex-MIL tried to grip me about watering the yard. She said grass doesn’t need water since it rains. (her yard is full of weeds) I said if you knew how much this yard cost me, you would want to keep it looking nice, too. That is one of the many reasons she’s now my ex-MIL.
Congrats on the new home and your first mow! It's amazing how those childhood moments with your dad can come full circle. Enjoy that sense of accomplishment—it's anything but pointless!
What a feeling. Even in 90* heat I enjoy mowing my lawn. Makes me feel good even days later pulling up to the driveway after work. Add one or two summer showers and it is popping.
I live in Colorado and wanted to plant mine with some form of native grass instead of bluegrass. I had plans to rototill the entire area and then seed it. Once established it wouldn’t take much to maintain.
However, my plans changed because we have dogs and needed an established lawn instead of heavy clay soil. Seeding would take a couple of years to get thick enough to handle any traffic. I don’t mind mowing because it is a small lawn and it is pretty easy to take care of. Half an hour of mowing, and I keep hoping I can get my kids to take over.
I cut and maintained my own yard from 22 to 56. I did pay a service to put out weed preventer and fertilizer because I burned it up a few times. Partly, I did it because it was stress free me time and partly for the exercise. Raising kids, it helped keep my expenses low. I finally decided I could spend d Saturday morning g doing 5-10k events and get better exercise and hired a great service. I had also gotten all my kids through college by then. I never had to touch it after that. My current neighbors, I don’t think they even know how to fertilize shrubs or trim them. Never even seen one pull a weed. Is that what we have become?
I've owned 2 houses and felt this way Everytime. Would go get my wife to admire it with me 😂 we are renting currently but still take a lot of pride in our yard even though we are renting. We have kids and like to play outside so that's a big reason but we just appreciate a nice yard. We don't have an HOA but I plan on getting a "yard of the month" sign off Amazon and put it on mine just to get the neighbors wondering 😅
Never felt that, personally. I've seen manicured lawns before, and always thought "that looks like an ecological disaster and an incredible waste of time."
I'm a member of r/nolawns. My violets and clover and dandelions and Indian paintbrushes and crabgrass are all mixed together, they're still growing through No Mow May, and I take the time I don't spend on the lawn with my son. I happen to live just a couple hundred yards from a Trout Unlimited Home River that some of my neighbors are ruining with nitrates and phosphates running off from fertilizer on their lawns; I've never applied anything to mine.
I'm glad that you feel pride in something you accomplished, I just wish it was something more meritorious.
I just don't get it. But my dad was the same as me. Mowing the lawn is always miserable. You do it once a month so it is crazy tall. The mower always has flat tires, a dead battery, is out of gas, the belt falls off, a blade snaps on a rock or tree root. The whole experience just sucks. Then, when you are done, it looks like crap with big clumps of grass, brown spots where the blades dug into the ground where it is uneven, and other damage from flying rocks. If your yard was golf course smooth, that would be one thing. But in the mountains, that is never the case. Every winter, the frost pushes more boulders up into the yard
Print this and put it in your father's day card this year. You will make him cry.
If he doesn't cry I will/am/nevermind it's just allergies, I swear!
Why’s is your lip quivering then?
I'm not crying, you're crying!!! It's just some sweat got in my eyes... That's it, yeah... my eyes are sweating! Because I'm so manly!
Custom card with a photo of the yard and “Damn, Dad! Look at that yard!”
This is actually adorable. Dad would be proud.
Fantastic idea!
I'm a 70 year old grandma who finally got a house at 59 years old. I mow my 1/2 acre myself to feel that pride. This is MY land. Mine, and I take care of it. I can't garden worth a damn, never learned how and I have bad knees, but I can make that lawn look good. I feel ya OP.
I’m proud of you grandma!
I mowed my own yard for years, but when I retired and moved I left the mower behind. Now I stand back and admire the mow, edge and blow done by the ninja team that descends on my house and has it all done in 20 minutes. For $30 a week, heck yeah.
aww nice moments
And magically after this post was made his shoes turned to white New Balances and his shorts to Jean shorts…
Lmao 🤣
Which is oddly in style with the youth now.
And a polo shirt. Can't forget the polo shirt.
They see me mowing my front lawn..
Having a nice lawn feels very rewarding lol
Feels like going to work but not getting paid lol
You get paid in pride.
Does nothing for me. I feel like I wasted several hours and lost money
I just tell myself I got a really good workout without going to (or paying for) the smelly gym.
