Lawn Care Nerds - a thread dedicated to peak suburbia

[Dave]

Over the past couple years I’ve taken to being a lawn nerd. It’s a fun hobby. Anyone else in to lawn care?

[clipless bumper]

No.



My son mows the lawn, that's about it.

[clipless bumper]

Is that your lawn?
If so, how do you tolerate the neighbor on the left?

[Dave]

Yes that’s my house

And the neighbor and I do not get along. At all. I sawzall’d his shitty fence off of mine and have told him how much I love him.

So I stay on top of my yard and ensure his laziness doesn’t spill over in to mine. According to the neighbors he has always been this way and no one cares for him. When we bought the house I became his worst nightmare.

[GuitarBilly]

Nice house man!!! And that's next level lawn.

The neighbor's on the other hand

[GuitarBilly]

God damn this picture looks like the 2 houses were photoshopped together.

Like Compton on the left/Bel Air on the right.

Even the weather looks better on your side

[Dave]

Right?!? We happen to buy next to the absolute worst person in our neighborhood.

That’s not photo magic or camera angles. It really is that drastic.

[mortatone]

Cut grass end story.

I do loves me some fruit trees though. Got a nice Ponderosa lemon tree growing in the back yard and a fig tree in the front. Both were planted a year ago. The fig tree has produced exactly one delicious fig and the lemon tree has about 10 lemons on it, which will grow to the size of large grapefruits.

[JonVengeance]

I moved into my new place about a year ago and I’ve been working on my lawn. I aerated and overseeded last fall. Spread pre-emergent in the winter and spring, have fertilized regularly and am mowing multiple times a week at the highest setting. I’m getting there, but it’s going to take time to battle the years of neglect and weeds spreading from neighbors lawns.

[clipless bumper]

As I said above, I'm no lawn nerd - but the best thing I ever did was to set the (push) mower to the highest setting. May have to mow slightly more often, but the grass looks so much healthier and even.

[Bonano]

When we first bought this house, I actually put in a lot of effort on the lawn. I was constantly pulling weeds and foreign grass. Then the drought that lasted years began and I stopped watering the lawn and started neglecting it. It was beautiful fluffy stuff at first. But I have since let go. Cobwebs all over my lawnmower in the garage. Too bad.

We had Bermuda grass, I think. What kind of grass is yours?

[2tallmusic]

Your lawn looks really great!

Was pretty motivated years ago when the rolled sod was new and the lawn looked perfect and people stopped by to check whether it is real.Had a reel mower at that time and was fertilizing regularly. Meanwhile, with the kids from the whole neighborhood hobby horsing through our garden I actually gave up.

[Devin]

Your place looks epic af dude!!

I have a big problem with little poison oak fuckers sprouting up everywhere in my backyard. I always mow the lawn wearing shorts and flip-flops and those little assholes end up getting me every time

[Pepi]

I'm usually a lawn nut but lately, I'm not feeling it. Got a lot of work to do.

[rock flag and eagle]

I wish I could get my lawn to look like that, I suck at lawncare. Most of my grass is yellowed, crab grass growing but at least I keep it mowed on the reg

[itchyfingers]

Beautiful lawn Dave! Oh dang, I think I would be THAT neighbor...

I live in CA, where we have been in a drought for as long as I can remember, like 40 years. I mean, it's basically desert on the coastline.
Nobody has nice lawns here, except them new-fangled plastic ones, lol. We actually get money back at tax time for water-conservation. I had grandpa rocks for the first decade, and we recently put in pavers, walls, and steps.

[Dave]

I moved into my new place about a year ago and I’ve been working on my lawn. I aerated and overseeded last fall. Spread pre-emergent in the winter and spring, have fertilized regularly and am mowing multiple times a week at the highest setting. I’m getting there, but it’s going to take time to battle the years of neglect and weeds spreading from neighbors lawns.

Height of cut is definitely specific to your turf type, and glad to hear oyu're starting to see some results! I'm guessing you have a cool season grass which can look awesome like that. Mine is Bermuda so it thrives at 1" or less. I'd love to get it even shorter but I'll have to buy a reel mower as this is as low as my rotary mower gets.

As I said above, I'm no lawn nerd - but the best thing I ever did was to set the (push) mower to the highest setting. May have to mow slightly more often, but the grass looks so much healthier and even.

Only the top 1/3 of a Bermuda leaf is green while the bottom 2/3 is brown so letting it get too long not only looks bad but introduces risk of fungus. Keeping it less than an 1" keeps it nice and compact and green.

When we first bought this house, I actually put in a lot of effort on the lawn. I was constantly pulling weeds and foreign grass. Then the drought that lasted years began and I stopped watering the lawn and started neglecting it. It was beautiful fluffy stuff at first. But I have since let go. Cobwebs all over my lawnmower in the garage. Too bad.

We had Bermuda grass, I think. What kind of grass is yours?

