I don’t do the weed and feed,or the lawn services. Most of my neighbors do (the true green guy lives across the street). All herbicides are bad for the environment. There is no way to keep dandelions and clover and other things most people don’t want in their yards out of your lawn without them. You pull the dandelions, you always miss the little roots and next year there are 6 dandelions in the hole that had one. We have a very late spring here, so the bees and bunnies and butterflies and moths LOVE my yard (and my neighbors hate me ) because I have all the dandelion and clover flowers. I haven’t done it yet, but there is a miniature clover plant that I am planning on spreading (the seeds) all over our lawn. Clover is green this time of year when the grass is still dormant and brown. You will have to decide what you want, (there is no such thing as a maintenance free yard) if you care about how your neighbors feel about your yard (I make up for the weeds with a lot of awesome flowers in the beds) and how much you want to spend. That’s a big yard to mow and take care of. Taking out the grass won’t make it easier, flower and garden beds are MUCH more work when it comes to weeding! (I wouldn’t feel guilty if I were you about doing the weed and feed, I’d probably be looking for a riding mower too, lol)

Thanks everyone, for all the comments!

WTG, your yard is beautiful!! I love hostas and those look amazing! Somehow I thought hostas had to be replanted every year, is that wrong?

Jodi,

quote:

there is no such thing as a maintenance free yard

This is very true!!!

I have moments where I second guess myself about this houseo... but on the other hand, nothing in our price range is coming on the market. It's crazy actually. So I think we got lucky and it will all be ok once we get settled and figure out what we want to do...

quote:

Taking out the grass won’t make it easier, flower and garden beds are MUCH more work when it comes to weeding!

Yes, I would imagine. In the short run, I think we're going to do what the seller has done, it's the path of least resistance and is the least labor intensive. In the long run, I don't know what we'll do.

Re weeding... there are beds in the front along the walk way, they are covered with mid-sized pebbles/stones, and I think it's going to be a nightmare to weed. I wonder if mulch would be better.

This may be the topic of the next thread...

Hostas are perennials, and they are the cockroaches of the shade plant world. Some of those hostas have been under that tree for 40 years. I don't bother to divide them. Occasionally I dig up a chunk to share with a fellow gardener. They are so dense that not many weeds grow under them, or if they do, you can't see them. I also have a ton of Japanese anemones and European ginger in that bed; they spread around all over. Also some daffodils that bloom in spring. And columbine. Everything is just a jumble of plants.

I am not an organized gardener.

If that space were mine, I'd be turning at least half of it into flower/vegetable beds. Good for people, good for wildlife, good for the earth. Win, win, win.

Otherwise, if you're going to use herbicides, reading up on them is a good idea. (I have to say, though, the webs are full of contradictory information and it's really hard to discern what's valid and what's propaganda.) They're generally not good for the environment, but some are worse than others. Some times the active ingredient isn't the worst of the product. The inert ingredients can also be highly toxic to humans and wildlife. Personally, I'd only use an herbicide to help eradicate an out-of-control invasive species that I couldn't get rid of any other way, and then only if it was encroaching upon my garden, and only then if it was a one-time use.

I have such a situation (Bishop's Weed) and did some poking around the internet to see what I might be able to use to kill it since it's taking over my beds. I found the linked article very interesting, and based upon it decided to look for Weedol® Gun! Rootkill Plus. But sadly it appears to be available in the UK only. So I'm still in limbo over the Bishop's Weed.

https://beyondpesticides.org/d...ow-you-might-expect/

WTG, what happens to your hostas in the winter? Do they disappear?

quote:

I'd be turning at least half of it into flower/vegetable beds. Good for people, good for wildlife, good for the earth.

Bernard, this sounds lovely, but also not something I could consider taking on in the near, or even distant future... maybe after I retire. :/

oops, I meant to say, thanks for the link, Bernard, I'll take a look. (I hate it when the edit button disappears)

Yes, everything in the bed under the tree disappears. If the tree roots weren't so dense, i would try to plant a few understory shrubs in there, but digging is a major effort.

Here it is right now. Some of the hostas come up earlier than others. The daffodils are almost done. They've thinned out over the years and I hope to plant more this fall so I get more blooms next year, but those roots, those roots...

The anemones are just starting to open. The green ground cover is the European ginger.




What looks like an empty area at the bottom of the photo is actually a hosta that is one of the late ones to leaf out. Oh, and the arbor that's on its side is waiting to be painted.