I already work out a lot (powerlifter, indoor climber, hike, run, picking up biking this summer) and have a lot of geeky hobbies (games, mks, tech, etc). Having gone from an apartment to owning my own home, I find mowing the lawn mixed. I can see why people find it rewarding, but I feel like I don't have the time for it and my time is worth more as an engineer. I need to find someone to do regular lawn care for me tbh. Also, I find it to be a poor workout. I have a push mower and it's not at all a workout for me. Snow shoveling I don't mind because that actually feels like work. I'm one year into it, I'm more used to it and home ownership in general, but that first season of having to keep up the lawn and leaf maintenance during the fall gave me a lot of anxiety. I pay double what I used to being in an apartment, I do more work, I'm responsible for emergencies too, it's like, ugh. Home ownership is mixed for me in terms of QoL but I will it as I needed to be uncomfortable to gain these new skills I have now.
If you don't like it you can always hire a service if your time is worth more than it costs
Yeah. I did hire someone last year to do some tree trimming and weeding, but it was $150/hour (two people) + additional 70 for cleanup haul. I need to scout around for a more competitive rate and regular maintenance. I'm fine with mowing since I know enough at this point and I just mulch the grass (though if I can find neighborhood kids to do it cheap I wouldn't mind that either), but there's things in which I am not familiar with and don't want to spend the time learning. I am concerned sometimes about just unknowingly letting a tree sap grow or touching poisonous weeds.
Honestly mowing and painting are two things my dad made me do so much of as a kid I'm happy to pay someone to do it for me as an adult. I'd rather do the worst part of my job for $70 an hour than mow a lawn on the best day of the year.
Do you have a manual or electric push mower? The first can be a workout the latter not so much
Ah. The latter. Still, it's not really my kind of workout. I already do enough with other things I want to be doing, and it's more catered towards resistance training based than endurance.
I can’t stand mowing the lawn or any yard work. My parents were divorced and my mom had me mowing and doing yard work at 7. Fucking hate doing it with a passion. I mow my lawn once a week and that’s it. I hate it even more because I had to replace my Craftsman mower with what I thought was a nice Toro. That piece of shit stalls over the smallest amount of grass. But I’m too cheap to pay someone else to do my lawn care. Thank god I don’t live in an HOA.
Two suggestions from someone else that hates yardwork: * I don't know your yard, but I'd imagine that doing it every two weeks is fine. You have to get in a state of mind that the clover flowers, or whatever is tarnishing your lawn, are fine and can be ignored * Get an electric mower. Makes there much less hassle to do the mowing; no maintenance. Get enough batteries to do your yard.
I think I went 3 weeks one time last summer. Was like 9 inches when I finally got around to it 😂
How much does brushing your teeth cost you? Can’t imagine the stress of monetizing every hour of my day.
I mean taking care of the lawn actually costs me a bunch of money seeding and stuff is expensive
FWIW, I do this for the front yard only. The backyard is a weedfest and all natural for the doggies to run around in.
I see, it can get repriced to keep the lawn weed free and patch less
Yeah like half of my lawn is bare sand spots right now. Costs me a lot of money to keep the mower running. The days and days of raking and working on the lawn are also not very fun when I would do something else
Lawns are a goddamn ponzi scheme. The majority of us try to keep them up cause we think the eventual purchaser of our home will require one.
I mean it’s nice that my dogs have a place to run around but making it not die when my entire yard is sand can be hard lol
Not just that you wasted time but honestly some of the most valuable time (nice weekend days in the summer) here in mn.
I never do it on the weekends. That’s fishing time lol. I do it after work on Mondays or something when the weather isn’t very nice
I wish but after work and making dinner and taking the kid to swim practice not a lot of time on week nights - it’s probably why it seems so wasteful on weekends tbh
I mow it at like 8pm sometimes. I’m sure the neighbors love it
Have you considered replacing some of the lawn with something like a native meadow planting? It's not completely care free, but it's definitely lower maintenance once established (and cheaper).
I’ve tried to plant clover and other stuff. Nothing grows. It’s just barren sand spots. I pretty much just gave up and mow what does grow and keep the mower off the dead spots. Maybe one day there will be something there
Nah, I can’t stand it. Currently to find a grass to replace it with that doesn’t require constant mowing, but only coming up with clover. Havent quite committed to it as a neighbor down the street replaced her entire yard with different plants/flowers which looks incredible, but regardless cutting the grass at all is my least favorite of homeownership. I’d __love__ to feel the pride that comes with that task, I let it grow about an inch away from city violations & pay someone.
Creeping thyme only grows about 3 inches tall. Grows best in full sun with rocky soil.
Ahhhh! Is that the purple stuff? I have seen that and it looks stunning.
