Curious. We currently have yard service and housecleaning, but I'm about ready to cancel it all. I've always maintained my own lawn. But, upon moving to Nashville, I have no mower. I'm ready to change all that. Anyway, more specifically, do you mow your own grass and maintain your own lawn? Even more specifically, do you prefer a walk-behind mower as opposed to a sit-down type? I do. Slap on a headset and cool tunes, and I could mow for hours.
I got rid of the lawn and planted drought tolerant alyssum, so I have a carpet of white flowers bordered three sides with rosebushes with bunches of poppies and nasturtium reseeding themselves. My side and back are where I grow food. I do all gardening except pruning fruit trees. All my own house cleaning and cooking.
Man yall are crazy. You wanna give the yard service up abm? take from a guy with a riding mower and all the tools who owns an acre. dont do it. or better yet. Have your yard service company take care of my place and ill give you all my yard tools! Lol. im overwhelmed with work and cant keep up!!!!
I hate yard work and I get terrible allergies in the spring when the yard needs it the most. I just had a major landscaping project competed last week. The idea was to make things low to no maintainence and add some privacy. We did pavers on a big portion of the yard and replace the grass with artifical grass for the dogs. The dogs seem to like it a lot and its a lot easier to keep clean, I do have to hose it off to get the pee smell out if I plan on hanging out, but compared to before its no problem. I do have a little patch of grass still in the front that I mow. Years ago I got an Ego electric mower from Home Depot, the battery packs swap with their other lawn equipment. No gas needed ever again, no oil and they run a lot quieter than a gas model. If you go this route buy a few extra batteries so you can swap them out on the go and not wait to recharge.
Twenty plus years ago I got burned out keeping up a big beautiful (high maintenance) yard, so we moved to a neighborhood of freestanding homes on small lots. Other than a very small front yard that the HOA fees cover maintenance wise, our “yard is a 15’X40’ courtyard. It’s very private and pleasant but still requires upkeep (from me, unless I want to hire it done). Three years ago we gutted it and replaced the concrete patio and flagstones with pavers and a small patch of artificial lawn for the dogs. We are very happy with the changes but annual paver maintenance is a whole new ballgame (don’t let anyone tell you different). Fortunately they make a nifty little tool (available through Home Depot) for cleaning the seams. Once the seams are cleaned, 20 Seconds does a wonderful job of making the look pavers like new (Simple Green works also, just not near as well). But it is work, and I’m depressed every spring until I can get out there and get it cleaned up. Too, for the faux lawn you can buy a turf and kennel deodorizer (zeolite) through Amazon that does an excellent job of knocking the odors down (using far less than the manufacturers recommendation) over and above the hosing it down. I buy one bag per year (~$29) and have been pleased with the results. I’ve also quit planting annuals in my patio pots, going with perennials that last more than a season. Definitely saves time, work and money. At my age I also now hire out the projects (annual pressure washing, gutter and roof cleaning, etc, etc) I used to be able to do myself. Paradoxically, I hate having to pay for work I used to do but am damn glad I don’t have to do it anymore/can afford to have it done. I’m too old to be falling off roofs.......
You pee on your artificial grass? The next time I get drunk, which is pretty near all the time these days, well that smokin' unfiltered camels and giving kids on the way to and from school the finger, talkin' foul mouthed and wearing that food and drink stained T-shirt with the holes in it. Gotta get me a shave one of these days.
We have yard service which is excellent. I researched house cleaning service casually but my wife doesn't want to pay although we have the money to do it. I'm always trying to get her to change her mind but she's a tough nut to crack. If anyone knows a good deal with a highly reputable company because we have valuables, I'd sure like to know.
I'm about to hand over our lawn care to a professional. In just over two years in our home in South Texas and we've effectively murdered half our back yard. The front does ok but our back yard gets all the afternoon/evening sun, that plus soil that seems to have a lot of clay in it, has made for a difficult chore of keeping the yard green and healthy.
One of the big things we've discovered helps a lot (Tru-Green currently performs for us) is aerating. Never done myself. Might consider if the machine rental is reasonable.
One of the reasons we moved to this house was a smaller more manageable yard. My last house had a big yard, which is why we loved it and also why we ended up hating it. Over the years we had a lot of fun with the garden area though. At one point I was addicted to buying new plants for it, berries where my favorite and we had a lot but we also had 9 garden beds. I even grew monster weed plants one year, 15 footers! It was exhausting though and I love our new small yard. We did do pavers at the last place so I am familiar with their general care. I usually was lazy and just waited for the warmer/dryer months to clean up the green. The pavers in this place will get less sun though so I was already considering that it would need more work. Thanks for the advice though and especially the deodorizor, Im going to order that right now.
We did something similar. Our front yard faces due West. We took out the lawn and planted all sorts of drought-resistant plants, especially lavender and what not. Bulbs for late-spring. Jasmine. And on and on. Tomatoes, herbs, peppers, etc on the side. Neighbors always walk by and compliment the yard. We left some lawn in the back for the kids and dogs, including Sly.
