They have this artificial grass I looked at that is freaking amazing. It was $$$$ though but we visited some yards where it had been installed and it looks amazing.

I used to mow my own yard but then my kids were born. I decided I would rather spend saturday morning playing with them than doing yard work, so I started paying someone.

I think that is all about to change though. We are having a landscaper come in May to regrade the yard, change some stuff around and do new sod. Now that the kids are older I think I'll use the opportunity to switch back to doing it ourselves and teach them how to take care of a yard (once I learn again).

I've used a reel mower on-and-off for about 6 years on my little lot. They're really cool - my neighbors always have questions. It works great if you stay on top of it, but you need to rake your trimmings. I was lazy about that a lot last season and now I'm blistering my hands raking piles of dead grass out of my lawn.

Mowing a lawn is one of the few things that your family will completely leave you alone for. It can be completely meditative, if you take the right mental approach. I love the "me" time and my OCD loves the nice crisp, straight lines and perfectly edged lawn.

I cut my own lawn and my own hair.

Only the front yard grows as of last month! Best investment I’ve ever made.

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I am with you my fake lawn is the best. No maintenance always looks great. Kids love to play on it.

Im afraid a syn Lawn would melt into a glob or burn the crap out of my feet in Florida!

How does one handle Dog waste?

Looks Great, though!

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Yes, all artificial grass. Not "turf" like you see on old football fields, etc. The technology has come a long way and it is composed of individual blades of grass and even "thatch" that mimics the brownish under growth. The lines in the pic are after I ran a commercial vacuum over it (use a product called a "Billy Goat"). The other key tool for maintaining it is called a "power broom" (see here: https://www.purchasegreen.com/shop/tools/artificial-grass-tools-walk-behind-powerbroom.html)

Ha. We are in Dallas, TX so heat definitely a concern here. Our backyard is covered by a 100 year old red oak tree (hence the need for the turf) so direct sunlight is not an issue. I think it's come along way from the older stuff but I imagine it still heats up pretty good with 100+ degree direct sun. We have a dog....turf is permeable and a ton of work goes into laying about a 5-6" foundation of drainage rock, decomposed granite, weed block and odor control. Also reworked sprinkler system so that all heads under turf were killed and large rotary heads were installed in flower beds to wash turf 1 or 2 times a week.

Natural grass is Self cleaning. Fake grass is not something I would ever consider. I don't like the idea of having to shampoo my lawn. I'd much rather pay for the upkeep of real grass. And although the fake stuff looks a lot better than they used to, still needs work.

I love mowing the yard. I sit in an office all day and like playing outside when I get home. I love the riding mower and basically treat it like a go-cart, especially since my retired mechanic dad gave me his souped-up variable speed automatic one last year for my birthday. Husband occasionally mows the front yard because it slopes and a few spots are tricky, but he's basically confined to the dark basement these days because of chronic daily migraines that are made worse by sunlight. So he does the laundry, and I do the yard work. Last Friday I installed 500 sq ft of Bermuda sod mostly by myself in an area that we've had mud issues with, and it's coming out nicely.

My yard is a certified wildlife habitat, so there are multiple mason bee houses on the fence line, bumble/carpenter bees everywhere on the fences, and I run a few honeybee hives in my garden. I don't know if I could pay anyone to mow my yard once I tell them there are about 75K bees running around that they need to not bother. And I don't allow anything chemical in my yard, so I hand weed everything then give the weeds to my chickens and quail to snack on. I'm slowly taking over the yard with pollinator gardens and raised beds, since I'm trying to start a mini homestead now, but there's still about 3/4 acre of grass to keep me busy enough.

Ha. At $8.50 a square foot, I can assure you this was a last resort option. Sodded it 3 different times at 8 pallets of grass each time with the most shade tolerant varieties for growth in north Texas. By myself. With 3 young kids and a dog a backyard full of mud doesn’t quite cut it. Enjoy the lovely “before” pics

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interesting location for a dog door, with a step too! Short stature pooch?

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Ha. Funny. They built it in when we added that addition. Feeds right into mud room. Been perfect

Factor what you aren't spending on water, fertilizer, maintenance, and resodding when needed, it will probably pay for itself sooner than some might think. Now if they could just figure out a way to incorporate solar cells into this stuff.

