Someone I know is time poor but is moving out of an apartment and into a house with a yard. What tips are there so this person doesn’t have to spend a lot of time doing yardwork and landscaping?
The easiest I can think of is hiring some neighborhood kids to mow the lawn, rake the leaves, shovel the snow. All well and good. But aside from that what tips are there to reduce the amount of labor this person will have to engage in, or have to pay others to engage in?
Obviously powered items will work better (snowblower vs shovel, riding mover vs push) and faster.
What about things like artificial grass, or slow growing grass seeds? Are those too expensive and too much of a hassle to install to be worth the time savings?
How time poor? Mowing the lawn, at least for me, takes about 20-30 minutes each time. I do it 1-3 times per week depending on the time of the year. But if I let it go and it gets to long, it’ll take closer to an hour.
The thing about yard maintenance is that you have to stay on top of it. Trimming your hedges twice a year is easier than doing it every other year. Cleaning your gutters three times a summer is easier than dealing with flooded basements and ice dams.
If he can find an hour a week, he can probably manage (assume he’s not sitting on an acre). 20 minutes-30 minutes after work to mow the lawn once a week and some spot maintenance from time to time and he’ll probably be okay.
A lot of it’s going to come down to what he really wants and why he’s buying a house. It’s nice to own a house, but you sort of have to want to do this stuff or be okay with paying someone else a grand a year to do it for you.
1 hour a week can keep a yard in presentable shape. If a person is not willing to put in 1 hour a week it will eventually go to hell no matter what they attempt to do. I guess putting down weed killers and covering with mulch might be low maintenance. Its really not that much work for a basic yard with basic landscaping. Learning the tried and true methods for weed control, watering, trimming ect are the key to keeping the hours down.
I recently redid my backyard with native california plants. I covered the ground in weed proof netting and covered in mulch, I cut holes where all the plants go. I have a few weeds pop up around the holes but not bad and I don’t have to water once a plant is established. I can see where I will need to do a bit of trimming but I tend to do that as I browse around the yard on a do as needed basis.
Landscaping fabric and mulch will help…for the first few years, but after a while it’ll have to either be replaced or the homeowner will have to start dealing with weeds. His choice, but it’s not maintenance free after a few years.
85 hours a week is what, 6am to 6pm 7 days a week or so. The bigger question is how much daylight to they have and do they have the energy and motivation to work on the yard after work PLUS do other projects around the house as well. They might be better off looking into the feasibility to hiring someone to take care of the landscaping. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to go to a pro and say “Here’s $3000 for the year, make sure the lawn, flowers and bushes look great all summer/spring/fall and there’s no snow or ice on the concrete all winter”. That’ll give them time to concentrate on other projects inside. The other thing to do is pay a kid $30 a pop to mow the lawn when it needs it, but that’s less reliable and it sounds like a big yard. But it’ll save him some time.
This person will make a good income someday, but right now they are in the education phase so money may be tight. So hiring someone for 3k a year might not be feasible right now. Hiring neighborhood kids may be something to look into though.
Has your friend considered not caring how his lawn looks? That’s the cheapest option. Efficiency equipment, like snowblowers and riding mowers and edgers/weed wackers and hedge trimmers… will add up to more than $3k in a year.
He says he will get fined if his grass grows too long.
I don’t think equipment should cost 3k a year. Since it is less than half an acre a riding mower is probably not needed, but I have no idea if he is going to buy one. He doesn’t have hedges so no need for a hedge trimmer.
A push mower, weed whacker and snowblower (either electric or gasoline) is probably sufficient. Those can be bought used if need be.
My yard is about half an acre - I pay a neighbor $30 about every 7-10 days to mow it (because I loathe mowing.) He does it in 30-40 minutes, plus maybe another 15 minutes of weed-whacking. He also picks up sticks and does general clean-up at the same time. I have a lot of trees that dump lots of twigs and what have you. He throws them in my fire pit and I burn them when it gets full.
However I enjoy grubbing about in the garden and do everything else myself, including shoveling snow, pruning branches, cleaning gutters, etc. Apart from some perennial flowers and my vegetable garden, most of my other plants are sturdy native perennials; with a little weeding and mulching they take care of themselves.
In my experience, having a wooded property is more work. The mowing is the easy stuff, and decorative planting is optional. Trees can be fairly high maintenance year around. Every 2-3 years I hire a tree service to lop large and high branches and remove dead ones. Because that’s cheaper than having a big-ass branch fall on my roof in an ice or wind storm.
This sounds like an unwinnable game: your friend has no time, no money, and a financial incentive to keep the yard neat. Perhaps he could barter something with friends/neighbors in exchange for yard work.
I’m not sure about that but I know in some areas like Colorado people dont really have grass yards and they are more gravel or sand with just some grass strips.
Thing is the more you put into having the fabulous showcase quality lawn (seeding, fertilizer, beautiful shrubbery, etc…) the more work you give yourself. This is part of the reason I only really put down good fertilizer in the front yard, not the back. The more and thicker the grass grows, the harder it is to mow. Now yes, my yard doesnt look as good as my elderly neighbors who have all the time in the world to care for their yard but I think its ok.
Also a tip - Kids, a big dog, and a beautiful lawn, do NOT go together.
Don’t get a snowblower. If you are working 85 hours a week, the last thing you want to do when it’s 8 degrees out is to get up a half hour early to clear the driveway. Hire someone who can guarantee a clear drive before work.
I agree with Urbanredneck too - the nicer your shit looks, the harder it is to take care of. Go as basic as possible, and don’t fertilize.
“Hiring neighborhood kids” sounds like a good idea until you try to do it. First of all, I find very few kids are interested in work at all, and those that are get more reliable jobs. I know very few people (actually, none) with kids who rely on them to do yard work. Maybe your neighborhood is different.
