Not having a lawn is probably the best option. My neighbor must spend the equivalent of a part-time job tending his lawn, which is nothing but a patch of grass that provides no purpose.
How I handle mine is just having very little grass. I have a large mulched playground, several trees, and a paved patio. I mow every 2 weeks or so, and it’s limited to a square of grass in the front (driveway/garage and trees take up 1/2 the front) and a few side strips and couple passes around things in the back. I use a basic 22" (I think) mower that was $129 around 7-8 years ago and use “free” gas from the grocery store.
Depends on where you are, lots of houses in Los Angeles (in the Valley) have pebbles and sand for lawns and grow cactuses with minimal maintenance.
You can certainly get by with just mowing once a week or once every two weeks, mowers are not expensive. We hired a landscaper who planted all sorts of low-maintenance perennials, so our backyard looks very lush but doesn’t require any work. There are also services like Chem-Lawn that will fertilize and keep the dandelions down, if that’s a concern, but they tend to be a li’l pricey. Our town has a whole bunch of (presumably illegal) aliens, they come and mow our lawn and do edging and such for about $35 a week. They’re not great, but they get it done (my back won’t allow me to push a mower anymore.)
However, it sounds like you’re saying that your friend wants a nice lawn but doesn’t want to spend any time or any money. Gee, I’d like a winning lottery ticket, but I don’t want to have to buy one.
Excellent point, actually. Not to mention cleaning and basic maintenance on whatever kind of house comes with a half-acre yard.
Is your friend SURE he is ready to take on a house? I work 50-60 hours a week seasonally, and during busy season I have to keep a to-do list and make an effort to keep everything clean and running right, even with hiring some stuff out. And I still fall behind on mundane tasks like vacuuming on a regular basis. If I’ve worked three weeks straight and finally get one day off, it can be a push to spend that entire day cleaning, raking, cleaning gutters, doing laundry and all those pedestrian tasks that need to get done. When mostly I want to sleep in, then take the dogs for walks, then veg out.
Incorrect. He has joked about paving over his lawn so he won’t have to mow it. He probably doesn’t care if it looks good, I think he just wants to avoid getting fined and avoid having it get so bad that it is embarrassing.
If mowing once every 2 weeks is all it takes, it might not be so bad. Maybe some neighborhood kids can do it every other time for $10/hr or so. That way this person only has to mow once a month.
Hire a landscape designer on a one-time deal, tell him/her what his endgame is, let the designer do a design and oversee the installation. It could be expensive up front, but it won’t be a recurring cost.
The first thing I’d do it tear out all the trees, shrubs, misc plants and mowing obstacles I could. Back fill with soil and throw down grass seed as needed. You want a blank slate of a lawn with as few things to mow and trim around as possible. Don’t water and don’t fertilize. What grows, grows and what dies, dies. Knock the weeds down with a mower twice a month and if anyone asks why the yards looks so drab and bare then hand them a card from a landscaping/yard care service and ask where they live so you know where to send the bill.
Use primatol (agricultural grade Roundup) in a garden sprayer to kill everything green (good, bad and indifferent) in places where the mower can’t easily reach or in sidewalk cracks. This stuff will kill pretty much all plants for 2-4 years and probably isn’t all that safe so be careful with it’s application.
If it’s paved too then you’ll have to deal with weeds eventually. I’ve lived at our house for 2 years and have put hundreds of hours ripping overgrown crap to get a low maintenance exterior, and i’m still not there yet.
I ripped out every bush and tree. We had this massive oak tree in our front yard and that alone took me about 2 hours a week every week of the year to maintain (leaves, pollen stuff, sticks, bird crap).
Planted boxwood bushes, which seem to be slow growing and easy to maintain (trim once a year).
I live on a 1/4 acre and mowing the lawn takes 20 minutes, 10 minutes to trim, and 10 to clean up.
We have a lot of flagstone around the house and that’s a pain to maintain. part is under a covered awning, so rain doesn’t wash away pollen or crap that collects under it, so I’m always wiping /spraying / sweeping and pulling out weeds from the crack.
Next year I plan on having my landscaper to mulch delivery, and I’m working on the fertilizing/feeding part of the lawn to hopefully limit weed growth.
For me, I don’t like junky lawns with lot’s of things on it, and while I enjoy being outside and working on the landscaping, I like a balance to be able to sit outside on the patio and not think, “uh I have to do xyz”.
Seems to me like your friend shouldn’t be buying a house with a lawn (ESPECIALLY a half acre) and buying a house with a park nearby. And unless they are in med school I find it dumb someone working 85 hours a week for little money. If they can’t afford to maintain the property they need to buy a cheaper house.
My favorite tip is streamlining the mowing pattern by having decent edging, few overhangs, and nothing to mow around.
But on further reading, this situation sounds kind of no-win.
Maybe your friend should get a housemate who can do this work in leu of some of the rent? Sharing the house of somebody who’s never home is a pretty attractive setup.