What am i missing?

[shooterdon]

Agree with others...I have about two acres of "lawn" and live in the middle of the bush.

Keeps the bugs down as I am 100 yards from a swamp. I hope the lawn will help in case of a fire but I really do not know. It cannot hurt.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I pretty much agree with all of the reasons mentioned here; I have an acre, MOL, with house and a shop, so I have a lot to mow...but there is one thing important to me that no one has mentioned. I was born and raised in the country, but when I got married we lived in a couple apartments, a duplex, and a small house with a lot not much bigger than the house. It was so claustrophobic to me that I was stressed out a lot of the time, until we could afford to build on an acreage.

The big yard, mowed and manicured, gives me a feeling of openness; no other house up next to your bathroom window, no traffic whizzing by your front door. To me it's very relaxing and quiet. Nothing like sitting on the patio in the evening with Michelob ultra and watching the redbirds flitting around the bird feeder and the dogs playing "stick".

 

[Sigarms]

It seems a lot of people living in rural areas have lawns, not just a little near the house, but large expanses of closely groomed lawns. I guess I don't understand the attraction. I lean more toward trees or at least some native plants or grasses that need less frequent maintenance.

So tell me, why do you have a big lawn?

Because the rule was, if we bought a house with land, the house would not be located 20 yards off the road. The house also had a furnished basement (which we were looking for as well) and more land behind the place. Checked all the boxs on what we were looking for, and as I've gotten older, actually don't mind being on the mower over the weekend now.

Funny enough, after the first year, I did plug and lime the lawn myself, but after the second year and God knows how much lime I bought, I was kind of like "screw this" and just I just cut it now LOL

I probably mow about 6 acres in front and on the sides of the house (from the pic, you can't see on the other side of the road to the house). I don't do anything fancy with the lawn, but cut it. In the NC summer, I generally let it grow "big" and only cut every two weeks at a minimum of 4" so I don't kill the grass.

When we first bought the place, I was using a push mower, which actually made me find this website because I was getting tired of mowing every day, 7 days a week

 

[k0ua]

Not too bad a drive, I have poppers dueling tree and a gong or two, always welcome.

Best,

ed

Thanks for the invite Ed. Of course there is the ammo thing now. Back then I could reload a box of 50 .45's for less than 5 dollars. Can't do that now.

 

[Diggin It]

and a small house with a lot not much bigger than the house.

I grew up on a 30' x 60' lot. There were probably 40 homes and lots that size on a city block. First house I bought had the same size lot. Second house was similar. Third house was on a 60' x 120' lot. I through that lawn was HUGE!!!

Place I have now ... the front lawn alone is bigger than that big lot and I could place most of a city block within the whole property.

 

[ruffdog]

Up here, if you don't mow, the native mulberry, buckthorn, locust will take over in two years. Some people do give up and 10 years later you can't see the house. Then the grass dies and becomes a dirt yard. Then they park old cars,trailers,RV's,etc to cover the dirt.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I built my house in the middle of a 7 acre former corn field. I purposely stayed away from the tree line to avoid limb damage and to keep debris out of the gutters. Tree roots are also a source of foundation and septic system damage. I also wanted a clear view of the sky to allow for satellite TV and internet service in my very rural location.

I mow the 7 acres around the house and an additional 4 acres of former pasture. I do it mostly for looks and to keep pests away from the foundation. It is far from a "groomed" landscape which fits the rural rustic look of the surrounding land. My wife enjoys gardening and the full sun is a help for the plants she likes as well as the vegetables.

I cut the lawn with an 84" rear mount mower and the job takes around 3.5 hours. I'm looking at a 12' bat wing mower to take some time away from the job but that's going to require adding a storage building.

 

[check]

I have about 1 acre of grass at the rental property. I know it, to make the place look neat and keep the bugs down, and to provide recreation area for the renters.

 

[Wakey]

The big yard, mowed and manicured, gives me a feeling of openness; no other house up next to your bathroom window, no traffic whizzing by your front door. To me it's very relaxing and quiet. Nothing like sitting on the patio in the evening with Michelob ultra and watching the redbirds flitting around the bird feeder and the dogs playing "stick".

Perfectly said. In the evening I’ll even sit outside if rain is moving in, it generally comes out of the West or South and I’ve got a picture perfect view of it. The house faces 210 degrees.

 

[Sigarms]

I built my house in the middle of a 7 acre former corn field. I purposely stayed away from the tree line to avoid limb damage and to keep debris out of the gutters.

Ironically enough, after we bought our place, we spent a pretty penny to cut down a LOT of trees hanging directly over the house, and because they were tall, no way was I going to try it myself (can't really get a bucket truck back there, so the guy had to know what he was doing).

Very impressed with the skills of some of the tree cutters. Climbed themselves with some amazing small saws and they knew their knots along with pulleys and physics when bringing the limbs down (nothing was "cut and drop" around the house).

Made me realize climbing, cutting, and rope systems (for tree cutting) was an art unto itself when it came down to taking down trees in a very speciffic "drope zone".