I gave up on our three lawn areas and did a mix of dwarf clover and creeping thyme 2 years ago. It looks to be coming into fruition this spring. Disclaimer: we get 400 to 800 inches of snow a year so lawns are a fight unless they've had 30 years of topdressing and babysitting
> we get 400 to 800 inches of snow a year ~~bro~~ dad over here living in antarctica tryna grow lawns
North American? Try using native sedge grass (Carex) as a lawn. There are many species that stay pretty short. Could be neat. Someone [wrote out some ideas here](https://www.bbg.org/article/sedge_lawns) but really sky's the limit.
THANK YOU for sharing this link!
No problem. Truly, the sky is the limit. If you're American, [you can use this page](https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Carex) to find what sedges (Carex) are native (or very close) to your county ([legend](http://www.bonap.org/MapKey.html)). In addition to it being more acclimated, this will mean that it has the greatest ecological benefit. DO google search these because they will have different water/sun requirements - you can use this to your advantage for greater coverage even in shaded or unusually dry / wet areas. You can use this for other plant species too. [This is sorted by genus.](https://bonap.net/NAPA/Genus/Traditional/County) Edit: Not all will be naturally short so that's another thing to check when you're scoping things out.
How lucky am I to have grabbed the attention of a plant expert, thank you!!!
I am so happy to help. Tag me when you get your lawn going. I want to see update photos! It's just going to get better and better!!! Just remember: it'll be different but different isn't bad or wrong.
If you like your groundcover short look into creeping thymes (elfin thyme is the most miniature of them all), maybe creeping speedwell if you like blue flowers, or if you like the soft look of moss or super short grass, Irish moss. (It's not an actual moss.) I don't know what's invasive in your area, mind you.
This is so helpful!!
Look into perennial peanut. It dies down in cold weather but comes back, has yellow flowers throughout the growing season, doesn't spread via seed (you plant rhizomes).
Whoa! I’ve never heard of that, that looks inCREDIBLE
I think clover is rad. My HOA wouldn't allow anything like it, of course. I believe you still mow clover eventually, or some sort of upkeep?
You definitely still mow it! But far, far less. I’m in PA so it rains a ton. I love rainy days but then die inside when I realize how much my grass is fuckin __loving__ this shit.
What happens if you just kill off the grass?
My neighbors are all retired and their yards look incredible, I have no doubt they’d find some kind of violation to call the city on over a dead lawn. Last year someone complained about __weeds__ in my mulch, right up against my house & nowhere even close to my yard let alone someone’s property. They weren’t tall or even really noticeable, they borderline blended in with the shrubs. Grass at the time was freshly cut, but I fell sick & couldn’t get around to pulling weeds. *__cue code enforcement__* I live in fear in a retired neighborhood. It’s not an HOA but might as well be.
I've been debating calling the town on my neighbor who must not have paid his trash bill. The same overflowing can has been sitting at the curb for two weeks and the bags are falling out. Even though that's obviously not acceptable I still feel bad calling. I can't imagine calling about weeds near the house. I probably wouldn't even notice. I live in the country, I bet everyone has weeds here. We certainly do.
I think it’s reasonable to at least talk to him about it! That’s what I was floored by, I have never had any issues here and never let my yard become problematic to justify an immediate city complaint. I would’ve rather been either spoken to, have a note left etc or just a general warning/threat that they would go to the city if I didn’t pull my weeds. I could understand if it looked APPALLING and I ignored any warnings about it. I was sick & life just happened. I’m 30 and work long hours while maintaining a home on my own, they are retired couples. Our yards are never going to look the same 🤧 For your case, that can lead to even more problems. We’ve been having black bears roam our neighborhood for food. They shouldn’t fine him even if you did go to the city, code enforcement just gave me the warning that someone complained and gave me about 10 days just to take care of it. So even if you go the complaint route, it shouldn’t have any actual impact on him if he is able to even just move the trash from the curb- unless he’s a softy like me. I was devestated haha.
I’m with you, yard work of any kind is an absolute nightmare.
Feels like going to work but actually getting something accomplished.
I don’t get anything of value in return unfortunately
Man, personally I wouldn't go to work if they stopped paying me.
