For those of you with large yards, would you do it again ?

[dan79brooklyn]

I have maybe 500 feet of lawn and garden. Luckily I only need a Fiskars push mower to mow the lawn. The garden needs a few minutes of daily attention. I like to have both the lawn and the garden and I enjoy the time spent outdoors.
With that said I'm glad my outdoor space only requires 1-2 hours of attention a week.
I like low maintenance, I can spend more time in the hammock enjoying the garden.

[rusnak]

Man, you push mower guys are plain nuts.

I believe in machinery as well as keeping the neighbors a good distance away.

[bpu699]

We have 5 acres...2 of it is woods, with privacy in all directions...

Takes 2 hours to cut the grass...an hour of trimming...

Bought one of those towable gad leaf vacuums those things are great. Clear all the leaves in 2 hours, done for the season...

I wouldn't want a flat featureless 5 acre lot. But 5 acres with a stream, woods, a brook, and woodlands in al directions is pretty Awesome...

Bo

[ckelly78z]

With 10 acres of mixed pastureland, woods, an mowable grass, I have not raked one single leaf in 21 years of living here, nor, have I ever trimmed around everything with a push mower or string trimmer. Usuaully the Winter winds blow all the leaves into the next county, and the weeds are taken care of by a liberal dousing of roundup. We routinely drive heavy equipment across the yard, have bonfires for all the limbs/waste, and don't bother with doggie poop removal either......the yard looks good, but it ain't no showplace, or claims to be so.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Very timely subject. My wife and I have been pondering this very subject given the fact that both our mowers, uh, children have graduated college and are no longer reliable slave labor

Just mowing everything is a four hour event minimum unless we run two mowers, which I have. We mow the ditch lines as well. When the paddocks need to be mowed add another 2 1/2 hours.

Mowing is in addition to the spraying, liming, fertilizing (safe stuff) and over seeding every year.

We also have two horses and board another two.

My wife and I have been talking to the Maryland Natural Resources folks about transitioning a lot of the farm to native plants and grasses. We are also budgeting for hired help.

I would do it again with a much better understanding of the tools involved to manage the place. I would also have developed a better long term strategy, which is what we are doing now.

Damn. Horses and waterfront. I'd kill for that place.

Only 7 acres here, 2 horses. Only mow an area of about 1 acre, and the pastures get cut once a month.

[RKDinOKC]

Grew up mowing Dad's lawn of 1 acre riding his tractor after subtracting the large garden area, 100'x150' which I also did all the work. Mowing took about 2 to 3 hours including the edging and trimming. What wasn't garden was fruit trees.

After my Dad passed we let the large garden area go back to grass. Also sold the "tractor" and got a riding mower. It was one of those with a single 39" blade. The blade tips spun so fast they were almost supersonic and cut like magic. Could mow with it in top gear, 9 mph and it still looked like a golfing green. Mowing and edging time went down to just 45 minutes!

[bpu699]

For those of you with lots of grass... Do you fertilize? That gets expensive...

We prune all the trees ourselves, fertilize every once in a while...

[jyl]

I'm into minimizing time spent doing boring stuff. Mowing grass is boring. I think so, anyway. Given a choice, would you choose to spend the afternoon (1) mowing grass, or (2) reading, riding, shooting, napping, watching, etc. If you would always choose (1) every week or every two weeks, then I guess big tended yards are okay. If course you can simply pay someone. But $100/mo invested at 5% for 30 years is $80K.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by bpu699

For those of you with lots of grass... Do you fertilize? That gets expensive...

We prune all the trees ourselves, fertilize every once in a while...

I don't...but it still needs mowing every week.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by jyl

I'm into minimizing time spent doing boring stuff. Mowing grass is boring. I think so, anyway. Given a choice, would you choose to spend the afternoon (1) mowing grass, or (2) reading, riding, shooting, napping, watching, etc. If you would always choose (1) every week or every two weeks, then I guess big tended yards are okay. If course you can simply pay someone. But $100/mo invested at 5% for 30 years is $80K.

It would cost $125-150 a week to get a 3 acre plot mowed and trimmed here

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by bpu699

For those of you with lots of grass... Do you fertilize? That gets expensive...

I fertilize once a year. In late June after the spring growing spurt:

Today, July 4, I had a choice of yard work or go sit in traffic on the Freeway. No contest.

[unclebilly]

Our field of 'gold' this afternoon. Too bad the clouds are obscuring the Rockies today.