You should post some pics!

Yep and here I am!

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As I said, my guy IS an American. But, I respectfully disagree with your premise anyway.

At the risk of turning this fun place into a pseudo-cable news experience, let's move on. Here's a video of a dog dressed as an Ewok:

"Feel the power of the wind!"

Okie dokie. Here's the obligatory sod before/after for the grass thread. Between shade, leaves, multiple dogs, etc, the area just behind the house became a mud pit. It's so much better now, and I'm seeding the spots around the edges where I didn't have quite enough sod. Yes, that's a chicken coop under my desk with a Jurassic Park warning sign on it. And speaking of dinosaurs, I built the raptor disappearing fountain by my herb garden 2 weekends ago for my bees to have a water source they can't drown in. Since people ask what is in the greenhouse that you can see behind the fountain, I included a pic of my indoor lettuce gutter system, and those are potatoes in the big pots under them.

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Looking good blondetall! Jealous of your greenhouse!

I wish a had a robot...

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Thanks. It came with the house and is older and I can't figure out how to clean up the discolored plexiglass, but it does the job. It's wired/powered but currently not working when I turn on the breaker, but an extension cord does the trick until I can hire someone to fix it. Water works, I installed color-changing LED lighting inside (in case I ever need to have a nighttime greenhouse party for some reason,) and now I can safely eat home grown romaine and eggs while the rest of the US is freaking out. lol

I believe this to be the most important thread of 2018.

One more job taken away from a hard working American.

"One more job taken away from a hard working American."

I thought you wanted to move on? You're not paying your lawn care guy enough by the way, you should at least give him 25 bucks.

Yes, you are correct. My apologies.

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I got rid of all the grass in my backyard haha...

Have to agree with this, when I lived in Anaheim, CA I had legal landscapers visit for mowing and blowing leaves/removing pine needles and it was $15 a VISIT for both front and back yard. I paid $60/month to have them visit once a week. I would find it hard to believe if a lot of people wouldn't turn over this work to someone else for $15 a complete visit.

Lol im just messing with you.

The kids in my neighborhood won't do anything unless it has a joy stick. They don't shovel or cut grass no matter what you offer. I hired a lawn maintenance guy for 2 years and called it quits. Had gasoline burns in the middle of the yard where he would fill up his machine. He hit the house twice and put holes in the siding and knocked the A/C unit off it's brackets. He couldn't understand why I said no more. So went back to doing it myself.

I love Pinside.

Lol sounds like that guy must have been drinking on the job possibly?

My yard eats mowers for breakfast

These are all dead

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See how long this one lasts

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Need to get some cinder blocks to put those on.

Here is my disaster right now, we had a 900 sq. ft. deck taken out and the pool is being removed this week.

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We have a big drainage problem that the last owner introduced with the deck and the pool and the crappy grading they did on the yard.

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Those mowers are beauties compared to mine! I had to work on mine so much last year that i just left the whole left side of the front end off of it. My gf told me that i need to put the front end back on it because its embarrassing looking. I said well good, maybe one of our neighbors will feel sorry for me and take me to Lowes and buy me a new mower!

Lmao.

Hey, why no "No, that's what husbands are for" poll option?

I do it only for the exercise, which I need more of. I use one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-2000-20-20-Inch-Classic-Mower/dp/B00004RA3E

Not even kidding, can post pictures as proof.

Yup, gotta start early and stay on top of it. I had to borrow my father-in-law's push mower once when I got behind so I don't get behind anymore. Forces me to do it, which is what I was going for. I also groom a couple miles of the Horseshoe Trail when I'm bored. I gotta do something other than math and pinball.

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Man you guys are torturing yourselves! Lol

That's pretty gangster. I wouldn't give it a go without a good filing down of those blades and maybe a zerk gun.

I like the grass growing up between the blades, ballsy!

Someone has to do it. I got a speeding ticket the other day driving my wife's twin-turbo, went to court and got it thrown out in five minutes with no argument. 100% guilty, no excuse. It's a weird time in our country and I'm only trying to make it weirder.

Yes sometimes for fun I’ll eat a vegan burger, throw on some skinny jeans, and mow my lawn with it just to troll my neighbors.