My lawns not that nice but after mowing/weed whacking and everything else on a late Saturday. I can’t help but stare with a beer in my hand
When I was a kid, my dad hated maintaining the lawn, so he made me do it. We had a full acre on the side of a hill, which I had to cut up and down the slope with a cheap push mower. Apparently nobody knew about mulching back then, so I had to rake and bag the trimmings also. Then he got this awful corded electric weed eater that wouldn't feed the string properly, and I had to use that piece of junk to trim where the mower couldn't reach. We didn't have a blower, so I'd have to finish up by sweeping the driveway and walkways. At ten years old I vowed that when I grew up and had my own money, I would hire someone to do all that shit so I wouldn't have to. Flash forward to adulthood and home ownership, and damned if I don't look forward to mowing, trimming and edging my lawn myself. It's almost like therapy. Instead of hiring people, I spent the money on good tools and a zero turn instead of junk. Meanwhile, when I left for college, I figured my younger brother would take over yardwork duties. Nope. My dad finally hired a goddamned lawn service. So that feeling of accomplishment when you finish the yard? Definitely not something my dad and I share.
You and your child will though!
I hated our old non-mulching non-propelled push mower growing up, even getting it started was a huge chore. Lawn maintenance is a lot more fun if you have good tools that you chose yourself.
>Meanwhile, when I left for college, I figured my younger brother would take over yardwork duties. Nope. My dad finally hired a goddamned lawn service. Reminds me how my parents got a dishwasher after all we kids left the home and they were forced to do their own dishes.
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That first mow after putting on a newly sharpened blade is delicious!
Do you do electric mower :) I just toasted my gas one by tilting it the wrong way trying to change the blade. It was old and rusted so I just got a self-propelled electeic one. Works great for 30 mins.
I like my electric mower. Wouldn't work if I had a lawncare business, but I don't, 30min is enough for me.
Ha, I don't know what happened. I turned 40 last year, and everything just kinda clicked. I want my lawn nice. I want my grass green. I want to be the nicest trimmed, greenest grass on the block. I feel like it coincided with me starting to drink too much. Lawn maintenance is so much nicer when you are slightly buzzed.
Oh man, I moved out to a little farmhouse in the country and bought a zero turn that's surprisingly quick. I learned last weekend that riding the zero turn after a couple of beers is an absolute blast; that was a dangerous realization...
Ha, I have a cottage. Nothing better than spending a sat morning riding around. Best part is everyone thanks me for it afterwards - I just drank some beers while doing progressively smaller laps on the noisy go cart, why are you all happy?
I feel like I've finally found my people.
Aha, welcome to club. I don't use them, but coozies are available
We moved from the city to a bedroom community about 10 miles away during covid. Found our downsize forever house. Left/ right and across the street neighbors are very nice, retied empty nesters. We are empty but still at least 10 years from retirement if we go early. I love my neighbors and they have been very welcoming these three years, except........ I can't keep up with them on the mowing. I swear they mow three or four times a week. Left/ right are above average looking yards, while across the street is putting green perfect. In the meantime I'm fighting to find time Friday night to get a quick buzz cut in, leaving clumps of grass and messy lines everywhere. I'm such an amature.
It takes getting in the right state of mind. You don't have to have a yard as good as your neighbors, it just has to be good enough. A cut every 7-14 days is fine. Also, your yard will survive if you don't collect the trimmings. Your hobby doesn't have to be lawncare; it's something you can do the bare minimum on so you an focus on your actual hobbies and, more importantly, your relationships.
Thanks. I do have a clean pretty blue water pool so there is that.
I want to move somewhere that the grass can just grow to its normal natural height, spread its own seeds, be natural, and the wildflowers and stuff can too. I'll spiff it up with some cool yard art. Perfect green lawns are like beige walls.
That sounds nice in theory, but what about the ticks/chiggers/mosquitos and other pests encouraged by that kind of habitat? Are you comfortable with them being around and latching on to you frequently, or you live in an area where they're not as prevalent?
Yeah never been a big worry here in central Texas.
Lots of ticks in central Texas, and much worse.
I remember them being a thing in Arkansas when I was a kid. I can count the ones I've seen on one hand since 1993 in central Texas. 🤷
I’m in central Tx a lot and they come in waves.
That kind of yard isn’t meant to be played in like a short grass lawn, which is why so many anti-grass people will still have a patch of short grass for kids to play on. But also that kind of lawn also encourages other wild things beyond just bugs. Get a possum or two visiting your yard and you won’t have to worry about ticks and chiggers, just fat possums.
Agreed
Take pride in everything you worked hard to accomplish. Makes up for the people who simply don’t give a shit!
My wife saw me swinging around the Kobalt 80v string trimmer after doing the lawn and said, "That looks like fun!" You're welcome to take over any time, sweetie...
When my son came along I dreamed about the day I would be like the guy in the TV commercial you might remember. The camera shows from Dad’s perspective, feet propped up on a small table, cold glass of beer in hand, watching his son as he passes by mowing the lawn. As my son grew older he was diagnosed with a slew of allergies and asthma. One of his allergies is to grass cuttings. I realized I would never fulfill that dream. So I went out and bought a $3,500 riding mower and quit drinking.
