My wife and I love growing veggies so we took out all the grass, put in some stone paths and put vegetables everywhere. Even though we have a fairly small suburban lot we get a lot out of it. We also have 4 chickens so we get fresh eggs. Don’t even have a mower anymore.
@tweezak Love It! We have 6 hens, which are really producing a good deal more than we need at the moment. So we end up giving away and selling some. Finally putting together a front yard flower garden in addition to our older front side yard veggie garden (mostly arugula ).
@chienfou@mehvid1 There are downsides…they will decimate a garden, dig/eat just about everything they can reach or jump to. They poop everywhere (patio included). They tend to kick their food all over and that draws vermin. Since eggs are so cheap I sometimes wonder if all that is worth it.
@chienfou@tweezak Downsides to everything… even marriage(!), who knew?!
Yeah the poop on the patio is the only issue currently irking me. We moved our veggies to the side yard in the front and I now prefer that.
You mentioned vermin and food/feed being strewn about. Again, you’re not wrong, but if they’re not being over fed (not saying you do!), they should clean their “plates” (the space where they eat) before they go to “bed”.
Anyway, for me, it’s totally worth it. I hate going to the store and spending $1 knowing I’m contributing to a system where hens are crammed into a tiny space for 95% of their lives. Or spending $5 for something I could do at home. The in-between stuff then has me feeling some degree of guilt or like I’m overspending.
(guess I should have finished that sentence… In the coop/yard where they are fenced in…complete with electric fence to keep out predators and a fenced cover to keep out owls etc… )
run a tiller in there a couple of times a year and clear out my ‘earnings’.
@ELUNO
Fair question!! 1. Goats aren’t really grazers like sheep, cattle, and horses. Goats are more “browsers” in that they’ll eat a bite here, walk walk, another bite here, walk walk… and they really prefer brush, shrubbery, razor-wire like blackberry bushes, tree branches, and so on. 2. All but one of our current herd are babies, not even completely weaned yet, so they don’t have much impact on our acre of pasture grass, shrubs, and vicious blackberry razor wire. 3. We are extremely fortunate in current times that our income has not been significantly hit by the Quarantimes and we are trying to share that good fortune with small, local businesses. The goats adore the mower guy! Pretty sure they think he is a magic hay wizard.
@brennyn@DrWorm@f00l@mdiaz You also get to have fun with all the Roundup you’ll end up buying. My brother’s house is landscaped like this. No grass, just beds, gravel and decks. Maintaining that is a different type of work to keep it nice, but he doesn’t have to have a lawnmower. /shrug
There are ways of replacing ones trad lawn with no-maintenance or v low-maintenance alts which don’t reduce the prob value or heat things up in summer.
If someone wants to get rid of their yard maintenance issues w a permanent all, lots of options.
That said, I presume most of these remarks in favor of green-painted concrete “yards” are intended as humorous.
@brennyn Since someone resurrected this thread try astroturf. I had a neighbor who did that. Looked pretty nice actually (and I was surprised). A blower was all that was needed to clear off leaves, etc. My yard there was sand with a bit of moss in the front yard. In the back yard was this nasty thick, stops at 3" stuff that was supposed to be grass but I sort of doubted that based on how it felt to walk on - like short wires almost.
@brennyn@Kidsandliz Yeah, there’s a house a few blocks away from me that has astroturf, and it actually looks pretty real until you’re right above it! Only a strip that runs beside the house under trees; that’s all the yard they have.
I live in NW Oregon. Around here the trick isn’t getting things to grow, the trick is reducing the growth of all the other things that spring up that you don’t want, to give the things you do want a chance. I call it “Morbidly Fecund” and this time of year is the worst.
my method is “the rental company does it”
I’m trying to get grass to grow in my backyard. It’s my baby right now.
@ELUNO I wish you the best of luck on that. Right now, I’m trying to kill half of my lawn, the part that isn’t grass.
@rtjhnstn Mine was 80% weeds, but scott’s feed and weed was actually pretty good at dealing with that.
Reach for my wallet.
Townhouse condo living means having a lawn and never having to do any maintenance I don’t want to do.
My wife and I love growing veggies so we took out all the grass, put in some stone paths and put vegetables everywhere. Even though we have a fairly small suburban lot we get a lot out of it. We also have 4 chickens so we get fresh eggs. Don’t even have a mower anymore.
@tweezak Love It! We have 6 hens, which are really producing a good deal more than we need at the moment. So we end up giving away and selling some. Finally putting together a front yard flower garden in addition to our older front side yard veggie garden (mostly arugula ).
@mehvid1 @tweezak
chickens make the best ‘composters’. Grass clippings and kitchen s scraps in… Black gold out… Just sayin’
@chienfou @mehvid1 There are downsides…they will decimate a garden, dig/eat just about everything they can reach or jump to. They poop everywhere (patio included). They tend to kick their food all over and that draws vermin. Since eggs are so cheap I sometimes wonder if all that is worth it.