The anemones and ginger. I chop up the leaves that fall from the maple tree in the autumn and leave them in the beds as mulch. Replenishes the soil and keeps the weeds down.

quote:

Re weeding... there are beds in the front along the walk way, they are covered with mid-sized pebbles/stones, and I think it's going to be a nightmare to weed. I wonder if mulch would be better.

The pebbles are a kind of mulch. More of them is better than few of them. They work to an extent and they save water but you’re still gonna get weeds and the rocks make them nearly impossible to dig out.

I’m gonna catch hell for this but you say you want to keep your yard looking way it does now. This is how it’s done. Might be wrong but this is how the previous owner did it and if you want it to stay that you’ll do it this way too.

You deal with weeds in beds like this with a bottle of Weed-be-Gone (broadleaf weeds) and another bottle of Roundup (grassy weeds). I like the bottle with the precision electric sprayer and refill it with concentrate when it gets empty to save money. Carry a piece of cardboard to shield the plants you want to keep and spray precisely. In tight areas use a paintbrush.

This is how farmers, golf courses, sports fields and park operators do it. At 3/4 acre using other methods will require a tremendous commitment and you’ll still not be able to maintain what you have now. I guarantee that there isn’t a single golf course in the country that fertilizes with compost and not a corn farmer either.

Re: Hostas

They wouldn’t grow in CA but they grow like weeds here. All different kinds, some 6’ tall or more. Sun, shade, dry, wet, they grow without being invasive. The crazy things even bloom!

In CA the equivalent plants are Fortnight Lillies and Indian Hawthorne. Abandon a gas station and those two plants would persist for decades.

My hostas die to the ground every winter but come back twice the size in spring. This makes me very happy.

quote:

if you care about how your neighbors feel about your yard

I don’t think that’s fair. I like the look and feel of a nice lawn and am willing to put in the effort to get it. I’m reminded if a story.

When I lived in the hip, modern Eichler house my neighbor was a plant guy at Cal State Long Beach. He tore out his yard and put in all natives. Looked like hell even though I understood his vision. No water, no weeding, no nothing.

Fire department posted the property as a fire hazard - CA natives are nothing if not flammable. He dug in and the fire department sent in a crew to cut it to the ground. The place looked much better.

He moved.

quote:

Grass will outcompete trees every time. That's why you remove sod around a tree when you plant it.

Might be true in some areas. Not true here.

quote:

Originally posted by Bernard:
If that space were mine, I'd be turning at least half of it into flower/vegetable beds. Good for people, good for wildlife, good for the earth. Win, win, win.

Otherwise, if you're going to use herbicides, reading up on them is a good idea. (I have to say, though, the webs are full of contradictory information and it's really hard to discern what's valid and what's propaganda.) They're generally not good for the environment, but some are worse than others. Some times the active ingredient isn't the worst of the product. The inert ingredients can also be highly toxic to humans and wildlife. Personally, I'd only use an herbicide to help eradicate an out-of-control invasive species that I couldn't get rid of any other way, and then only if it was encroaching upon my garden, and only then if it was a one-time use.

I have such a situation (Bishop's Weed) and did some poking around the internet to see what I might be able to use to kill it since it's taking over my beds. I found the linked article very interesting, and based upon it decided to look for Weedol® Gun! Rootkill Plus. But sadly it appears to be available in the UK only. So I'm still in limbo over the Bishop's Weed.

https://beyondpesticides.org/d...ow-you-might-expect/

Bernard, look up “no till drill”, a strategy used to grow crops without plowing, widely used on farms to protect topsoil. Really widely, and if they stop doing it food availability is going to be a huge issue.

The strategy requires the use of glyphosate - Roundup. They spray every year so they don’t have to plow. It works very well and unless you cover yourself in it it doesn’t do anything more than kill plants. It will kill your weeds and not damage the soil.

According to the linked article, Weedol is glyphosate - just like Roundup.

Spray a bit on your Bishops Weed and go back to enjoying your flower beds.

Wtg your yard is beautiful!

Steve, Roundup has been implicated in various cancers. I don't know what the current status is, but there were lawsuits. To each his own, but there are lots of other ways to kill weeds that won't kill you.

Steve, I agree with you that if sk wants to keep her lawn looking the way it is now, she will have to do what you suggest, what the previous owners have done.