Nice garden. My wife and I have a jungle of a garden since we have plenty of good and inexpensive water for keeping everything green. My daughter picked up the same habit, though she lives in NM on the TX border and rents. It is a fun hobby.
Since we raise chickens, we encourage white clover in our small lawn (most of the land is used for flower and vegetable gardening) because they love to eat it.
Usually, I can stop mowing around mid-July because it's dry and nothing is growing. Not this year. My back yard looks like a jungle as I write this, but with a 111-degree heat index, it's not happening today.
I love reading about your garden, Ms. Cedar. Always something new to learn, and the photos are beautiful.
We went the other direction. We bought our house before the hordes of karens descended on our county in Florida, bringing their HOA rules. I'm also borderline asthmatic from grass pollens; I was really tired of MOPPing up to cut the grass and rushing into the shower to scrub off the grass and pollen after. 🤧
So when we moved back into the house, we decided we were getting rid of the grass. The front and back lawns became parking space and patio, respectively, leaving a strip running around it that we later filled with gravel.
As far as plants, we buy pots that we spread around the perimeter of the backyard. Definitely makes the back porch a better place to write, IMHO. 🙂
And a few months ago, one of our neighbors ripped up his grass and put in astroturf to cut down on his lawncare during the burning months. 👍
My husband says, and he's not joking, that he'd put it all into a concrete slab and paint it green! I think at least astroturf and container plants would be better than that.
Every year we have a fight with our city over our land usage. I plant native flowers to the area and other flowers, and encourage weeds such as thistles. This gives us the most biodiverse lawn and means that we have more butterflies, fireflies, birds, snakes, etc. than anyone else in our neighborhood. The city wants a proper lawn with grass no taller than 10 inches.
I love gardens . Yet they are a lot of work. Unlike you I live where lots of rain. My lawn has been getting smaller due raspberry bushes , all wild. The provide great fruit around the 4th of July. They spread everywhere and a real pain to constantly cut them down. I planted canna this year along with hollyhocks , gladiolas and peonies. The only one that flowered well was the canna. I had a few years ago planted iris around the mailbox. The a tall grass managed to spread to there and chocked them out . I had one freesia bloom out of 12. My problem is shade. Lots of Locus and Oaks. The last 5 years we got a invasion of English ivy everywhere. Real problem pulling that out It spreads faster than I can remove it.
Oh, English Ivy is so hard to control! so is the grass, which is why I'll be spraying with Ornamec mixed per directions. And yes, it's best to plan around the shade if you know you have it. There are many plants which will thrive in the shade! Sadly, not the ones you named. Hollyhocks, though, are biennials and generally don't bloom the first year, so there's a chance for next year!
We have to mow twice a week in the spring because the grass goes crazy. I mow on the highest setting so there’s clover for pollinators. Also: when I house hunt, an HOA is a deal breaker. Of course, anymore seeing another house from any window is a deal breaker, too, so there’s that.
I'm about ready to sell off the old tractor, get a new one (20-25 hp.) with a rototiller (cat 0 or 1) and convert lawn to vegetable garden. If I'm going to spend money on hydrocarbon fuel, it should be for food.
I really like a neatly mowed lawn. I love riding the mower, I love sharpening the blades, I love seeing it all neat and trim and level. my front yard is about a half acre and I like to keep the lawn mowed for the same reason that medieval lords kept their lawn mowed which is so nobody can sneak up on me. but I completely understand the desire not to mow. my backyard is a cliff which I do not like to know and I have not mowed since I found Jesus. jesus, and now his son Julio, come by once a week and keep the backyard mode because I am too old and coordination to mow that steep slope. someday I might cover it with some kind of tight growing ground cover that just keeps it from having to be mowed more than once a year.
the people that I know that have lots of plants and cool stuff growing in their yard spend way more time than I ever did mowing, keeping all of that vegetation properly maintained. I don't have the energy for that either. God bless those who do!
Nice garden. My wife and I have a jungle of a garden since we have plenty of good and inexpensive water for keeping everything green. My daughter picked up the same habit, though she lives in NM on the TX border and rents. It is a fun hobby.
