August 7, 2013
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The Yard
I have a love hate relationship with our yard. I have written before of my 30 minute rule. It is my rule at home to spend no more than 30 minutes per week mowing my lawn. It used to be my 60 minute rule but the advent of a riding mower cut the time in half. In the few years that I’ve had the rider and calculating from it’s built-in hour meter, I have saved 39 hours of time to use on other things. That is almost a full week of 8 hour days. You might say a week’s vacation. My neighbor down the street must have a 8 or 9 hour rule. His yard is immaculate, looks better than mine but I think he is obsessed with it.
5 or 6 years ago I turned my underground automatic watering system off. If you are a grass in my yard, if you can’t live on the water natures gives you, you die, I can not help you. If you are a grass in my yard, if you need additional fertilizer, herbicides or insecticides, you are going to die, I can not help you. You are no more than a weed. You may grow here and you are welcome and I will trim you to a socially acceptable length, but otherwise you are on your own. You are rabbit food.
My yard is finally being trained to live on its own. The bermuda grass is flourishing, turns a little yellow when it’s dry and a bright green after a small rain and it keeps the weeds out. Within the bermuda, only the deep rooted fescue is surviving now, the shallow rooted, water thirsty, fertilizer hungry varieties are long ago gone, and good riddance to them. In my backyard, among the sparse fescue and broadleaves, glorious buffalo grass is voluntarily taking root. The perfect grass in my opinion, I hope it does well, but it is on its own. This fall I may spend 15 minutes and hand sow a couple pounds of buffalo seed and hope for the best next spring.
I am breaking the tradition of trying to make this arid, shallow topsoiled county that I live someplace it is not. There are natural grasses that can flourish here if we let them. Why plant a yard that you must water everyday and fertilize just so you can mow it twice a week? If you are looking for me, and if I am home, you will find me in the nice cool house or garage, reading, writing or working on the project. Don’t bother looking for me pissing away my time in the yard, I won’t be there except for a few fleeting minutes each week.
Actually it looks pretty good too. I may take a picture of it someday but I don’t want it to start thinking it is special.
E.
Comments (13)
I say good for you, and the yard is special. A yard’s self-confidence is important for it to grow up and take care of itself. The word escapes me, but having a yard with indigenous plants Is a responsible way to take care of it. It sounds South West-y where you are, and that is beautiful.
Ha! I understand this from both points, letting the grass do its thing and using the time to do something else productive.
I love the garden. Mowing is not gardening. It’s mowing. :) Good for you for letting the natural in.
You have the same mindset my father had. If it is green and grows in the yard – great. If it needs nurturing – forget it! You are one smart cookie…
i let my “yard” go back to dirt as i didnt want the extra work mowing or waste the water to keep it green
=) love the last sentence.My mom planted a new lawn for me. Grew into a forest within 3 weeks. Who is going to mow this I asked. She said she would. A couple months passed and the grass has mysteriously died. thank g_d. Yea I definitely would like one less high maintenance. Bermuda you say? Maybe I shall have her look into that. I remember my trip to Hawaii, I stepped on this really short/soft grass that didn’t seem to need trimming at all. Then again, our weather isn’t like theirs.
@sleekpunk - Yes, it is usually dry here in the summer but it is not desert, But i know what you mean by “south westy”.
@TheSutraDude - It only makes sense, Thanks for the rec!
@Jaynebug - Yep, I have no green thumb on either hand. Cut grass looks nice but it’s not exactly a science. @murisopsis - Your Dad sounds like my kind of guy!@buddy71 - The wasted water is what I wanted to stop.The backyard used to have bare spots, now they are filling in with some little broadleaves with yellow flowers, the rabbits love them.@VNlilMAN - Bermuda grass is very popular in Oklahoma and Texas, spreads like wildfire. There are different varieties. Here where I live most dont appreciate its characteristics and consider it undesirable. Buffalo grass is my favorite.
Ha. I’m so upset we’ve had a lot of rain this year and the grass is growing and growing. I live in a rent house and don’t own a lawn mower so I pay the neighbor to mow for me. Last year I was way done with paying him by now. Not this year! Of course I guess I can sacrifice. We’ve been a drought for a few years and i guess we need the rain. peace always
@peacenow - We have had a lot of rain last week, not complaining but it’s going to make everything grow very fast. i havent been home all week, i imagine I will be met by a well grown yard.Thanks for subscribing! We subbed each other a couple years ago under my old username, I lost track of you I guess.
@Iamsurrounded - Distantshipsmoke? That was a few years ago. You may be returning to a jungle with all the rain . peace always
@peacenow - Yes that is me. I’m staring at the grass out of my front window now, it is indeed a jungle, we had another 3 inches while I was gone..