Lawn care help

[TheRiddler]

I'm currently renting a house after only living in apartments before. My awesome rental agreement says I'm responsible for all lawn care except for the maintenance of trees over 10 feet tall.

I fill up my green bin to the top with branches and plants every other week. The lawn was laid out with grass that was rolled out before I moved in, and it's a lot of weeds at this point. The front yard is okay, it's really the back yard that's giving me trouble. There are 4 apple trees, an avocado tree, an orange tree, a lemon tree, a pomegranate tree, and random bushes and shrubs.

My tools consist of a lawnmower, edge trimmer, large shovel, small shovel, rake, small trimming sheers, and large trimming sheers. And an automatic sprinkler system.

Landscaping masters, lend me your tips.

Here's a panoramic of it.

 

[SteelerFanatic]

Looks great. Doing a great job.

 

[Bronto]

Mulching everything can replace filling the green bins. Use the mulch to put around the plants. Helps to add nutrients, keep weeds down and retain moister. If you got animals will keep mud off their feet.
Can use the lawnmower as a shredder. Make low piles of yard debris and mow it into small pieces. Looks like the small lawn area on the left can use to mulch. Than rake up the mulch and spread around.
Heh I'm no landscaping expert, but have done mulching for years. There isn't any downsides and only benefits.
Umm this is different than doing a compost pile. But can do the shred and compost it also.

 

[BMW]

Fertilize every two months . Water for longer periods but less often. Wintering water is tougher because the rain is inconsistent; and you don't want to waste water if the lawn doesn't need it. Adjust the mower so it doesn't cut short. Pull weeds by hand. use Scotts EZ seed for bare spots.($$$$)

 

[Rambeezi]

Fertilize every two months . Water for longer periods but less often. ($$$$)

Pretty much the above. I do the Scott's Weed n Feed every couple months.

ps - it doesn't address crab grasses though. You will need something like Scott's Step 1 or some other type of crab grass control.

 

[Mike95060]

Grow food not lawns bra.

 

[Yakoo752]

Pretty much the above. I do the Scott's Weed n Feed every couple months.

ps - it doesn't address crab grasses though. You will need something like Scott's Step 1 or some other type of crab grass control.

this

we just expanded our lawn in the backyard and the new area, now that it's getting watered has tons of weeds. In a few more weeks, I'll weed and feed the whole lawn and then start cycling organic fertilizers.

Grow food not lawns bra.

I do as much as I can but big dog needs big yard.

 

[TheRiddler]

Grow food not lawns bra.

If I owned the property, I would. Not allowed to modify it.

 

[Map8]

A few berms and a few jumps and you're done.

 

[Mike95060]

If I owned the property, I would. Not allowed to modify it.

Bummer. Might be worth getting a sod estimate. Let the damn thing die and just re-sod it before you move out. May be more cost effective depending on how you value your time and what your spending to keep living.

 

[Strigoi]

Going by your pic I think you're doing fine. Just keep it mowed/not dead, that's probably all they expect of you. I've lived at places where we had to take care of the yard and that's basically all they wanted.

You could hire a gardener to come take care of things as well. We recently got rid of ours (no fucks given, I own the house, no HOA) and were paying him $90 a month to come by every other week. They kept things nice and tidy.

We have no lawn (the front dried and turned into dirt) and the rest of the plants are so low maintenance that there was no point in dropping that money each month. Redoing the front is on the list of things, it's just low priority.

 

[Cycle61]

Mow my lawn about three times a summer and never water. Yes it goes brown, if anybody wants to bitch about it I'll put up an environmental sign about water conservation or some such.

 

[OldFatGuy]

You could hire a gardener to come take care of things as well.

That's the approach I took, since I hate doing yard work. :afm199

 

[}Dragon{]

I'm not a pro landscaper, but I met one on BART before...

Aerate and thatch the lawn ASAP (before the lawn stops growing in fall). Then apply a liquid weed and feed. Best resource for help is your local nursery who may know the soil conditions on your block are ...

 

[jt2]

.

You could hire a gardener to come take care of things as well. We recently got rid of ours (no fucks given, I own the house, no HOA) and were paying him $90 a month to come by every other week. They kept things nice and tidy.
.

This. Hire a mow and blow guy for about a hundred bucks a month.*

Unless there is more in the lease you didn't mention, you're not required to make the lawn look like a putting green. Water, mow and throw some fertilizer on it a couple of times a year. Prune the trees annually, or have your guy do it for another hundie. Done.


* Go ahead, children, have your fun with that