Since we raise chickens, we encourage white clover in our small lawn (most of the land is used for flower and vegetable gardening) because they love to eat it.
There's "No Mow May" (or April based on climate) to give the bees food in the spring.
Though early blossoming flowers in the garden may be wiser, so they know where the flowers are later, too.
Usually, I can stop mowing around mid-July because it's dry and nothing is growing. Not this year. My back yard looks like a jungle as I write this, but with a 111-degree heat index, it's not happening today.
I love reading about your garden, Ms. Cedar. Always something new to learn, and the photos are beautiful.
We went the other direction. We bought our house before the hordes of karens descended on our county in Florida, bringing their HOA rules. I'm also borderline asthmatic from grass pollens; I was really tired of MOPPing up to cut the grass and rushing into the shower to scrub off the grass and pollen after. 🤧
So when we moved back into the house, we decided we were getting rid of the grass. The front and back lawns became parking space and patio, respectively, leaving a strip running around it that we later filled with gravel.
As far as plants, we buy pots that we spread around the perimeter of the backyard. Definitely makes the back porch a better place to write, IMHO. 🙂
And a few months ago, one of our neighbors ripped up his grass and put in astroturf to cut down on his lawncare during the burning months. 👍
My husband says, and he's not joking, that he'd put it all into a concrete slab and paint it green! I think at least astroturf and container plants would be better than that.
I told my wife yesterday that if the neighbors started whining about our concrete, i’d paint it green and put lines down to park cars. 😈
Every year we have a fight with our city over our land usage. I plant native flowers to the area and other flowers, and encourage weeds such as thistles. This gives us the most biodiverse lawn and means that we have more butterflies, fireflies, birds, snakes, etc. than anyone else in our neighborhood. The city wants a proper lawn with grass no taller than 10 inches.
I've been seeing more movement to allow pollinator areas, which is a good thing.
I love gardens . Yet they are a lot of work. Unlike you I live where lots of rain. My lawn has been getting smaller due raspberry bushes , all wild. The provide great fruit around the 4th of July. They spread everywhere and a real pain to constantly cut them down. I planted canna this year along with hollyhocks , gladiolas and peonies. The only one that flowered well was the canna. I had a few years ago planted iris around the mailbox. The a tall grass managed to spread to there and chocked them out . I had one freesia bloom out of 12. My problem is shade. Lots of Locus and Oaks. The last 5 years we got a invasion of English ivy everywhere. Real problem pulling that out It spreads faster than I can remove it.
Oh, English Ivy is so hard to control! so is the grass, which is why I'll be spraying with Ornamec mixed per directions. And yes, it's best to plan around the shade if you know you have it. There are many plants which will thrive in the shade! Sadly, not the ones you named. Hollyhocks, though, are biennials and generally don't bloom the first year, so there's a chance for next year!
We have to mow twice a week in the spring because the grass goes crazy. I mow on the highest setting so there’s clover for pollinators. Also: when I house hunt, an HOA is a deal breaker. Of course, anymore seeing another house from any window is a deal breaker, too, so there’s that.
I'm about ready to sell off the old tractor, get a new one (20-25 hp.) with a rototiller (cat 0 or 1) and convert lawn to vegetable garden. If I'm going to spend money on hydrocarbon fuel, it should be for food.
I really like a neatly mowed lawn. I love riding the mower, I love sharpening the blades, I love seeing it all neat and trim and level. my front yard is about a half acre and I like to keep the lawn mowed for the same reason that medieval lords kept their lawn mowed which is so nobody can sneak up on me. but I completely understand the desire not to mow. my backyard is a cliff which I do not like to know and I have not mowed since I found Jesus. jesus, and now his son Julio, come by once a week and keep the backyard mode because I am too old and coordination to mow that steep slope. someday I might cover it with some kind of tight growing ground cover that just keeps it from having to be mowed more than once a year.
the people that I know that have lots of plants and cool stuff growing in their yard spend way more time than I ever did mowing, keeping all of that vegetation properly maintained. I don't have the energy for that either. God bless those who do!