lawns I'm giving up

[RickK]

This year I VOW to not be the guy with the best looking lawn in my town. I'm giving up on fertilizers and poisons.Crabgrass can have my lawn. Come on weeds,..and zero watering. After Sept 11 things seem different to me. I'll keep it mowed,.& try to keep the yard farily clean but I'm going to use the extra time in obsessing about the lawn to spend time with my family and hopefully that will include fishing (last year I made it once,..for 2 hours) life's too short to worry about a lawn.

[stewart]

Good! I hate to see that stuff sprayed on the lawns because I look at those storm drains, and they lead to the river I fish....

[Candeye]

I plant Walleye heads & guts under my grass by making a deep Slit with my shovel, & dropping parts inside, I have green spots & this gives me an excuse to do more fishin'

[Jeremy_WI]

Just pave the whole thing and glue down some green outdoor carpet, sell the lawnmower and have more gas to use in the outboard

[Cangl]

Ironic the less lawn maintenance you put in the more time you have as you stated. Fertilize and you will have to mow and more often, plain fact of the matter. If you like to mow more, poison insects and plant life as well as your water tables and area lakes then "bless" you and let your children straighten it out in the future. Sick but that golf course mentality is poisoning our lives. Trees and thinner grass provide all the shade, grass I need to mow, and with the bonus 30-60 dozen nightcrawlers harvested after storms or by watering, bait is seldom an issue. The mulch pile full of red and white worms comes in handy also and rest assured that watching your "addicted" lawn burn and demand it's fix is something I watch my neighbors suffer. That and overheated mowers clogged with wet "cud". Those little skull and cross bone signs are never put in the lake, but thats where all the "goodies" end up. Got a well? :(

Green and conservation come in handy and healthy.

[Water Dog]

Let me share a tip that works very well .
Adjust your mover to the next to highest level .
Taller grass needs LESS water and feed to look good and stay healthy .
Cut it every week , just not so short .
Every year my neighbor cuts his too short , and spends lot-o-cash on his feed, sprinkler system, and weed stuff .
Yet my lawn looks great , without any real effort .
Try it , it works !

[GR8WTHUNTER]

Or scalp the lawn just as it gets hot and dry. It will turn brown. Tell the wife that you have to "let it go" for a while so it will "come back" and hit the lake.

[TRinMT]

RickK,

I reached your state of mind concerning lawns last year. I am 50 yrs. old and shudder to think of all the time I have wasted mowing my lawn when I could have been fishing. Last summer, I stopped water in July. I only had to mow it 2 more times before Oct. I feel that I have done my part to counteract the drought in Montana.
This year, I had thought about installing a sprinkler system, but now I can clearly see that the money would be better spent on a trip to Tobin Lake.
Now I can show my wife that I am a true conservationist.

Tom

[RickK]

Yep,...too much time and money not to mention chemical in the environment. I have a HUGE lawn and I'm thinking of tilling up some of it and sowing wildflowers,..in another area I think I'm going to plant birdseed I did this with a little strip a few years ago and the birds picked at it all winter. I'm also considering to let a lot of it go fallow,..with winding paths every 3-4 years get a side cutter to come in to stop the growth of trees and change the paths. I'll mow the acre around the house but let any weed live.

[targa2]

I live in a rented farm house. I paid a guy to cut my lawn with a bush-hog last year when it got 2 feet high. That was proceeded by a drought so I never had to cut it again all year.You should see how indignant people get when they start on me about MY lawn.Little do they know it's not a good idea to start a psychological battle with me on issues like these.I don't expect everyone to let their lawn look like a hay field but the fanaticism that a lot of people exhibit regarding there lawn is like a disease....I cannot clean up my life so I will clean up my space instead. Freud would have a hayday with this bunch.

E.P.A and The Bluewater Group are still fighting over the 2006 combustion engine issue while people "weed and feed" our ground to death. If you want to live on a golf cource then build a house on the 18th fairway. Otherwise GET A LIFE.

[Box]

I used to have a pretty nice lawn, even without fertilizing... last summer I build a new garage and still have a mess. I also got two dogs last year... and the dogs are females, so I have the little yellow spots all over...

My yard now looks like a war zone! Holes from the darn dogs and dirt piles from construction... hehe... The neighbors think the Clampets have moved in! :)

Oh well, I love my dogs and I love my big garage, so the lawn will, like yours, have a backseat :)

-Box

[CJHughes]

I have the most weeds without a doubt . I also have the biggest colony of moles this side of the Ohio River stands to reason I have the most nightcrawlers in my yard too that is why the moles are here . I own 5 acres I cut 2 , I plant 1/2 acres garden every year and it is the only spot out of the 5 acres that receives any fertilizer . I don't care how many $ 400,000 homes they build around me nor do I care what the yups that live around me think about my yard or my three boats that are parked in my driveway . I was here first .Plus my trash can always smells the worst Fish heads and fish guts . I have been this way for 15 years and I am not going to change welcome to the club you will love it . Oh yea I am not taking my tree stand down nor am I going to stop hunting deer in my yard .

[Western Basin Bob]

Speaking of those yellow spots female dogs leave behind: Is there any way to treat/prevent it?

