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I hate front lawns. With a passion. But, guess what, I had to fall in line and make mine "pretty", put in some sod and match the rest of the neighborhood. For
by robomartin 13y ago
I hate front lawns. With a passion. But, guess what, I had to fall in line and make mine "pretty", put in some sod and match the rest of the neighborhood. For now I have the greenest and neatest front lawn on the block.
Why? We have a culture where you lose value if you adopt arid climate landscape when people expect grass and flowers and that's what everything around you looks like. We had a nice arid climate front yard with rocks and plants that required zero water and maintenance. We refinanced and the bank actually objected to the look of the house. They said it looked unkept. Unbelievable. The arid landscaping cost me thousands. It just didn't match the rest of the homes on our street. So the friggin sod had to come in.
I find it beyond moronic that we are actually throwing water at the ground to grow grass. Then we come back a couple of times a month and use gasoline to cut, trim and blow it clean. The only thing worst is owning a swimming pool.
I refuse to be a weekend lawn-mower monkey. I've never had any interest in that and never will. I'd rather be doing a million other things than pushing a mower on a pointless patch of grass. Yup, that means we now have a gardener with the dreaded gas powered leaf-blower, mower and trimmer. I am not proud of this at all.
So, here's the plan: I planted fruit trees right smack in the middle of the lawn areas. Once they grow beyond a certain size they'll kill-off most of the grass. That's when I go back to practical landscaping. And, of course, I'll be producing some fruit as well which is neat.
If I absolutely have to I am going with plastic grass in the front and will learn to love it.
The back of the house is now 100% concrete, soon to be covered with solar panels for both shade and off-grid power. Great for entertaining and hanging out. Our local parks have plenty of grass if we feel the need.
My gardener is a few months away from being out of a job. I wish more people would wake up and realize what they are doing.
- hvidgaard 13y agoA lot of people actually like it - they like to have a well kept lawn, and if they want to use their time or money to do that, why not? But I don't like that you're expected, if not directly asked to, to keep it as society wants it to be. However, I can understand that the bank is concerned about the value of the house if they're financing it. Personally I'm looking for a house well outside the city and any far from busy roads. Lots of land and I can have the wild nature I love and grew up with. I can't think of anything that'll calm me down and unwind like a walk in the nature does.
- dpmehta02 13y agoBecause it wastes water, which is something a lot of areas cannot afford: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/us/to-save-water-parched-southwest-cities-ask-homeowners-to-lose-their-lawns.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/us/to-save-water-parched-s...
- robomartin 13y agoTo add to your answer. Yes, lawns waste water. They also require fuel burning machinery to maintain, causing pollution. And then there are the chemicals (fertilizers, weed killers, insect control, etc.). Go back one more layer and you have the sod farms which use water, fuel, chemicals, etc. And I am sure the chain continues for another layer or two.
- hvidgaard 13y agoAll of what you add is entirely optional. It is possible to keep a "nice lawn" around your house, without use of fuel and chemicals. Water however is mandatory if it's not raining enough.
- asdasf 13y agoWater is not mandatory at all. Grass with a healthy, deep root system will survive extended droughts just fine. It just turns brown and people don't like that.
- hvidgaard 13y agoThat was the point. You need water to have green grass in dry climates - all the others are optional.
- asdasf 13y agoEverything under discussion is equally optional. You need water to have green grass just like you need to mow the lawn to have short grass. Neither of those things are required by the grass, they are purely optional things society expects of us.
- droidist2 13y agoI think this is a big reason we've seen a renewed interest in cities since the 1980s. All of the upkeep on a home is ridiculous. Also commuting, sitting in traffic every day, dealing with the hassles and expenses of owning a car. Simplifying all of this is incredibly liberating.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 13y agohaha as someone who has to cut quite a bit of grass each weekend in the summer, I totally sympathize with wanting to kill all the grass and plant some fake stuff!
- toasterlovin 13y agoDo banks really do this? I thought they were primarily concerned with the ratio of owner equity to market value...