I do it myself and I listent to Roy Munson. Roy: Take that, you freaky piece of ****. You don't mow another guy's lawn.
I pay my son to mow. $5 for the front and $3 for the back. I have a 1 acre lot but it has quite a few trees. He still says I'm underpaying him. I say be wise with little and you will be wise with a lot.
After reading the replies in this thread... ...is it any wonder why Houston is the "fattest", as well as laziest, city in the US?
I get mine mowed and edged every 2 weeks, the week betwen them coming, I mow it myself. However, I do put the poison down to kill bugs, and also the weed and feed down to keep it green. In Austin, my yard is still looking GREAT even though we have had ZERO rain. DD
Just a suggestion...if you are going to try and keep it green, consider organic pesticides and feed. When it does eventually rain, all the poison and fertilizer you put into your yard to keep it purty runs off into the groundwater and has to be filtered off and disposed, assuming it makes it back into the drinking water at all. More likely, it ends up in a river. Organic stuff is just as effective and it is biodegradable, not to mention safer for pets and children who roll around in it and play in or drink from the runoff.
I follow this schedule. http://950kprc.com/pages/gardenline-lawn.html Randy's Lawn Fertilization Schedule For southern grasses including: St. Augustine, Bermuda and Zoysia # FERTILIZE - four times a year: Late February-Early March - apply a simple 15-5-10 for an early green-up. Most companies that make slow-release fertilizers also make a nonslow-release 15-5-10 that provides for a quick two-week green up before we get to the heart of the fertilizer schedule. Some people will be tempted to use a weed-and-feed at this time, but if you've been following the GardenLine herbicide schedule, there should never be a need. However, spot weed-and-feed treatments are recommended for those with turf-only landscapes or landscapes that have been established for many years. Warning: Most weed-and-feeds contain Atrizine which burns roots of young trees and shrubs. Late March-Early April - apply slow-release 3-1-2 ratio fertilizers. Recommended formulations: 19-4-10 Nitro Phos Super Turff 18-4-6 Fertilome Southwest Greenmaker 18-0-6 Fertilome's Zero Phosphate Formula 15-5-10 Southwest Fertilizer Premium Gold 19-5-9 Easy Gro Premium 21-5-10 Mr. C's (Cornelius brand) Late June-Early July - apply slow-release 3-1-2 ratio fertilizers. (recommended formulations 19-5-9, 19-4-10, 18-4-6, 15-5-10.) October-November - apply winterizer formulas for winter hardiness. Ratios vary, but make sure they are "winter" or "fall" formulas designed for southern grasses. (examples: 18-6-12, 8-12-16, 10-5-14) Will make lawns winter-hardy. June-September - if turfgrass looks yellow (chlorosis) or necrotic, use an application of either granular or liquid iron. Once a year should be enough. # FUNGICIDE - two times a year: July-September - Gray Leaf Spot is a blotchy spot on the grass blade leafs. (mostly on St. Augustine lawns) Use fungicides with active ingredients like Daconil, Consan or Banner. September-October - To control the dreaded Brownpatch fungal disease (symmetrical brown circles in the grass) you must prevent it from coming up with a systemic lawn fungicide with Bayleton, Terrachlor, Banner or Benomyl. # HERBICIDE - three times a year: (Pre-Emergent controls to prevent weeds) Late October-Early November - Use two (2) different pre-emergent herbicides, to prevent the weeds that we experience in February and March. First is a pre-emergent with Portrait or Gallery for broadleaf weeds like clover. Second, use a pre-emergent with Amaze, Betasan, Balan or Treflan for grassy weeds like poa anna or annual bluegrass. There is also Barricade, Dimension or Pendimethlin as a 2-in-1 control. February-March - Use the pre-emergent controls for grassy weeds again, to prevent such weeds as Crabgrass, Goosegrass and Dallisgrass from popping up late in the spring and summer. Again, use the grassy pre-emergent like Amaze, Betasan, Balan or Treflan. There is also Barricade, Dimension or Pendimethlin as a 2-in-1 control. May-Early June - One more application of a grassy pre-emergent like Amaze, Betasan, Balan, or Treflan will keep fall weeds from invading from August on. There is also Barricade, Dimension-based or Pendimethlin as a 2-in-1 control. # INSECTICIDES — It is our belief on GardenLine, as a way to be kind to the environment, that you do not put down insecticides unless you know you have a problem. However, be prepared during the hot summer months — July through September — to attack chinch bug damage. This will show up as irregular shaped spots in the lawn along the concrete. Any liquid insecticide, like Permethrin or Cypermethrin, will treat the spot well. Then apply a granular insecticide like Deltamethrin or granular Permethrin in a broadcast applicator throughout the rest of the yard.
Why do you have to pay him? Isn't that his chore anyway? You're teaching him to expect something for everything he does the rest of his life. That's your kid, not mine, btw... don't take offense... I would pay my kids NOTHING, is all. I have a tough time trying to believe what's good for my lawn from a guy who doesn't mow his own lawn. It's hilarious, actually. But I do follow your hurricane advice, though. I am with BobFinn* (WTF is that asterisk for, anyway?) on this issue... lazy asses... payin' for somethin' you could do yourself.
I probably have more plants that require care in my yard than you have grass. Just because I don't mow grass doesn't mean I don't care about my yard or don't know what's good for it. My entire yard is made up of native plants and I do quite a bit of work on them and on my yard including knowing what to feed them and what insects are good for them and what aren't. I just don't like cutting grass, which is one of the main reasons I have almost no grass in my yard. The other main reason is that grass is very difficult to maintain properly and almost always requires more than just cutting it, often with detrimental effects to the other local plant and animal life in the form of pesticides and fertilizers.
Jeff, so the advice you gave on lawns is the same for plants? Nice try, but I am mainly talking about those who DON'T do it at all, not the ones who ocassionally will pay to have it done. Every now and then, yes, I do pay to eat at a restaurant. Maybe once or twice in my four years of owning my own house, I have paid to get my lawn mowed. Think about it this way: I didn't have the necessary tools to finish the job that would have taken the people I paid 1/10th of the time it would have taken me.
I mow my own. I have a weird kind of grass in the front that grows really slow and thick - I mow it like once a month and even that may be excessive. The backyard is a frikkin jungle. Seems like it grows a foot every week. And it's a huge yard. My mulching mower is old as dirt and doesn't mulch, leaving huge piles of grass all over that I rake up and put in the compost bin. I'm too cheap to buy a new one until this one breaks. Weedeating is a pain, the yard is so big I have to use three extension cords to reach the back fence. Of course I bought the electric weedeater - it's cheaper!
Swoly D mows my lawn........... I mow my own lawn! It saves me $100 a month. Takes me 1 hour and a half. I mow more lawn than Ellen Degeneres.
If I had the extra cash, I'd probably pay someone to do it for me, because I absolutely hate doing it and for whatever reason, weedeaters hate me. They never cooperate. But since I don't really have the extra money, usually, I do it myself. It does make it easier for me to criticize my wife for frivolous purchases, however. Were I paying close to $100 a month to get out of a few hours of exercise, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on when it came to money arguments.