[Ronnie]

I've got 3.5 acres - about 2.5 of it is mowed. If it's green and tall, I mow it. I don't use straight fertilizer, but I do like to keep the weeds in check. I try not to encourage the grass to grow. If it gets brown in the Summer, I don't water it - I love it - no mowing. I could be accused of spending too much time washing cars. I need to forget about that and just head to the lake for the evening.

[Box]

Well, the "bad" way is pouring some tomato juice over the dog food. But expensive and , worse, my vet said it can cause bladder infections, so I own't do that.

Friends told me there is something you can get at lawn stores that you sprikle over you lawn, either with spreader or just by hand, that nuetralizes it and keeps it from dying. Can't think of name right now, but someone here will know. I might try that.

Anybody know how to get dogs to quit digging? I catch them now and then and yell at them, but they keep doing it.

-Box

[Fshngyd]

I hear ya, I have 50 acres and a few years ago a guy bought some land next to me and built a huge house and horse corrals. Each year I shoot Geese, Ducks, Turkeys and Pheasants right from my driveway or lawn. I also shoot trap, sight in and practice shooting my rifles, and plink with my SW9mm. One day this January I was shooting my rifle, in doing so I happened look over my shoulder and see this guy running over from his property to mine, when he gets there he proceeds start yelling at me to stop shooting guns-on my property!!. As I set there in disbelief with my loaded 700BDL 25-06 in my hand listening to this guy rant and rave, I thought this guy has alot of nerve to literally run about 1/2 mile to my property and ask me to quit scaring his *!%!?@! horses with my rifle shots. I told him I have been doing this years before he got there and plan on doing it for many years after, after a few tense moments his comment was that he would get in touch with the Sherriff to straigten this out, and proceeded to return back to his property. I think the sheriff told him the way it is living in the rural countrside, and I have not heard from either since. I think this joker has a few cats that stray into my yard on occasion, hmmmmmm;-).

[Dave in Mpls]

Box-

Just cut their paws off :)

Seriously, I think it's kinda like house breaking them. Hold their nose to the hole and give them a smack on the butt. that;s the only thing I've found that somewhat works. What ever happened to Vetspet?

Regards

[tbite]

Regarding stopping dogs from digging. I had the same problem until I invested in a shocking callor.

[MO FISH]

5 or 6 years ago,an older guy I knew was at the marina cleaning his boat.
I asked if he was getting ready for the spring season to start.
He replied no,that his lawn was so big and required so much of his time that he was selling his boat.
My wife and I thought what a shame to spend your last years mowing instead of fishing.
To each his own I guess.

[candrazoo]

I burry the dog s#%#%^ in the holes the dog usually goes back to the spot scrathes & smells his own s##%#%# and will not go back to dig you may have to do this a few times and the dog will give up on digging. Every now and then maybe once or twice a year he digs again just bury the dog s@#!$ and quits for a long time

[ShadMan]

Take your dog over to the neighbors and have them pee on there lawn! Leaves your lawn looking nice without any spots!!!!!!
I enjoy cutting my lawn, I come home from work eat supper and ride the mower, relaxing for me, not as good as sitting in my boat but I still enjoy it!!! The lakes that are close to me to fish are run down by Jet skiers and I work a 10 hour shift so I do not have time to fish after work. That is why I enjoy my days off during the week and if I fish on a weekend it is on Lake Winnebago which is large enough to allow for the jet skier bums and the yups that need to ride on little boards pulled behind boats.
Besides with the yard looking nice it keeps the wife happy and it makes my life so much easier when the boat is heading down the driveway!!!
ShadMan

[spa]

My solution plant more trees the grasss does not grow that fast under them just don,t plant the ones you have to rake....

[TK_551]

This is not too motivating! I just purchased a house in December and I am getting ready to plant my yard.

Tom
#551

[Bob]

I too have given up on lawn maintainance, not completely but much less than I have in the past. But seeing we are talking about lawns, I have to ask this. What in the He## do you guys do about MOLES??? I have a couple of those traps with the 6 little spears on it and they do work. But I can't keep up with them. Last year I got 9 in two weeks. Anyone know what I can do to deture them. They drive me nuts! Thanks for any help, Bob

[Box]

well, it sounds funny, but it also sounds like a darn good idea. I will try all of these! Thanks guys!

-Box

[SeaCat]

I solved the same problem about a month ago. Sold the house with a 1 1/2 acre yard and have bought a condo on the St. Joe river with a boat dock out the back door.

Finishing up some remodeling and will move in when I get back from the Port Clinton PWT.

There is a little grass, but the condo assoc hires it cut.

Ryan

[WAeyes]

Treat the yellow spots as quickly as possible with a good soaking of water to dillute it. Get ready to mow because it will grow like crazy and turn a beautiful dark green. It may look a little different than the rest of the lawn but it beats a big dead spot from ammonia burn.

[Lawns]

personly lawns are a personal preferance
WEED--OR FEED it
If you cut it high at 2 1/2 inch to 3 you have a little more lee-way
when ya need to cut---PLUS when the summer get's hot it won't Burn
Feed it and your fishing is in the hand's of grass on STEROIDS
WITH LAWNS REMEMBER THE FISHING MOTTO: KISS=Keep It Simple Studly
my 2 cents

[CJHughes]

Seacat you are my hero sell it all and live on the water .