I’ve noticed some people treat their lawn like a carpet. If there is 1 leaf, that’s clutter that needs to be picked up. If a tire touches their grass, it’s like you got oil on their rug. They’ve usually manicured their lawn into 1 species monoculture grass with zero weeds and zero bugs. Which because of this lack of diversity, it is now incredibly fragile.
For many people, their yard is like a room of the house. And they expect people to treat it with a living room level of respect. They’ve put a lot of effort into creating this fragile monoculture grass, and they’re protective of it.
Maybe you can tell from the way the question is phrased, but I view the outdoors as different than indoors. If someone misses my driveway and leaves a mark in the grass, I don’t care because I know the grass will grow back eventually. If leaves fall on my yard, I don’t pick them up. These problems tend to solve themselves. At least that’s my view. But I’ve noticed a lot of people see it the other way.
Front yard needs to be trimmed or I get letters from the city. It gets trimmed once a month… or two. Or three. Whenever I feel like I might get a notice.
Backyard grows to 1m+ every summer and dies every winter, only to become a lush jungle each hot season. Love looking out there.
The less I do to the yard, the better it looks to me. I like having some areas mowed but I like having stuff live in it even better.
You could look into native gardens.
This is a way of planting native plants that support local species, it needs less care - and just a joy to behold.Ive spread a bunch of seeds in certain areas and let grow what will. I only pull certain plants which I’ve identified as space hogs (bittersweet.) Not all the plants that come up are native I am sure, but the bugs don’t seem to notice. My whole philosophy is to do less work and let the plants do what plants do.
Leaves get raked. Weeds get removed or I wouldn’t have grass (weeds would over take the grass). The grass is not one type of grass, it’s multiple types. It’s better that way. Survives winter in Minnesota,US. As for bugs… honestly I’m not sure what you mean by that. I’m not sure how you’d get rid of bugs in general. My bushes … those I do pay attention to certain types of bugs that will destroy the bush. Those bugs I get rid of, or I wouldn’t have a plant. But bugs in general yeah not sure how you get rid of them.
Driving on the grass that would piss me off. But walk and run on it all you want.
There are significantly fewer bugs on monoculture lawns. Never been clear if that’s from all the poison, or if it’s from the lack of plant diversity.
Both
I live in an apartment building, but…I treat the outdoor space as a separate, communal space. So naturally I pick up any man-made garbage (I don’t leave my own as well). Leaves or whatever else, yeah, those solve themselves over time!
No, I treat it like a yard with stuff that shouldn’t be there kept out. Leaves get raked in the open grass so it doesn’t kill the grass. Cars don’t drive through it to avoid creating ruts. Sure, grass grows back, but until it does there is erosion and moisture issues.
I treat the lawn like any other outdoor plant. I don’t walk on bushes or sit in decorative pots with plants. It isn’t immaculately manicured or anything, but it is cared for as the plant type that it is.
Caring for it means it is in great condition for running around on, setting up a temporary inflatable pool that is taken down before it kiĺls the grass. Nets and stakes are used because they don’t cause a lot of damage. It isn’t treated like a delicate flower, just enough to keep it healthy and for the intended use.
We spend a lot of time in our yard and have many many plants that require near daily maintenance. We’ve put rocks in waking/seating areas so those spots don’t get worn and muddy. So, yeah, we treat it like living space and we want it to be nice, but we’re not crazy. It’s covered in leaves and dog poop 6 days per week.
No, I don’t treat it like that and i think people who do are nuts.
I also don’t freak out if there my rooms are aren’t magazine photo perfect.
And people who think that way think I’m a massive horrible asshole.
To me, it’s really about control. people who think/live that way are anxious-controlling personalities and they HATE what they can’t control. I enjoy nature and more natural landscapes and I prefer homes and rooms that look like people actually live in them. I find the ultra-manicured thing really off-putting if not downright creepy sometimes.
Nah dawg, that’s just a slice of wildlife that I get to modify. I mow the front, and just cut the tall shit with the string trimmer every couple weeks. Working on reducing grasses and increasing natives. Gonna make this bitch biodiverse as fuck.
I don’t have a lawn atm, but last time I did I made a very low key campaign to replace the grass with clover.
I used to have a neighbour that would wash his driveway on a weekly basis. It was coated asphalt. It wasn’t “nice”. Nor was it ever dirty. Oh, but it had a giant ugly orange traffic cone at the end to deter people from pulling in and turning around.
I used to constantly fight with two different relatives because they insisted on putting all their yard trimmings into a paper bag before putting them in the giant rolling bin. That gets tipped into the truck on collection day. Why? “So the can doesn’t get dirty.” I don’t understand why a GARBAGE CAN that SITS OUTSIDE ALL THE TIME ever needs to be kept pristine ON THE INSIDE.
People like to create work for themselves that I will never understand. I’m certain I do the same thing and leave people shaking their heads.
my parent does this for the green bin, why go to all that trouble to remove spoiled food from a container, and then clean the container and put in the recycling bin, and the food into the green one. sometimes even keeping said container… one day he decided to keep rotting fruits/citruses in those plastic soup containers(likely got lazy of removing fruit scrappings) you get from restaurants lying around, very trashy looking, he thinks it will be fertilizer, but i never seen him use it.
Not like that, no. But we do live out there to some extent, have a nice back deck and garden. Not the sort of lawn that is the monoculture carpet and no, we don’t rake, want bees & butterflies, dragonflies, lizards, snakes, all sorts of other creatures use the yard and no, perfect is not the goal.
To be fair, I’m not that crazy about the inside of the house, either.
Definitely not, in fact it’s my biggest pet peeve. I hate when people (or HOAs) get chemical bullshit sprayed all over their lawn, which they then scalp with their lawnmower every week, and then it always dies anyways around mid to late summer once it starts getting hot and dry. Meanwhile the people who don’t give a shit about their yard always have green grass. It’s almost like thicker vegetation and biodiversity are good for the environment. Like who could have ever guessed?
I treat my yard like a room in my house where I use it as much as possible. This mean being out there and using it rough if needed. When it gets too hot (like now) or two cold (in 6 months from now) I get a little ansy because I am missing one of my favorite rooms in my house. The back yard
That being said I don’t treat my grass like its som precicious thing. Its meant to be used and abused.
Yes I walk around as naked in my yard as I do a room in my house. Man the neighbors are always hasslin and its like stop lookin into my house.
What is a yard but a third bathroom? I don’t clean it either
