re: #196 thedopefishlives

My neighborhood, in general, is obsessive about their own yards, but thankfully, no one’s said a word to me about mine. It’s more of a personal preference thing, as I don’t like dandelions and my wife wants me to spray down the thistles that have taken root alongside the dandelions and other assorted broadleaf weeds. I did have a neighbor who would make a point of chewing me out if I let my yard get even a micron longer than what she liked. So, of course, I let it grow pretty much the entire summer. I think I mowed that yard maybe twice that year.

Mowing wasn’t really the big issue. I had rocky/clay soil that didn’t grow much well. Early spring was wild onion in the front and violets in the shade in the back. Followed by the dandelions all over. And then the plantain and a few other broadleaf weeds. The grass just sort of filled in a straggly way. It took about 30 minutes or less to mow due to the fairly small size of the yard.

I drove the neighbors nuts by not trimming my privet hedges often enough. And then every 3-4 years I cut them down to about 6” tall. Which was ugly and disturbed them*, without them understanding that it’s the only way to bring an overgrown hedge back under control. Plus it’s good for the hedge as a way to get at and take out really old growth.

Since I lived downhill from the street and half the neighbors the hedge was a needed privacy thing. Though I was working towards altering things by the time I moved. (Daylily in 2-3 places and growing morning glories up the side of the house on a wire mesh every year to shade a south facing brick wall. The latter seeded all over the place, including the yard.)

*- It also looked like I had surrounded my yard with punji stakes.