Who mows the lawn?

[Annette]

I was really curious as to who takes care of the lawn maintenance for your home. DH and I share the mowing duties and I really hate it.

[KRM&TPS]

When we first moved to our house DH did. But I have helped him the past couple of times because it is so hot. I dont mind it too much. I do the back yard and he does the front yard. I dont mind it but then again I only have helped a couple of times.

[Sophia]

We hire people to mow the lawn. Before that, DH always did it. I've never mown a lawn in my life, and I'm nearly 36.

[Janey]

The only lawn we have is a parking strip, and B does it. It seems like an easy job, and I'll probably do it in the future... but for now it is his job. :) In fact, he's doing it right now!

[ManteoChik]

We have a lawn service. My bf doesn't mind doing it but since he travels so much with work there is no way I'd have time to take care of everything else around the house AND mow the lawn.

[juliemag]

I tried my hand at mowing the lawn the other day for the first time, so I chose "We both do" for my answer - :p . It's HARD work though. Seriously, I dont think I've ever gotten a workout like that. We plan to do the lawn together though, to what extent my portion is... time will tell!!

[MsRo]

I've mowed our lawn a few times but it's primarily something the boy does.

[camberne]

The kid next door!! :D He cuts, edges and blows for $15/week.

When we moved from our other house to this one, the lawnmower didn't make the transition. Well, it did, but the only person who could start the old broken thing that we got a yard sale was my husband; and he wasn't really good at being regular with the cutting... and he certainly wasn't edging or blowing!! ;)

[Kimberland30]

My DH does, and God bless him for it. :) We have a huge yard and it's an all day feat. I am in charge of the flower beds and that's enough. My DH loves he heat and humidity, while I whine if it's anything over 85, so our arrangement works out well. :)

[camberne]

My DH loves he heat and humidityJeff must be loving life now!! Bleh, I'm ready for November!! I'm hiding in my A/C!!

[Lizard]

My husband mows, and I edge, weed, and water. I think I got the short end of the deal. :) Actually, I enjoy futzing with the details, and he enjoys making sure the lawn looks good, so it all works out.

[greenbunny]

DH loves his new riding mower, I don't think he'd let me mow if I wanted to. When we had a tiny push mower at our rental, we shared the job. Now I do the weeding and watering.

I'm glad to be done with cutting the grass. I was mowing my parents' lawn since I was 12.


Edited b/c I spelled "weeding" as "wedding". Get out of my brain, it's been two years! ;)

[Hangin'in]

DH does all things yard related... it was our agreement when we moved into a house. If I was going to be responsible for a yard, I would hire my BIL who owns a landscaping company...

[nordey]

A lawn service. DH and I are both very allergic to grass and it just isn't worth the 2-days of misery that follow each lawn cutting. Plus we live in California where you can get a pretty decent lawn service for relatively cheap.

[magrat]

I do. DH has very bad hayfever. I dunno...what's the point of getting married if your husband won't mow the lawn?

[mel7dog]

Although DH mows the lawn every weekend when he's home, I water it like a mad woman every single day. I also plant the flowers, trim the bushes etc. I love how DH mows, I did it once and it was no fun!

[BooeyJ2]

Lawn mowing is including in our HOA fees, so they have garndeners that come out and mow our lawns and maintain all the plants and everything.

[LeslieR]

We live in a townhouse, so we have an HOA and the lawn is covered through that. Even if we didn't, we'd probably pay someone to do it. I've never mowed a lawn in my life and I'm not about to start now. lol

[mlfallis]

FH and FIL, we live next to each other and there is 9 hours worth of cutting on the John Deere riding mower. They just got a 16 foot wide one with hydraulics and they are worried to let anyone else on it since we have some steep slopes and are worried they will tip it over. With the new mover it only take 3 hours plus trimming with the John Deere. I know we have alot of grass. :eek:

[DiscoDiva]

I do! I exercise every day, so why not get outside and kill two birds with one stone? Weird, but I'm starting to enjoy mowing the lawn..... what a freak!

[katmg]

We used to have a lawn service but DH wanted to buy a lawn mower so that over the long haul we might save some money. :rolleyes:

The deal we made back then was, you can buy the mower, but I am never mowing.

Fast forward to one year later (last night) and we had to have a "discussion" about how it's been 3 weeks since the lawn was mowed and that I wasn't going to do it.

[karlatta]

Generally, I mow and DH edges. I wish I had the upper arm strength to edge, though, because I think DH doesn't do a very good job of it. (Shhh... don't tell.)

[Daisy]

Lawn service, thank god! ;)

[lovebugs2003]

I have mowed the lawn a few times, but really can't stand it. My DH really loves gardening, a heck of a lot more than I do. I am slowly showing interest. But i do the household stuff. It evens out.

[kam]

Don't have a lawn yet, but I suspect DH will and will get sick of it. Then hire a lawn service ;)

[tinkerbelljenny]

Dh mows it but not every often, maybe one a month. We don't have to mow it in the winter due to the snow. We called 2 lawn service companies out to do our lawn and both of them declined to mow our lawn saying it would be too much work. HUH??

[beachlvr]

Part of the deal with me being a SAHM was that I'd do the lawn since we had to let the gardeners go.

I don't mind doing it, but I can't always find the time for it.

[Spellbound]

I live in a snooty neighborhood full of hired gardeners and always giggle at the shocked faces when they see me or DH mowing the lawn. Some days I enjoy it, but on those blistering days where the sun is shining down I delegate it as "his chore." I don't do edging however. For some reason I'm horrible at it.