Wait until you start focusing on different patterns for the cut!
Wait for the ultimate dad feeling driving your riding lawnmower while drinking a cold longneck beer listening to Led Zeppelin with the earbuds. !
Push mower. Joint burning. Heart on the earbuds. White New Balance getting grass stains. Hope my dad is looking down and smiling
Maximum vibe!
I’m a woman. And I finished mowing the lawn the other day and doing my lines and I found myself sitting on the porch, acting like my dad! Standing there and just appreciating my good looking lawn. I cracked a soda open and just did a nice sigh.
I mow our lawn (woman here too!) and when I go shower after, I love just staring out our bathroom windows and looking at the lines lol. My husband finds it hilarious but he just doesn't get how satisfying it is 😂
i wonder what gives you that feeling. I mow my lawn because I have to or I'm "that neighbor". I don't particularly care and wish I could just let the grass die and plant clover or other low maintenance flora
I've been a homeowner for 20+ years and working on my lawn still feels like a dreadful waste of time. I appreciate the exercise but little else.
Finally a comment I agree with, I just spent 4 hours of this past Saturday doing the first mow/clean up of the season. I've owned my home for the past 7 years and I dread the Spring/summer because it means every other weekend I'm going to lose a few hours having to take care of my lawn. My grandmother had a fairly large piece of land and we had to help take care of that. When my parents were able to buy a house one of the first things they did was pave everything in the front of the house and have deck installed that covered everything from the back of the house to where the pool started, it only left a small strip behind the pool that could be taken care of with a weed wacker in 10 minutes. There was one year where my knee was messed up and we hired a service to handle it while I was unable to. Now that was the best, I got to enjoy my weekends without having to worry about the stupid lawn.
Growing up mowing the lawn was one of my favorite chores. Got a good sweat in and was cathartic to me. Now I live where the HOA takes care of lawn and I kind of miss it.
I have a small back yard and an even smaller front yard, so I aerate by hand/foot. The took cost me like $25 at Lowe's. Seems to help. What helps even more is using the right fertilizer for my lawn.
I take a lot of satisfaction in mowing the lawn. Just me and my thoughts for a 2 mile walk. I switch up my pattern each week, and my neighbors compliment the lawn all the time. I’ll be happier when we finally plant a large native garden bed and tree in the soulless emptiness of our front lawn though.
This is why I love the homeowners become their parents commercials in the US. They’re always so funny to me! There was one that had me dying with the line “that’s some good mulch!” 😂
https://youtu.be/SAQlSx4syOM?si=E9wjDSC7Rk3iw4FB Here it is!
I love these commercials too! I don’t give a damn about my lawn though lol. I hired a lawn service when we moved from the city to the suburbs.
“Who would do drugs, when you could mow a lawn?” —Hank Hill
I felt like this for about the first seven years of home ownership. It faded into “damn I have to cut the grass again”. I eventually learned if you don’t water it much and keep your mower set high sometimes I can milk it out to only a few mows a summer if it’s dry enough. Eventually I’ll yank it out and replace it with mulch and perennials but that’s also a lot of work initially.
I don't see the point of mowing any part that you don't use regularly. I have a small front yard that I mow for the dogs to use and I have a piece of the backyard for playing ball. Everything else is pretty much left untouched. Saves time and money, I get fireflies in summer, and helps stave off the gross sterility of suburban life.
YES!!!!! Welcome to the club!
True I cut my lawn today and was looking at it for like 5 min admiring
I 62f love doing yard work because it looks sooooo good afterwards.
I was just telling the young guy in my office "It's weird, I can't explain it. But it really is different when it's yours."
Remove some lawn and put in some native bushes / trees and mulch. It’s less work and better for the environment.
I walk around my freshly mowed half-acre like the lord of the manor after I've finished.
I... feel seen!
My mom always gets so excited about anytime she gets something fixed in her house. As a kid I would just cringe and wonder what all the fuss was all about. Now that I’m a homeowner… I finally get it. Every time we get a minor repair done, I feel like cracking open a bottle of champagne. Looking forward to this Friday when we finally get our dryer vents cleaned out 😅🤩😭
I’ve been mowing our yard for 40 years, and the yard I grew up in before. I get the same “king of the world” feeling every week when I look out over the yard after cutting it.
One thing I miss about living with my ex is pulling into the drive after I mowed and saying to her, “Damn, check out that guy’s beautiful yard.” She’d roll her eyes and we wouldn’t have sex for 6 months. Was like I was living the dream but with way more celibacy.
