I hate cutting the grass

ditchdigger wrote: My lawn typically looks like this.

Holy crap, you have a Berlina sprouting up! Don't mow just yet, see if some more sprout.

I love getting to cruise around on the lawnmower when the acreage needs a mowin'. Nothing more relaxing!

I have a small front yard, and the back yard is dominated by two largish concrete "pads" that once were used as foundations for garages....even tho they are NOT next to each other (WTF?). Anyway, I want to turn one of the the "pads" into more lawn (I always was a bit of an idiot) or more garden. Either way, my back yard will become more work intensive than it currently is.

BTW, EastCoastMojo, you might want to try some "weed and seed", maybe you can cultivate a Ferrari in the grass?

I enjoy mowing our grass. It's moderately good exercise for a old fart like me, I don't have to answer the phone,doesn't take much thinking & when I've finished, I easily see what I've accomplished.

SWMBO also enjoys mowing the grass the for same reasons.

Guess who mowes our grass.

I jog behind my push mower, and use it as a substitute for doing 30 minutes of cardio at the gym.

3 acres. All grass. I've got a crappy riding mower that I got for free from a friend 6 years ago. It was a rusty non-running POS, now it runs, but still rusty.

I hate it. I'll push snow, I'll rake leaves, change my oil, change brakes, vacuum... I'm the last guy in line to collect the $10 my dad pays to do the lawn. When I get my own place, I'm either finding a kid in the neighborhood looking to make a buck or getting a cheap riding mower.

Although I just got done doing it today so that he would pay to put gas in the car to get back to school.

This time of year I actually enjoy it. Mid July? Not so much.

I can push it in under an hour. My 12yo can push it in under 2. His pay is food and a roof to sleep under. Usually both of us get out there. I do the hard parts and weed eat while he pushes the easier parts. We're out of town this weekend, so it will get cut after work this week.

I berkeleying HATE mowing.

Two weeks ago, the neighbor was getting their lawn done, and I was at work. My father-in-law caught them and asked them how much. $35 front and rear... he said go for it!

I got home to freshly mowed lawn, and one less thing I had to berkeley with that weekend. GLORIOUS!

What's more, is that they said the yard was smaller than expected so they'd only charge $25, and that they'd leave a business card in the mailbox their next time through. Great!

Fast forward two weeks, and my neighbors grass was freshly cut Friday. I anxiously ran to the mailbox like a kid at Christmas. I cast aside the bills, coupons, Thank You letters and Easter cards. What the berkeley is this E36 M3? No business card.

Lawn company, I am disappoint.

Ok, there's the rub. I hate it, but how much? Do I hate it $100 a month, do I hate it $2,000 one-time, fun-to-watch robo mower? I don't know. I could see myself paying $25 a mow in the hottest parts of the summer though. There is a 6 week stretch when it's Africa-hot and I really hate mowing. That's also the time when rain is light so you can go 2 weeks easy without cutting, 3 sometimes. So, $100 for that 6-week period? Yeah.

In reply to DrBoost:

If it rains once a day or once every two weeks, my grass grows 6" every two weeks from Spring to Fall. $25 twice a month for 8 months is completely ok. I'd rather cancel cable. I might even try to flip a car once a year to cover the bill.

Yes I'm serious.

We pay. $60 every other week to turn our 1.25 acres into something presentable. I'm a cheap bastard and I hate paying it, but once I framed it as I get to buy back a Saturday for $60, then it seemed cheap.

Mine is mostly weeded over, which means it grows fast.

On that note - are there any grasses that are particularly slow growing? Our yard is also mostly weed (looks fine when it's mowed, looks like hell 10 days later). I would like to try to improve the grass to weed ratio, but not at the expense of more mowing. I was thinking fescue, but my wife swears it will require weekly mowing.

DILYSI Dave wrote: On that note - are there any grasses that are particularly slow growing? Our yard is also mostly weed (looks fine when it's mowed, looks like hell 10 days later). I would like to try to improve the grass to weed ratio, but not at the expense of more mowing. I was thinking fescue, but my wife swears it will require weekly mowing.

http://www.zoysias.com/

Zoysias has a lot of problems though.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/lawn-care/facts-about-zoysia-grass-zoysia-grass-problems.htm

It doesn't like my area

It will be green for at least 6 months of the year in the green area of the map. 4-6 months in the yellow and it might be green for a few months out of the year everywhere else.

Yeah, I checked that out. I'll look for something though. I'd have no problem tilling my yard to change to a different ground-cover.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I jog behind my push mower, and use it as a substitute for doing 30 minutes of cardio at the gym.

Same here - I get 45 min out of a mow along with some serious arm exercise trying to keep it from falling off the embankment when doing the back edge of my yard.

I am also maturing a 12yr plan I hatched back in 2000 to develop a small human to replace me as groundskeeper as soon as he develops the back muscles to keep the mower from falling into the woods. Training has begun.

Woody wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: On that note - are there any grasses that are particularly slow growing? Our yard is also mostly weed (looks fine when it's mowed, looks like hell 10 days later). I would like to try to improve the grass to weed ratio, but not at the expense of more mowing. I was thinking fescue, but my wife swears it will require weekly mowing.

http://www.zoysias.com/

common bermuda ... a sideways growing "weed" that doesn't grow upwards very much ... similar to zoysias ... lots of golf courses use it...

I usually have to cut mine once / twice in April... this yr I've already cut it 3 times and it's only April 8th

If you live in the Southeast, plant this.

http://www.centipedegrass.com/

You almost can't kill it, it grows sideways rather than up, and it kills weeds by throttling them to death.

The only problem is it will invade every flower bed in the yard.

Spent somewhere between 2 and 3 hours on the mower today. Made it 95% of the way, then the damn thing threw a belt. Since I've had this rusty, but free, POS I've always said that I will use it till it breaks then get a new mower. Now that is broken I think I will fix it. We'll see. Too bad Montgomery Wards isn't still around...maybe I could return it. LOL.

Tractor Supply which is like 5 miles from the house was closed for easter. Lowes was open, but it is more like 20 miles away. Got to go for a decent drive in the Mini on a beautiful day to go buy a new belt for the mower. The hardware that holds on the idler pulley fell off and the idler pulley and bracket went for a ride. Had to take a lot of stuff off to put the idler pulley back on. Got it all buttoned up and finished the grass.

Love cutting the grass this year! I decided to quit farting around, and I invested in a riding mower with a bagger (it's 30 years old, but runs great) and a new Stihl string trimmer. Along with the existing über-reliable Honda-powered push mower, cutting my lawn has never been faster or easier.

I always liked it... but today I mowed my OWN lawn with my OWN tractor for the first time. New home ownership, and a 1972 Bolens 18-horse lawn tractor.

I hate having an 1100 sq ft house on 1/3 acre with a cheap push mower........almost 1.5 hours to now, when speed mowing. Absolutely no trees or anything else in the backyard.