"Guilt" is a negative emotion that serves no positive outcome.

I really need to dump mine.

Guilt is probably not the word for what the OP is asking anyway. There are too many adjectives in that camp.

I didn't realize my neighbors moved to Virginia. At least now I can enjoy my Beer while I'm sitting outside.

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Tell your neighbor he's welcome to apply herbicides and pesticides 'slightly' (6'?) over the property line, that way the weeds won't encroach.

Keep your yard 'decent', cut the grass, avoid citations from the HOA and you have fulfilled your residency obligations.

Don't try to keep up with the Joneses, just think of a "tidy" yard. I have neighbors that have tidy yards. They inspire me to not overdo it; just tidy.

Also, I have a gardener/service that comes every week and keeps it very nicely maintained. For me the two best "luxury" services are my lawn service ($120 per month) and the lady who cleans my house ($130 once a month). Both really take the maintenance burden off of me and allow me to use my time otherwise.

Yep, in our last home, we eventually discovered the joy of a lawn service that was $100/mo (this was <2014). They ended up doing a large portion of our neighborhood. They generally had 5-7 guys going at one time. IIRC, 2 mowers, 2 weedeaters, 1 or 2 blowers. They did a great job on mow, edge, blow. I timed it more than once, and it took them ~7 mins to do the whole yard and be gone. It was fantastic! The same job took me 2 hours.

We tried 2 or 3 other people before we stumbled across them, and the others did not do a good job.

We also tried 2 or 3 house cleaners, and had problems with all of them.

my partner is the yard person in my household. i hate yard work, the trade off is that i love snow removal. i do like what they do with hostas, tulips and other perennials. they have also taken to investing in the mycelial network of the yard, to great effect.

Maybe ask your neighbors for some ideas around some low-maintenance landscaping? Everybody wins when people work together.

Nope, I would not feel guilty at all. I got that ***** out of my system long ago. Those old folks must not have had done very much yard work when they were younger, so they need to catch up to the rest of us. Their program does not constitute the need for me to do any yard work, period.

With that said, I will start the weed whacker anytime she asks.

I have been mowing and edging my yard pretty much all my life. I mowed yards for cash as a kid, and dad only insisted his was mowed as rent on his mower. Once I moved into my house, I had the green perfect lawn in the area. 18 rose bushes, and the place looked nice. Now, several decades later I still mow and edge as a free form of exercise. My neighbor hires a crew to do his yard in short order, and they do a great job. Then he got to a gym and pays a lot of money to exercise.

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My master gardener wife keeps planting flowering plants and plants to attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. It gets freaky in the fall with all the butterflies in the yard.

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Monarch caterpillars devour the milkweed.

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The walkway up to the front porch from the driveway.

I never try to keep up with the Jones, one neighbour is always reseeding his lawn, building a gazebo, putting up led lights, the other side bought into the house with a $50k landscaped yard. Me I cut my lawn, then go tinker with my cars…

I do feel like my lawn looks like shat compared to theirs, but I’m not going to kill myself to try to “keep up”

it still blows my mind that middle america loves the aesthetic popularized by French royalty, and breaks their back to achieve it. instead of native plants and ground coverings, a sign of wealth and prosperity is imitating french kings.

i am not a yard person, lol.

For those of you who feel your lawns do not compare well with those of your neighbors, realize that your understated tidyness establishes a context by which their efforts may be presented to best effect. By not competing, you are doing them a great favor. :cool:

Best
Les

People who live in nice neighborhoods
should maintain their property in a manner
consistent with the neighborhoods.

To do otherwise detracts from the neighborhood
and neighbor's property values.
Not to mention giving others around them reasons to
resent their presence if not existence.

For people are comfortable with their property appearing
unmaintained and unkept, there are plenty of
neighborhoods in most areas where that is the norm
and they will fit right in.
And here's the good part, those areas tend to be
much less expensive.
WIN WIN

I think the word community applies here. Being part of a community carries responsibilities and respect for others around you.

I don't blame you for not wanting to do yard work. Hire a local landscaping company to make sure you live up to the community standards. Easy. Done. Everyone's happy.

Find a reliable landscape guy., tell him how many hours you want to spend a week on maintenance.

I’m headed to weed cloth and river stone for a lot, with one “English garden” that I can fuss with.

^^^ I'm in the process of turning a weekly trimming, edging, mowing PITA driveway median, and annual tree trimming ritual into a no maintenance zone... got a couple more stumps to remove today, spend another grand, etc. Then .... "no mas" :)

This is at my parents ... I maintain a tidy front lawn, but nuthin' fancy .... Keeping up with the Glen's .... I couldn't if I tried!

Some got it ... some don't...

I don't...

I put shrubs in which outgrow any weeds and once a year I just raze everything back to sticks with a hedge trimmer. Takes 15 minutes per year tops. If I wanna tidy up the beds between the shrubs, I just mow right over all the plants with the lawnmower on full blast - takes 5 minutes.

It takes longer to mow my lawn than it does to maintain my shrub beds.

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I put up cedar hedges (now 6 ft. tall) so I don't have to look at my neighbours yard and they don't have to look at mine.
I wouldn't want to look at your yard.