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I never going the obsession with pristine lawns without clover, daisies, moss and such. I actually think it looks quite nice with some variation. My wife is mi
by GordonS 6y ago
I never going the obsession with pristine lawns without clover, daisies, moss and such. I actually think it looks quite nice with some variation.
My wife is militant about this, insisting that our lawn is sprayed with horrible chemicals at least once a year to kill off the clover, daisies and moss.
Seems such a pointless thing to do, and very obviously not good for wildlife.
- mixmastamyk 6y agoWhy would someone insist on it? Seems like an odd thing to be focused on.
- GordonS 6y agoAppearances? Just because everyone else does it? Some people are just stuck in certain ways? I've never got a straight answer on this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- TedDoesntTalk 6y agoWhat is even worse are the people in deserts and desert-like areas who insist on Kentucky bluegrass and other non-native plants. The water waste is repulsive. My neighbors recently installed AstroTurf in their backyard because of this.
- spaceisballer 6y agoMy experiences are one part appearances and the other part moving to a new area. Where my wife and I grew up neither of our families did any regular fertilizer or anything just occasional weeding and lawns would be thick and green. Now we live in another part of the country and the soil is terrible. So it’s hard to have a lawn take hold, without constant irrigation. We live on a well so I’m not interested also that’s a pretty big waste of water. I don’t mind the clover we have but the crabgrass is out of control.
- faitswulff 6y agoClover also doesn’t get as tall as grass, which obviates the need for mowing the lawn. And the rabbits quite like it.
- odysseus 6y agoBumblebees like the clover too.
- bennylope 6y agoDon't forget that it's nitrogen fixing, too!
- lostlogin 6y agoIt sorts out the soil too by fixing nitrogen. https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/966-the-role-of-clover https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/966-the-role-of-cl...
- StavrosK 6y agoA friend of mine worked at an agronomist's, and at one point a customer walked in looking to buy a bag of clover for his garden. My friend gave him the wrong bag by mistake, and the customer came back a few months later to tell the agronomist that he now had to park his car over the new spinach plants EVERYWHERE.
- cptskippy 6y agoClover lawns use to be common but went out of fashion. I saw an episode of This Old House where they visited a grass farm and we're shown a new clover breed they were developing for lawns.
- kingkawn 6y agoDo everything you can to convince her otherwise, we need those bugs desperately.
- giancarlostoro 6y agoIn my case its the HOA that cares.
- teruakohatu 6y agoAs a non-American I have never understood why a people that values personal liberties are sometimes happy to be dictated to by housing authorities. I get it with apartment buildings with shared walls and communal property, but I just don't get why you would with suburban homes.
- vkou 6y agoThey aren't happy to be dictated to by housing authorities, it's just something they have to put up with in order to live. The cost of resisting is too high, so people end up picking their battles.
- hinkley 6y agoThere is a surprisingly small overlap between walkable neighborhoods and HOAs. These are, in fact, battles you can pick. HOAs feel like living in an apartment but you're also the superintendent.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago> These are, in fact, battles you can pick In some sections of the US, you can’t buy a single-family home built after 1980 without being part of an HOA. I’m not sure what that has to do with walkable neighborhoods?
- bobbob1921 6y agomost likely the reason some Americans are fine with a HOA is because they do give up some liberties/freedoms for the other benefits that come with a HOA. Such as amenities, security, upkeep of surroundings, and other benefits from the pooling of resources (ie hoa fees). You also have essentially an arbitrator to deal with disputes between neighbors (mainly over appearances). (and generally when homes are constructed together/all at once and on a single large plot of land; their final costs are much less thus you can purchase homes for cheaper). In the case of subdivisions like this, Not all come with an HOA but that is generally the case.
- cs02rm0 6y agoMy wife seems to think all boxes with pictures of lawns on are the same. About three years in a row now she's tried to get lawn seed and poured a load of cheap weed and feed on instead. Completely going overboard on the quantities for good measure. At this point I'm amazed we have anything left to grow.
- vorpalhex 6y agoI'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, but you can't put down seed and weed & feed in the same season - you'll kill your seedlings. It actually says this on the bags of weed & feed.
- ry4nolson 6y agopretty sure he was saying she gets the weed & feed by accident because the box has a picture of a lawn.
- flippinburgers 6y agoAt the very least moss is beautiful. Personally I don't have a problem with "weeds" as Americans see them. If covid ever lets up, you should try taking your wife on a trip to Japan. The moss in Japanese gardens is extraordinary!
- GordonS 6y agoWe've actually been to Japan, and both loved the "moss lawns"! They are really nice to walk on too - almost springy.
- tomcooks 6y agoI assume it has to do with the US house price laws that mandate one takes care of the lawn, or risk incurring in fines or losing the house (quoting an US friend not sure about the details)
- kingnothing 6y agoThere are no such laws. What some neighborhoods do have are homeowners associations which, in practice, function as micro governments, and can mandate such things. About 25% of all homes in the US have an HOA, and those will all vary in what maintenance they require. Some are expensive and strict, some are optional and just there to take care of a sign and lighting at the front entrances.
- cptskippy 6y agoIn addition to HOAs, some municipalities have ordinances for keeping yards tidy (e.g. cutting the lawn) but usually much less restrictive. In historical districts and houses deemed landmarks they have ordinances closer to and sometimes stricter than HOAs.
- thatcat 6y agoSome cities will come mow your lawn then send a bill to the land owner.
- jacobsenscott 6y ago
- artursapek 6y agoYour wife was indoctrinated and you should work on changing her views. There's plenty of evidence to support your case.
- longtom 6y agoYou can achieve a very homogeneous lawn without herbicides. Plenty of water, some aeration, some fertilizer, iron against moss, weekly lawn mowing and occasionally use a daisy grubber. Eventually the lawn will displace most weeds.
- nine_k 6y agoIf one does not want their lawn to look like a piece of nature, they could as well remove the pesky plants and put some artificial grass, as used on football fields. Both pristine-looking and honest.
- GordonS 6y agoI actually suggested that, and got a dagger-stare in return...
- teawrecks 6y agoI'm renting a place where the lawn was moderately overrun with dandelions. They kill of the grass, and the ground becomes uneven. You can't run through your yard without the fear of twisting your ankle. Not to mention they continue to spread like wildfire into your neighbors' lawns. And wild blackberry vines come up straight from hell.