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

I just came in from mowing . I don't have what I would call a huge yard, but 3 acres, and it is all grass.
I like to mow, It is good quiet time for me, just the hum of the tractor , and my own thoughts . No phone calls and the kid and the wife can't bug me . It is peaceful .
That being said, it does take a whole day away from my life every week . About 4 hours to mow, another few hours to trim, then, all the tractor maintenance, raking leaves, picking up sticks, all that fun stuff . I enjoy my time out there working, but when I sit back and think about it, that is time that I could be doing something other than work. I always thought I wanted some property, but lately, I have been thinking about when we make our move out of here, will I want all the hassles of maintaining a large plot or not .
I finally got my 10 year old to start running the tractor, so I may be looking at getting some of my time back .

We have 10 acres. 9 acres are mowed. It takes about 3.5hrs with a zero-turn. Wouldn't have it any other way.

10 acres in the Sonoran desert...beautiful and takes care of itself. If you have 3 acres of grass to mow it is your own fault.

Acre and a half in the country, only about an acre is in my fences and mow-able. Pay a guy $50 every 2 weeks in the summer to mow and edge it. Recently was given a riding mower and my son is showing interest, so I've been teaching him how to chase snakes :)

Will eventually end up with Mom's place - 5.5 acres, but mostly wooded. Currently MASSIVE garden that is always under going changes. When it becomes mine, the citrus, plums and peaches will stay but the pretty garden spots will be redone one last time to low-maintenance stuff - she currently spends 8-10 hours a week on taking care of it, but it is worth it.

A shot from next door neighbors house - the pond you can see the edge of is 4-5 acres and produced some big bass (14lbs 13oz is record). Went dry a few years ago but has been restocked and is on the way back. About 10 feet deep in middle.

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I have a half acre. No way. Too much damn work. Between leaves, lawns, weeds, trees and all the rest there's no way. And that's just a half acre. I've spent the last five years cutting down trees, clearing brush and garbage plant matter, getting rid of leaves to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds I don't ever want to do it again. The one upside is I've added a wood boiler and I will (or whoever buys the place will) have at least a couple of winters of totally free heating if they want to. All the chopped down / cut up trees will help and now the lot is much sunnier and open, but what a hellluva road to get to this point.

Can't wait to move out of here and get myself a little townhouse somewhere warm. I'm done with this kind of nonsense. I get no enjoyment whatsoever from it!

Pay a guy!

When we had a house, we had a small yard, but still, mowing, edging, etc... took 2 or 3 hours depending, and it's darn hot here. I think we were paying a lawn company $25 a week (4 times a month through probably 8 months of the year). I think about 5 or 6 guys (2 mowers, 2 edgers and a blower) would hit my yard and be done in about 7 mins. Best $25/wk I ever spent.

But then in PA, you may not have super cheap lawn guys from south of the border like we do here in TX.

Large lots without a reason makes no sense to me. I understand having a buffer, but that can be had with a few acres at the most. We have 4 acres, but most of it consists of pastures dedicated to horses, an arena, round pen and an 8 stall barn. There is probably one acre that makes up actual front and back yards combined. If we didn't have horses we would probably be living in a nice sub-division. I'm with P-O-P on this one.

57 acres, but only mow about 5 or so. Takes about 8 hours (lots of trees and buildings - a zero turn would have saved some time). I also enjoy the solitude and exercise (push about 4 hours worth), but this year I found that I was really getting exhausted. Beats running the snowblower and shoveling everyday in the winter.

2-3 hours of push mowing each week. sucks.

Not large lots, but we've lived on an acre lot in 5-6 houses over the years. Took several hours to maintain.

Now we live on a 1/8 acre and it takes 15 minutes to cut the grass.

We have 160 acres. We keep the part close to the house trimmed and the other 155 or so acres, we cut with a haybine and a combine once a year. What we miss, the cows get.

We have an unobstructed view if the Rockies. The closest neighbor is 3/4 of a mile away... I would not have it any other way.

When shopping for retirement property, I told my realtor: At least 2 acres, no more than 5. Ended up with 3. Mow and sprinkler system for about 1/2 of that. Only takes a few hours on a rider. Certainly would do it again. Don't mind mowing at all.

Bush hog?

1/3 acre, all hillside. We have our gardener do brush clearance Every May or June and he comes once every two months for general yard stuff. I did brush clearance once when I first bought the house and it kicked my fat ass. Never again. Now I own the house two doors down, my gardener is happier because he has one more to do. I thank him each time I see him. Yard work is no fun.