@chienfou @tweezak Downsides to everything… even marriage(!), who knew?!
Yeah the poop on the patio is the only issue currently irking me. We moved our veggies to the side yard in the front and I now prefer that.
You mentioned vermin and food/feed being strewn about. Again, you’re not wrong, but if they’re not being over fed (not saying you do!), they should clean their “plates” (the space where they eat) before they go to “bed”.
Anyway, for me, it’s totally worth it. I hate going to the store and spending $1 knowing I’m contributing to a system where hens are crammed into a tiny space for 95% of their lives. Or spending $5 for something I could do at home. The in-between stuff then has me feeling some degree of guilt or like I’m overspending.
@chienfou @mehvid1 Spoken like a true thrifty mehtizen.
@mehvid1 @tweezak
(guess I should have finished that sentence…
In the coop/yard where they are fenced in…complete with electric fence to keep out predators and a fenced cover to keep out owls etc… )
run a tiller in there a couple of times a year and clear out my ‘earnings’.
/youtube Welcome to the jungle
Everything but mow. Ain’t my cup of tea. I’d prefer my lawn would be clover, moss and wildflowers.
I prefer to employ the scorched earth methodology.
Although to be fair, I don’t own a yard.
Let it grow to knee height - weed whack to ankle height, then mow. Swear we’ll keep up on the yard work.
2 weeks later, let it grow to knee height - weed whack to ankle height, then mow. Swear we’ll keep up on the yard work.
2 weeks later… lather, rinse, repeat.
I don’t spray the weeds. Anything green is ‘lawn’ around here once it’s mowed.
We pay a guy with big sharp loud machines that fascinate our goats. (Both humans have bad allergies to cut grass.)
@Clumber Why don’t the goats mow the lawn?
@ELUNO
Fair question!! 1. Goats aren’t really grazers like sheep, cattle, and horses. Goats are more “browsers” in that they’ll eat a bite here, walk walk, another bite here, walk walk… and they really prefer brush, shrubbery, razor-wire like blackberry bushes, tree branches, and so on. 2. All but one of our current herd are babies, not even completely weaned yet, so they don’t have much impact on our acre of pasture grass, shrubs, and vicious blackberry razor wire. 3. We are extremely fortunate in current times that our income has not been significantly hit by the Quarantimes and we are trying to share that good fortune with small, local businesses. The goats adore the mower guy! Pretty sure they think he is a magic hay wizard.
There are people for that. They deserve to make a living.
I’m happy to contribute, so that I can spend my free time posting on Meh…
Step 1) Spray yard with grass killer
Step 2) Cover yard with gravel
Step 3) Never worry about the yard again
@brennyn There was a pretty famous house in my old neighborhood that removed the lawn and replaced it with asphalt. Then painted the asphalt green.
@brennyn @mdiaz
I bet playing croquet there was a bitch!
@brennyn @mdiaz
I have been threatening to do that for years. My wife says “you don’t really want that”, but I honestly think I would be okay with it.
@brennyn @DrWorm @mdiaz
If you wanna fry in summer heat, ithat “concrete yard” a great idea.
Also reduces the value of your house on the market.
@brennyn @DrWorm @f00l @mdiaz You also get to have fun with all the Roundup you’ll end up buying. My brother’s house is landscaped like this. No grass, just beds, gravel and decks. Maintaining that is a different type of work to keep it nice, but he doesn’t have to have a lawnmower. /shrug
@f00l The heat level of your yard only matters if you’re standing outside on your yard all day.
@brennyn @j37hr0
There are ways of replacing ones trad lawn with no-maintenance or v low-maintenance alts which don’t reduce the prob value or heat things up in summer.
If someone wants to get rid of their yard maintenance issues w a permanent all, lots of options.
That said, I presume most of these remarks in favor of green-painted concrete “yards” are intended as humorous.
I’m no worshipper of yardwork or of trad yards.
@brennyn Since someone resurrected this thread try astroturf. I had a neighbor who did that. Looked pretty nice actually (and I was surprised). A blower was all that was needed to clear off leaves, etc. My yard there was sand with a bit of moss in the front yard. In the back yard was this nasty thick, stops at 3" stuff that was supposed to be grass but I sort of doubted that based on how it felt to walk on - like short wires almost.
@brennyn @Kidsandliz Yeah, there’s a house a few blocks away from me that has astroturf, and it actually looks pretty real until you’re right above it! Only a strip that runs beside the house under trees; that’s all the yard they have.
@brennyn @Kidsandliz (Wow, that spam that resurrected this thread got zapped fast!)
I want to grow weed in my yard but they arrest you for doing that around here.
@BobsWorld Blaze it.
Mow, rake, bail.
All that, plus pest control.
I live in NW Oregon. Around here the trick isn’t getting things to grow, the trick is reducing the growth of all the other things that spring up that you don’t want, to give the things you do want a chance. I call it “Morbidly Fecund” and this time of year is the worst.