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OT - No grow grass


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Ya know, it sure seems dumb to me. Fertilize grass just so you have to cut it more. Yeah, it looks nice but what a dumb thing for humans to invent. You would think they could invent a strain of grass that makes a nice mat but does not grow. Centipede? I know the lawn care industry is huge but man, it seems silly and wasteful. BTW, lawnmowers pollute worse than anything, right?

 

I was enjoying a record low temp here this morning on the porch, playing Dock o' The Bay. Friggin' neighbor cranks up his mower. Blew my morning. Man, I needed to get out of this house.

> > > [ Live! ] < < <

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Originally posted by LiveMusic:

Ya know, it sure seems dumb to me. Fertilize grass just so you have to cut it more. Yeah, it looks nice but what a dumb thing for humans to invent. You would think they could invent a strain of grass that makes a nice mat but does not grow. Centipede? I know the lawn care industry is huge but man, it seems silly and wasteful. BTW, lawnmowers pollute worse than anything, right?

 

I was enjoying a record low temp here this morning on the porch, playing Dock o' The Bay. Friggin' neighbor cranks up his mower. Blew my morning. Man, I needed to get out of this house.

There is a theory that we Americans dedicate way too much of our yards to grass. It causes problems such as fertilizer washing into our lakes and rivers causing undue weed and algae growth, not to mention the air and noise polution of having to cut too much. I have often threatened my wife by telling her I'm going to put an Arizona desert scene in our yard in place of grass, but thus far, I continue to fertilize and mow. I do have such a nice beautiful green lawn though. Great for the kid and her friends to romp on, soft landing for when they fall of the trampoline. Also, I have found some piece and tranquility sitting on the deck with a good cigar watching the sprinklers run.

bbach

 

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I've got a 1/3rd acre lot with lots of grass. And I try to take care of it. I use a product that is encapsulated and slow releases over a three month period of time - it's a lot less likely to run off or overfeed. I water about every second or third day, depending on weather / need. I mow once a week in the summer (mid to late afternoon so as not to bother anyone) and once every couple of weeks in the winter.

 

I used to live in AZ and those desert scenes are quite popular out there... but they take some work too - weed killer (even if you vinyl line or concrete under the rock / soil, you WILL have weeds pop through) and weeding, rocks getting scattered over your driveway and sidewalk... oh, and have you ever gotten nailed by cactus? It stings and they're hard to remove from your skin.

 

My idea of the near perfect low maintenance yard is up in the mountains. Natural forest. The only thing you really have to worry about is pine needles... you need to clear them from around your home a couple of times a year, and it can be a lot of work, but to me, that's the most tranquil home setting.

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I'm still doing the apartment thing so I am subject to the whim of the landlords yardwork schedule, and she is ANAL to the extreme about lawn care. The schedule goes something like this:

 

8:00 am Monday - Leaf blower kicks in (I have NO idea what they're blowing around, there is nothing out there)

8:00 am Tuesday - Obnoxiously loud lawn sprinklers come on

8:00 am Wednesday - Power washer goes on (driveways and sidewalks)

8:00 am Thursday - Monster lawn mowing marathon

8:00 am Friday - More obnoxious sprinkling

 

I telecommute a lot - I used to take all my morning meetings from home, but now that is just impossible. Most of this is occuring right outside my office window, and some days I just want to run out there screaming at them to stop. Still, we do have some really lovely lawns for my doggy to poop on.

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Two types come to mind - clover and the grass used for golf courses. They both grow but much slower than normal grass.

 

steve

You shouldn't chase after the past or pin your hopes on the future.
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Ah, but look over the label for Weed-B-Gone, and you'll see clover listed among the culprits it kills.

 

My problem is this wierd creeping vine that grows EVERYwhere! Up 'till now, nothing's touched it. Not weed killers and even all vegetation killers sometimes failed. Now, there IS something called Bush-B-Gone that seems to do the trick, but I have to limit it to around the fences. This vine even weaved it's way into the lawn, and to kill it with that substance, I would need to spray the whole lawn with it. my two dogs root around out there too much for me to consider it, so I live with the philosophy that if it's green, it's OK.

 

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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Originally posted by Kcbass:

Shouldn't this have been titled" No mow grass"? Kcbass

No, because you could be like my buddy who does not mow his grass but it's knee high. OTOH, grass that does not GROW, that is the solution. :love:

> > > [ Live! ] < < <

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There's one other issue. Those fertilizers we dump on our grass to make it grow so we can cut it are made from petroleum, unless we are very conscientous about that sort of thing. And unfortunately, the organic fertilizers are not quite as effective at greening things up as your bag of petrol-based TurfBuilderII.

I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist.

 

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Aghh! This particular issue really strikes a nerve with me considering my line of work- retail hardware. I've got to work hard to keep myself from going off on customers who buy a cartful of plastic bags of grass fertilizer and plastic bottles of herbicide for their precious little lawns. I'll do my best to steer them towards non-chemical based solutions (you know what makes a great herbicide, especially between cracks in concrete? A propane torch!) or towards the benign ones.

 

But some folks, I don't know... They aren't happy unless they fertilize 5 times a year and chemically kill every weed on their property.

 

I'll admit, I like a nice lawn as much as the next person. My lawn has never looked as good as it does this year. My secret? I haven't used a drop or grain of chemical all season, save the sweat from a few hours of work every nw and again...

...think funky thoughts... :freak:
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Phil - Do you REALLY have to work at making desert plants grow in Arizona? I'd have thought that'd be a zero-effort type of thing once they were planted...

 

I'm still converting my whole yard to a huge flower garden, 3 or 4 more square yards every year. It keeps getting easier & easier to take care of, and more interesting to look at, as time goes by...

My neighbor just gave me about 400 paving bricks, so I guess the next project will be a small patio area, or maybe a surround for a fountain.

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About 70% of our back yard, which has a lot of tall hardwoods, is being released into it's "natural state". Grass won't grow there, so I'm hoping to cultivate a nice carpet of dead leaves this autumn. Fringe of grass in the clear area around the house.

 

I keep lobbying to redefine the front yard as a "meadow", which would relieve me of all mowing and yard care duties. So far, nobody is going for it.

One of these days I'm gonna change my evil ways...

one of these days...

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Phil, yes it does take work to upkeep a desert landscape. It might not be as much as doing a regular grass lawn, and the idea of using indigenous plant species for landscaping does make a lot of sense to me. But as I said, there's still work involved. Keeping the weeds out, Keeping the rock and / or soil in place (I can't tell you how many people I've seen with small rocks from their desert landscaping spread all over their sidewalks and driveways), erosion issues, and cactus plants do require upkeep - they have peices that drop off and have to be carefully picked up and discarded, etc.
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Shouldn't this have been titled" No mow grass"? Kcbass

 

No. That's when you cover your entire front yard in asphalt. Then it's "no moe' grass!"...

 

...which means you have a place for all of these:

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Originally posted by LiveMusic:

Originally posted by Kcbass:

Shouldn't this have been titled" No mow grass"? Kcbass

No, because you could be like my buddy who does not mow his grass but it's knee high. OTOH, grass that does not GROW, that is the solution. :love:
You missed my pun. Kcbass

 "Let It Be!"

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