I don’t have a big 
yard. The yard is mostly lawn, so I do quite a bit of lawn maintenance every couple of weeks, or so. I use electric everything, from mower, trimmer, hedger, vacuum, and blower. I guess there’s a fair bit of cable management there, too. 🙂
I used to “outsource” this task when I first bought the house. I paid a local help $85/month to mow and clean up. However, they’re not thorough with the “clean up” part. I have leaves, hedge, flowers, and trees to maintain. He wanted to charge more for it. He also ran up my water bill by increasing the watering times. Moreover, during cold months, the grass hardly grew, so why would he need to show up every week?
So after a year of service, I told him he was no longer needed.
After maintaining my own yard for more than 3 years, I understand the difficulty. It’s back breaking. It makes my allergies act up. It’s time consuming. It’s frustrating to deal with weeds, crabgrass, etc. It’s rough working with the irrigation system. I fought the lawn, and the lawn (sometimes) won!
But, in the end, the result is worth it! I got to maintain the yard the way I wanted. I understood what the plants need. I reduced my water usage. I reduced my monthly expenses. It’s just soothing and tranquil to be outside among the plants. It’s also satisfying to see them grow – even if they’re just grass.
From my experience, lawn care comes down to this:
- Water once a day for less than 3 minutes, before 8am when it’s cooler. Less water mean less lawn maintenance.
- Mow the lawn twice a week. In winter, it can even be once a month!
- Follow instructions on Scott’s lawn products, the result is predictably good.
- Mulching is a good thing. I leave grass and leaf clippings on the lawn.
- I keep the grass high (upto 4 inches) all year long.
- Test and fix the sprinklers every month.
- Regular weed whacking. I declared war on crabgrass!
After breaking it down to a routine, yard care doesn’t seem so bad now. It’s now summer, though. So the heat might be the game changer. But hey, I gotta man up, and keep plowing along!
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