Sorry to hear. Yes, mine is tifway Bermuda. I water twice a week with a 7 zone irrigation system to keep it lush during the texas summer. The kids help with raking in the fall and pulling weeds in the spring.

Your lawn looks really great!

Was pretty motivated years ago when the rolled sod was new and the lawn looked perfect and people stopped by to check whether it is real.Had a reel mower at that time and was fertilizing regularly. Meanwhile, with the kids from the whole neighborhood hobby horsing through our garden I actually gave up.

I'm moving to a reel mower at some point. i want to putt on my damn front yard

Your place looks epic af dude!!

I have a big problem with little poison oak fuckers sprouting up everywhere in my backyard. I always mow the lawn wearing shorts and flip-flops and those little assholes end up getting me every time

Gotta get those New Balances going for proper yardcare

[Dave]

I'm usually a lawn nut but lately, I'm not feeling it. Got a lot of work to do.

It doesn't look like it'd take much to get it back in shape. Force yourself to push through the mental block and get some Vitamin D and fresh air.

I wish I could get my lawn to look like that, I suck at lawncare. Most of my grass is yellowed, crab grass growing but at least I keep it mowed on the reg

It's really just a bit of elbow grease, and dedication. It's not an overnight change and you just have to stay on it throughout the entire year. One season to kill off all the existing weeds and crabgrass, one season to overseed it, applying pre-emergent at the right times, and fertilizing and mowing once you have it going.

Beautiful lawn Dave! Oh dang, I think I would be THAT neighbor...

I live in CA, where we have been in a drought for as long as I can remember, like 40 years. I mean, it's basically desert on the coastline.
Nobody has nice lawns here, except them new-fangled plastic ones, lol. We actually get money back at tax time for water-conservation. I had grandpa rocks for the first decade, and we recently put in pavers, walls, and steps.

Haha my father in law lives in Escondido and suffers from the same thing. He has pictures of his meticulously maintained property just going to shit over the years due to the drought and water restrictions

So he's gone the paver and desert landscape route too. Done right it looks really good! Either way, my neighbor is just a fat lazy asshole redneck and doesn't care for his property at all. The only thing he cares for are his Ram truck and his Hardley.

[thisguy]

I previously lived in a subdivision with an HOA an you still had to deal with that nonsense. Now I live in the country and driving down the road the houses range from really nice to trash dumps and everything in-between. At least I don't waste money on a HOA that doesn't get enforced though.

[K-Bizzle]

HOA takes care of all of it here and I love it. Makes my life easy and I don't have to own any equipment.

[Dave]

I previously lived in a subdivision with an HOA an you still had to deal with that nonsense. Now I live in the country and driving down the road the houses range from really nice to trash dumps and everything in-between. At least I don't waste money on a HOA that doesn't get enforced though.

We came from an HOA and I'll never go back. I take pride in taking care of my house/yard and don't need an additional layer of people telling me what to do. Aside from my next door neighbor, everyone self manages well.

HOA takes care of all of it here and I love it. Makes my life easy and I don't have to own any equipment.

csb

[Landshark]

my life would be a lot easier if my neighbors would try some Weed N Feed .... dandelion hell across the street, weird creeping weeds next door

waiting for my riding mower and lawn mower to die so i can get battery-powered ones ... but they will not die.

[Dave]

my life would be a lot easier if my neighbors would try some Weed N Feed .... dandelion hell across the street, weird creeping weeds next door

waiting for my riding mower and lawn mower to die so i can get battery-powered ones ... but they will not die.

I spray weed killer about a foot in to my neighbor's shitty yard to keep his dandelions and such at bay. Seems to have worked.

How much lawn are you mowing? Seems the battery powered mowers are more suited to smaller yards, not replacing riding mowers

[GuitarBilly]

We came from an HOA and I'll never go back.

This x a million.

I'd rather be homeless than deal with a HOA.

I had to deal with it for a while when I lived with my ex and it was awful, they kept sending letters about shit that didn't even matter.

Everyone I know that lives in one has problems.

One of my most basic requirements on a new house is no HOA.
I had to buy in an older neighborhood in Vegas because all newer developments had a HOA and that's a deal breaker for me.

[K-Bizzle]

We came from an HOA and I'll never go back.

This x a million.

I'd rather be homeless than deal with a HOA.

I had to deal with it for a while when I lived with my ex and it was awful, they kept sending letters about shit that didn't even matter.

Everyone I know that lives in one has problems.

One of my most basic requirements on a new house is no HOA.
I had to buy in an older neighborhood in Vegas because all newer developments had a HOA and that's a deal breaker for me.

Yeah would have loved to not have one but the house we totally loved was part of one so it is what it is. If the market was less competitive down here we’d probably have tried to hold out and be more picky. Everything else was exactly what we wanted and then some with this place so we accepted the HOA as a necessary evil.

That said this is such a non intrusive HOA compared to my condo HOA in Chicago. Assuming there isn’t some massive bullshit coming down the line this one is a dream compared to the shit show of my last HOA.