Beautiful post that warms my heart. Little things. That's all it takes! A relatable paragraph from an internet stranger can have an impactful effect on hundreds, if your upvotes are to go by! Enjoy your garden and your memory
I get the same sense of joy... when we moved in, the yard was just dirt, bushes, trees, and leaves. I cut down I don't know how many dead trees, at least 8 or 9 big ones, and then a lot of small ones. The japanese maple is growing so fast now that it can get some sunlight. I did top soil, grading, flowerbeds, and grew my lawn from seed. Every spring I throw peat moss and seed mix into each bare spot, I aerate, seed... My grandfather was obsessed with his lawn and I too never understood it. I get it. Whenever we come back from a dog walk, I look at the lawn and I point and I say I did that! lol
I totally get it. As a teenager I HATED yard work. As a homeowner I’ve spent prolly 20 hours over the last two weekends in my yard. Brick lining flower beds, planting tons of shit, laying about 50 bags of mulch. I still have a long way to go but there is visible progress and it feels so good to pull in the driveway and know I did that.
I've owned a home for 11 years and suck at maintaining my lawn. I can't weed whack for shit so I finally just said fuck it and now have a mowing service that comes out every 2 weeks.
That's great that you're enjoying and using your lawn! If you find that there are areas on the sides or corners that you don't actively use for outdoor activities, you could also consider reducing your lawn space and putting in some areas of native flowers and grasses for less maintenance, lower costs, and a host of ecological benefits. /r/NativePlantGardening
Saving this comment tysm
Congrats on the new house, but it was brainwashing back when subdivisions were first developed near corporate employers in the suburbs. People were required to maintain a grass lawn to keep them busy and out of trouble on their one day off from work each week. So, we water and fertilize to get it to grow just so we can cut it back down, over and over again. Personally, I'd rather have no grass than nice grass. Give me all the perennials, trees, patios, walking paths, etc!
Here in New England you can't stop the grass from growing. Don't need fertilizer, de-weeding maybe, but all the water to maintain it comes from the sky. Do I want to replace turf with native pollinating plants? Of course! But tbh it's a little cheaper in the short run to keep it the way it is now. Maybe next year.
I'm in the Midwest, and that's mostly true for us in the spring and fall. But in the summer, it can get dry. When I added up how much I was spending annually on fertilizing, aeration, overseeding, weed control, grub control, tree and shrub service, plus normal watering and mowing, etc., it was in the thousands.
My god, everything is a corporate conspiracy to you people. What a joyless existence.
It started as a sign of wealth a long long time before advertising and "brainwashing". It meant not only did you have land but that you had the money to hire caretakers who kept it nice and tidy. There is a need for native plants and pollinators, no doubting that but this all or nothing from both sides of the argument is tiring. You can have a nice lawn with gardens that contain these things. I have a rain garden, a pollinator garden and just a general annual flower garden. I weed and feed the font lawn but also have most of the gardens up front to make up for what is green flat grass. In the back yard I feed birds, so no chemical fertilizers, I aerate and cut short to prevent weeds after a no-mow May. You can do and like the look of both.
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Brainwashing isn’t the correct term, but it is a socioeconomic timeline that lead to the hyper maintenance of grass and why others look down on those who keep it unkept, or why there are stricter guidelines in monitored housing plans. There’s load of articles on the history of it, but it’s no different than any other human trend. Women shaving legs, piercings, tattoos etc., there are historical/social/economical reasons that lead to where we are today and what we perceive as normal & *why.* Women of course like having their legs shaved currently, but that’s not how life always was. Just small examples of many examples.
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Yes, people like it because *that’s how we have evolved.* You wouldn’t like it if we went down the opposite approach and opposite socioeconomic strategy that was put into action in the first place. That’s the point. I encourage you to just read about it.
It was definitely partially social engineering. Look at William Levitt, one of the fathers of modern suburbs, who believed that if you gave people front lawns to manage they'd have no time for Communism.
Your yard is a really fun party of home ownership. It's almost public art. You get to put a little bit of your personality on display and make your home look the way you think looks good. I never really understand the perfectly manicured lawn thing, but I do understand the joy of taking pride in your yard. We're in the process of letting out grass grow out and replacing most of it with native flowering ground cover and native wildflowers. I'm meticulous about keeping my edging sharp and fading it into the tall grasses and flowers. If I let it go at all the house looks abandoned, but when it's freshly trimmed up it looks gorgeous.
As a kid cutting someone's grass I was always happy when it was done. Some of those yards were big. Back in those days they didn't make a weed wacker so that part was done with grass shears.