No way. I can not imagine wasting time mowing 3-4 acres of boring lawn every week. I have 2 1/2 acres and I planted a bunch of trees. About 3/4 an acre is wild forest, 1/4 acre is my garden plot. The house, buildings, driveways, flower beds, patio, and koi pond may cover 1/2 acre. I can mow the grass I have 30-40 minutes.
Japanese beetles are banes of farmer and gardeners around here, and they LOVE to lay their eggs in cropped lawns, so I hate to see expanses of mowed lawn around here. The beetles voracious eaters. They descended on one of my dwarf apple trees and stripped it bare in less than a day. We have 2 to 5 acre lots around here and some guys are so uncreative they just mow it all.

Seems like a waste of time. I know it is common. How about growing a pasture and moving it twice a year for hay / feed? Would that be crazy?

I don't even have time to mow my 0.2 acres. My wife does with a push mower. :D

G

I hate mowing, but I love the compost. Just bought 15 acres on a lake in NY. All wooded. Will only clear enough to build house, garage, and garden. Only grass over the leech field. Mowing sucks and should be as small as possible.

Buy a wooded lot. I am on 20 acres but only have about. 1/2 acres to mow. And that's in the middle out of sight from the road and neighbors so yard work is about one hour every month or so. Too many other things I would rather be doing than yard work.

40 years with a reasonable sized lawn to mow and trim was enough. I like doing yard work and like you said, I did some of my best thinking walking behind the mower but we retired to a small house in SC with NO lawn and I don't miss mowing. Got lots of green out back that someone else mows, but the yard is mulch.

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I actually enjoyed doing yard work. My lot is not large, about 1/4 acre.
My house was a pile of dirt with a house on it in 1975....one look and I said we can handle this.

I did. but I was younger then. Now days it's all I can do to keep up with it....my yout had deserted me. Keeping in shape is one good thing, but is a major PITA some days.
Just a WAG, but many here will be headed for that situation.

3 Acres, I pay $50/cut. And a pool, with extensive landscaping. Wouldn't do it again, dowsizing soon, I hate being a slave to the yard.

I thought you were headed south?

Primary home in NJ - virtually no lawn, almost 0 maintenance. Weekender country home in PA - 13.5 Acres, about 2-3 of "lawn" and the rest woods. Takes about 2 hours to cut the "lawn" area, then another .5-1 hour if I want to clean up all the tight spots with push mower/trimmer. I usually do those tight spots every other mow...looks good enough for me. In the early growing season the "lawn" needs cutting every week, but that lasts for about a month, then it can be done every other week.

I enjoy running the equipment and being outside. I can always hire it out if I get sick of it. Over the last four years I've cleaned up alot of the wooded areas, dug trenches to improve drainage and created trails where I can walk my dogs, ride a little MX bike, visit our pond, etc. When we bought the place this was all overgrown, muddy and you could not walk around and enjoy the property.

I would do it again, but if my wife and I happen to tire of the place we can sell it and be content with the knowledge that we've done a lot to improve the property.

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That place is beautiful Jacob .

23 acres, mostly treed and trails, maybe 1-1/2 acres lawn. The kids cut the lawn with a 54" JD and they fight over their turn. The couple fields (say 5 acres) I bush hog once/twice a year with the big tractor, going to teach the 15yr/old boy to do it this year.
I know the edges look a little ragged but I only trim around the house, I might do the whole yard once a year.

I used to have a 3 hole golf course, but the upkeep got old PDQ.

To the OP's question would I do it again, yes, I absolutely hate the city.

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.

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Never again. was fun at one point now its time to downsize. Better things to do than lookin after 28 acres and an old farm house. Gonna be 75 next b'day.

[QUOTE=jwasbury;9184311]Primary home in NJ - virtually no lawn, almost 0 maintenance. Weekender country home in PA - 13.5 Acres, about 2-3 of "lawn" and the rest woods. Takes about 2 hours to cut the "lawn" area, then another .5-1 hour if I want to clean up all the tight spots with push mower/trimmer. I usually do those tight spots every other mow...looks good enough for me. In the early growing season the "lawn" needs cutting every week, but that lasts for about a month, then it can be done every other week.

That is a big house to keep clean. Dusting, vacuuming etc. in addition to the yard work. My wife and I agree that we keep the house as long as possible(which includes large pie shape lot). If one of us goes first prematurely then the one remaining can hire somebody if need be. OTOH a yard/acreage can keep you in shape!:)

Gonna be 70 this August. BIL says that is a big one. Party time on birthday. Wife wants it catered...:D

We have a little more than 10 acres with...I guess around 3 acres that needs mowing (maybe more because it takes me a lot longer than most report here for a lawn that size). It is typical in size for my area...even small houses and mobile homes sit out in the middle of a field/pasture. Even with a big JD zero-turn it takes me most of a day to mow and trim. It rains enough that it needs it every week for much of the year. If I were retired, it might be different, but with a long work day and a very long commute, I am pretty exhausted on the weekend already and have other stuff to do. If I go on a short trip and come home...I dread coming back and trying to mow as it is so tall that I have to go over it a couple times (an all day job) before going back to work. I had thought to plant a garden and add to the landscaping...but just maintaining this takes too much time.

