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

[fastfredracing]

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 .

[Red88Carrera]

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

[Reiver]

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.

[id10t]

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.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

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!

[masraum]

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.

[Rodsrsr]

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.

[devodave]

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.

[pavulon]

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

[A930Rocket]

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.

[unclebilly]

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.

[LakeCleElum]

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.

[Arizona_928]

Bush hog?

[look 171]

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.

[wdfifteen]

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.

[aigel]

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.

G

[mreid]

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.

[BK911]

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.

[porsche tech]

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.

[J P Stein]

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.