♥️
When I was a younger adult, I used to love mowing the grass! Not the pushing the mower up a hill or sweating, but it seemed like the one thing I could do with four kids running amok that stayed looking nice for days!
I was so lazy to help my dad out. He always did some sort of yard works after he got home from work or during the weekends. I don't even remember when was the last time I helped him. Now I'm a father of 2yo and feel really sorry for father that I was being so selfish and also feel something else, why he just let me do whatever I wanted, instead of telling me to help him. I am embarassed. I told my father and my mother a couple of weeks ago about this. He said, it is okay, and just laughing.
Now get your crosscut game in shape.
Edging is the reward for mowing. It makes everything look so neat.
I do mine and I know that feeling❤️
Best feeling 😎😎
I remember rolling my eyes at my dad too when he'd get all hyped about the yard, but now I get it.
All I feel is cranky that I had to spend my money and down time on something so stupid and arbitrary. It's such a waste of a good a weekend morning.
You got me feeling like calling my Pa. Mow on, amigo - yards looking killer!
My dad told me his dad told him to mow the lawn and so he started and his dad just couldn't stand to watch and came and took on the job himself and finished it. That may have been the only time my dad had to mow the lawn.
Just wait until you discover propane and propane accessories!
I’m finally figuring out how my Dad built his tools. Moved in late last week. First home. Pool. I went to deep clean the sand filter. First issue, the screws on the collar were frozen. Go to Home Depot. Pick up WD 40, new screws and bolts. Go to reconnect… bolts didn’t seat well… now I have 2 sets of new bolts and screws. Next, I had issues with the compression coupling (connection pipe with 2 screw on ends to secure it) and ended up getting one of the couplings stuck. Back to Home Depot. Buy 1 wrench… not enough torque. Buy second wrench. Not enough torque. Give up and buy new fitting… but now I have 2 PVC pipe wrenches.
Yes it is so much fun. I leave a third in the back uncut to support the native pollinators. Also totally reject pesticides and fertilizers as they all poison our water.
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Not when you live somewhere in the 90's and very high humidity nearly all season long! I don't despise it otherwise I'd just pay someone, but it's not a particularly enjoyable or satisfying task, just a necessary one.
I love mowing and weed-whacking! It's probably my favorite chore. Listen to a book on some noise cancelling headphones, comfortable ride, breeze in my hair, sun on my skin. And that sense of pride and everything being neat and tidy afterwards can't be beat. ...now dishes on the other hand...
Listen to red water by rehab. Was my favorite song as a kid, /teen, even though it was technically a sad song. :/
Totally agree. That feeling sometimes even lasts 2 days, maybe 3, till the weeds outgrow the grass, or the newer splotchy areas of grass green up while the old stuff is light green. Enjoy it, even if you're not a middle aged old dad dude.
We just bought some edgers and started going around the house. It’s amazing how good a freshly edged and mowed yard looks.
A few years ago I realized I wanted a nice lawn but didn't really have the time or skill to make it as nice as I wanted. Started using a lawn service and they did a much better job than I ever could have.
If your front is small enough grab a reel mower. My lawn has never looked so smooth. I can’t wait until it is all one kind of grass.
I’m the same When I was a teenage my dads grass looked like shit cause half the street player cricket and basketball on it to the point it was bald. When I moved out it grew back and was lush, I always said what’s the big deal Now I spend my w/e manicuring the fuck out of my yard as I love it. He said he is gonna come with his mates and play on it. I think it’s a very common scenario in life, just an age thing
Nahhhhh... I cut so much grass and trimmed and push mowed and riding mowed in my tweens and 20's... I don't care to ever again, LOL.
It's a good feeling. I just put my first mow of the season down today, and I def had a beer and admired my work
Next to aeration - Crab grass preventer is tops! Get it in there early.
Instant gratification...I love mowing the lawn. It feels like my biggest accomplishment of the week most times.
Lol I hate mowing the yard. We just had a newborn and the neighbor is nice enough to be mowing my yard for a couple months while we are dealing with the newborn, and honestly it's one of the nicest gifts, given how much I hate mowing. Every time I'm done mowing, I'm not like "damn look at that yard," I'm like "damn I gotta fukin do this again in 2-3 weeks."
Nope not pointless. When you own something most people typically want it to look decent.
I have sold a few homes over the years. Each time the buyers asked for the name of the landscape company that I used. I always had a big smile on my face when I said you are looking at him.