About 1.5 hours to cut the grass. Would we do it again? You bet.:)http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1467563542.jpg
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What does that pencil out to a grass growing season in Edmonton, 10 hours total mowing time:)

Cool place.

1.5 hours a week as we have had a lot of rain. May til middle of October so approx 22 times 1.5 = 33 hours a year. Wife likes convenience of close shops, doctors, hospitals, etc.
Yes it is cool in winter too! Too cold.

^much depends on how "clean" you want it to be. There are rooms that only see seasonal use (like a stove room that really only gets used in the winter when we burn wood). Those spaces require almost no maintenance in the summer. Large house not filled to capacity doesn't really need to be cleaned as frequently. The dust, dirt and dog hair have more room to spread out:D

Regarding time to mow...helps to have good tools. JD 420 with a 60" cut eats a lot of grass relatively quickly:
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Personally I need the space...my neighbors are half mile away. I would trade my old office workplace environment for being outside mowing and trimming any day.

We have 10 acres in the country surrounded by corn/soybean/wheat fields with plenty of woods/trees interspersed. We mow about 3 acres, which includeds almost 1000' of road frontage ditches, and close to 1000' off the road in places. I view mowing time as a small price to pay for such a wonderful (neigbor free) country place. I mow with a John Deere 955 diesel 4x4 with foot control hydro, power steering, and a 72" mid mower, so it doesn't take long to take out large swaths of tall grass. I do all my trimming with roundup, and have a pushmower, but hardly ever use it....no string trimmer. We have black mulch around all the trees and landscaping to make it very easy to mow around things. At some point, this property will be become too much to handle by myself, but at 51 Y.O., i'm hoping that will be anouter 25 years.

28 acres...... 1/2 of it woods. Neighbor hays one field. I bush hog another field every other year.
My wife mows around the house with a 21" self propelled push mower. Takes her about an hour. I mow 2 places either side of the driveway and down by the garage (about 1 &1/4 hours) with a tractor and 3 point hitch finish mower.
Would I do it again........well I don't ever plan on moving but.... yup i'd do it again .
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18 acres a mile out of Los Angeles City limits. Most is canyons and brush. Illegal Gardner mows an acre or so.

After an eternity of mowing my dad's lawn, and swearing I'd NEVER maintain a lawn, I stupidly decided to go buy a 5 acre property.

I think it all boils down to priorities. The house "was what it was" and that meant adopting a big lawn. In one sense, mowing the grass is a hassle and a big waste of time and money. On the other hand, I've lived on small plots too, in city settings, and in small suburban lots. They come with their own set of obstacles- HOA's, Neighbors, thieves, vandals, etc.. (This is all under the understanding that these are issues worthy of the "first world problems" thread:D

Au naturale? Sure. I love wooded low maintenance lots. Living under a bunch of older trees that could drop through the house like knives though hot butter- not so much. BTDT. My last house had two neighbor's houses destroyed by trees falling. My own house had two "just" miss the house as they dropped in hurricanes. Luckily no one got killed. Even so- tree removal needs to be factored in the big picture of lawn maintenance.

It comes down to level of commitment too- for example- An earlier post in this thread mentions planting lower maintenance plants. My wife is all into annuals. That's her gig.
Me- perennials (if anything). I'm too busy trying to keep the jungle mowed. If we lived in a small lot, we'd probably spend the same amount of time keeping a smaller lot to a higher standard.

One thing that has made acreage a breeze is a tow behind offset finish mower. My rig has a 10+ foot finish cut swath. I can finish the lawn in about 30- 45 minutes depending on how detailed I want to get. I love it, well- until I hit a stump last week and bent a spindle. Guess what I will be fixing tomorrow (another first world thread addition!) :D

So yeah- lawn maintenance has the additional hassle of equipment upkeep. I read this thread tonight after wetsanding the tins on my older garden tractor!

In conclusion, yeah- if it's on your terms, it can be fun and therapeutic. If it's a chore, its a chore, but something is going to grow. If not grass, something else.. crappy neighbors.. etc....http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1467592802.jpg
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I've got a suburban 20K sq ft lot 30 min from LA and 45 min from the beaches. And no, I don't have to commute!

But that is the minimum for me - and I know for most of you guys that's a postage stamp. But I have no neighbors that can look into my yard, and I also don't have to hear anyone. I pay $120 a month to mow and blow and do some minimal trimming, and I enjoy doing the rest.

I can't imagine taking care of 10 acres, but then again, you probably wouldn't like living on my "postage stamp." To each their own. Good luck!

I am the "lawn mowing guy".

Well sort of. I mow the lawns at my rentals as part of the deal. What it really is, is I get to keep an eye on the places. All the lawns are tiny so I've done half a dozen lawns in half a day.