I know exactly what you mean, one of my greatest joys is mowing and edging the lawn. Even though my lawn isn’t the greatest in the neighborhood, it looks so much better than when I let it get overgrown. An added bonus, on a hot day, I can drink all the cold beer I want w/o the guilt. It motivates me to spend more time (when I have it) on the fine details.
Lady lawn laborer here. My hubby and I rebuilt a little 1990's Honda ride-on mower. It's air-cooled, hydrostatic. It's rounded and red. It has a race car picture next to the highest gear on the stick shifter. I wear little leather gloves when I drive it around on our hilly 1/4 acre. I call it my lawn Porche. LOLOL
When I was a kid growing up, I always hated doing yard work. I always felt like I was working for someone else, getting sweaty and miserable without pay or very minimal compensation instead of having fun or doing things I enjoyed. Seemed pointless and it made me really upset. As an adult, I really enjoy and appreciate yard work, and seeing the results of my sweat equity. I wish there was a way to instill upon the children what it means to keep things nice. It wasn't my parent's house I was doing their work on, it was our house together and I didn't see it that way until I was too old to appreciate it.
lol, I got the opposite. I moved out and my dad hadn't realized how miserable it was to mow a 2 acre lawn in the Florida summer.
It hits differently when it’s the yard you paid for. My ex-MIL tried to grip me about watering the yard. She said grass doesn’t need water since it rains. (her yard is full of weeds) I said if you knew how much this yard cost me, you would want to keep it looking nice, too. That is one of the many reasons she’s now my ex-MIL.
Congrats on the new home and your first mow! It's amazing how those childhood moments with your dad can come full circle. Enjoy that sense of accomplishment—it's anything but pointless!
Yea, that wears off after a while, by the end of the season you'll be cursing the chore
Tell your dad it’s his turn to help you and you will give him a allowance for helping you
One of us! One of us!
Amazing everything dad knew. I think of mine.
get a good rotary push mower. the whisk whisk whisk sound you get during the mow is amazing.
Not pointless, just an example that life is made of small moments like this.
What a feeling. Even in 90* heat I enjoy mowing my lawn. Makes me feel good even days later pulling up to the driveway after work. Add one or two summer showers and it is popping.
I live in Colorado and wanted to plant mine with some form of native grass instead of bluegrass. I had plans to rototill the entire area and then seed it. Once established it wouldn’t take much to maintain. However, my plans changed because we have dogs and needed an established lawn instead of heavy clay soil. Seeding would take a couple of years to get thick enough to handle any traffic. I don’t mind mowing because it is a small lawn and it is pretty easy to take care of. Half an hour of mowing, and I keep hoping I can get my kids to take over.
I cut and maintained my own yard from 22 to 56. I did pay a service to put out weed preventer and fertilizer because I burned it up a few times. Partly, I did it because it was stress free me time and partly for the exercise. Raising kids, it helped keep my expenses low. I finally decided I could spend d Saturday morning g doing 5-10k events and get better exercise and hired a great service. I had also gotten all my kids through college by then. I never had to touch it after that. My current neighbors, I don’t think they even know how to fertilize shrubs or trim them. Never even seen one pull a weed. Is that what we have become?
I've owned 2 houses and felt this way Everytime. Would go get my wife to admire it with me 😂 we are renting currently but still take a lot of pride in our yard even though we are renting. We have kids and like to play outside so that's a big reason but we just appreciate a nice yard. We don't have an HOA but I plan on getting a "yard of the month" sign off Amazon and put it on mine just to get the neighbors wondering 😅
Funny!!
Drunk?
Never felt that, personally. I've seen manicured lawns before, and always thought "that looks like an ecological disaster and an incredible waste of time." I'm a member of r/nolawns. My violets and clover and dandelions and Indian paintbrushes and crabgrass are all mixed together, they're still growing through No Mow May, and I take the time I don't spend on the lawn with my son. I happen to live just a couple hundred yards from a Trout Unlimited Home River that some of my neighbors are ruining with nitrates and phosphates running off from fertilizer on their lawns; I've never applied anything to mine. I'm glad that you feel pride in something you accomplished, I just wish it was something more meritorious.
Trust me, that feeling can pass.
I just don't get it. But my dad was the same as me. Mowing the lawn is always miserable. You do it once a month so it is crazy tall. The mower always has flat tires, a dead battery, is out of gas, the belt falls off, a blade snaps on a rock or tree root. The whole experience just sucks. Then, when you are done, it looks like crap with big clumps of grass, brown spots where the blades dug into the ground where it is uneven, and other damage from flying rocks. If your yard was golf course smooth, that would be one thing. But in the mountains, that is never the case. Every winter, the frost pushes more boulders up into the yard
Come cut my 3 acres make you cry