P.S. I love my snooty, pretentious and upscale neighbors. Hell I'm one of them, ha! I just wish I were as upscale as they were and could rightfully afford the luxury of someone else tending to my lawn.

[amorey]

I didn’t vote, because nobody mows our lawn. It gets long and scrubby and I’m sure the neighbors hate us. Last summer I paid my cousin to do it, but this summer he doesn’t have time. I don’t do it because I have allergies. I tried once and had an asthma attack. DH will mow it if it gets really long and I get mad at him, which is no fun.

How much do people pay for a lawn service? What do they do?

[KaliLily]

Mowing the lawn is primarily my job since I'm not working right now, but due to the extreme heat/humidity we've had this summer DH has been helping. Sometimes I feel bad when he's the one out there mowing, but it's such a big lawn (we have almost a 1/2 acre) it helps to have him pitching in.

[chefker]

Normally we split the mowing in half--we have nearly 2 acres, so it just makes sense to do it that way--I'll do the back, and DH will do the front. But lately, DH has been doing the whole thing, as I am PG and he gets 'nervous' having me on the riding mower. Even though my doctor said it was perfectly safe! :rolleyes:

So, I've taken up ALL the weeding/shrub trimming, and pool care, to make things fair. Mowing our entire lawn, from start to finish, takes maybe 4 hours--there are a few sections the rider won't reach, which is a PITA, so we have to use the push mower.

And...in a few months it'll be fun with raking leaves!

[KarenS]

e live in a townhouse, so we have an HOA and the lawn is covered through that. This is us. Back when we had the bigger house with more land, DH did the mowing ..but really it was only about 1/4 of the lawn, since the rest was pretty heavily wooded and left to naturalize. One of my chores when I was growing up was mowing the lawn ... so I don't mind it really.

Karen

[DiscoDiva]

Generally, I mow and DH edges. I wish I had the upper arm strength to edge, though, because I think DH doesn't do a very good job of it. (Shhh... don't tell.)
You can edge - I do it and, trust me, you get the arm muscles pretty quick!

Come on ladies, think about the advantages of mowing the lawn yourself:
1. You get a tan
2. It's a great aerobic workout
3. It gives you great arms
4. It gives you great legs
5. It also helps trim your waist
6. You have an excuse to buy cute tanks and shorts
7. It's free!!

Cancel those gym memberships and lawn services and do it yourself. After about a month or so, you will actually like doing it. Who knew?

[amew]

I am kind of embarassed to admit this, but I have never mowed a lawn in my life. DH mows our (tiny) yard, despite the fact that he does at least half of the inside chores. If he didn't want to mow, I would hire a lawn service in a heartbeat. I would love to have a nicer yard in general, but neither of us has any knowledge or or interest in gardening, so I suspect that will have to wait until we can afford some landscaping help.

[eponymous]

I've also never mowed. I'm terribly allergic to grass and can't even go outside on the day when it gets mowed. Plus, DH insisted upon buying one of those old-fashioned push mowers, which I'm not strong enough to push up and down our hill, so I couldn't do it anyway!

[DiscoDiva]

I would love to have a nicer yard in general, but neither of us has any knowledge or or interest in gardening, so I suspect that will have to wait until we can afford some landscaping help.
You know what? I've NEVER had an interest in gardening or landscaping. But, somehow, once you're out there in the grass and dirt, you develop an interest. And, you get better at it. Heck, I redid our flower bed by remulching it and adding decorative landscaping rocks around it. Who'd of thunk it? ;)

[amew]

You know what? I've NEVER had an interest in gardening or landscaping. But, somehow, once you're out there in the grass and dirt, you develop an interest.

How did you figure out where to start and what to do? DH and I are generally pretty capable, DIY kind of people, but for some reason we are both thoroughly inept when it comes to how to deal with our yard. Thanks to years of apartment living, I feel like yardwork/gardening is one of the few adult skills we just never bothered to learn. I would love to change that, but inertia has set in and I don't know where to start. Advice?

[DiscoDiva]

How did you figure out where to start and what to do? DH and I are generally pretty capable, DIY kind of people, but for some reason we are both thoroughly inept when it comes to how to deal with our yard. Thanks to years of apartment living, I feel like yardwork/gardening is one of the few adult skills we just never bothered to learn. I would love to change that, but inertia has set in and I don't know where to start. Advice?
This sounds exactly like me! My first step was mowing the lawn. I started noticing little things like where the grass was dying, which areas needed more water, etc. That helped me realize how shade plays into things.

Then I started one flower bed border with something that was "green, easy to grow, won't die, and is basically no-maintenance" so I planted monkey grass. From there, I just kept going, but in small amounts. It's not like I would plan to relandscape my whole yard! I'm just redoing one small area or flowerbed at a time.

The important thing to do is ask questions. My sister is very good at landscaping, so I ask her. We had a guy out to professionally trim our tree, so I asked him a lot of questions. Also, when I'm doing my daily walks, I look at the landscaping of the houses in my neighborhood. If I see something in a lot of yards, I figure there must be a good reason. I also go to the local nursery and ask a lot of questions. They are more than happy to help.

You will learn, it just takes time and patience. The payoff is great - your yard looks better and you have a great feeling of accomplishment!

[amew]

Thanks for the motivation, DD! I think I am going to attempt to plant something in a flower bed this weekend just to break the seal and get started. We really have no excuse for ignoring our yard the way we do.

[DiscoDiva]

Just to the nursery or local garden center and tell them you aren't good at gardening and want to plant some very simple, basic plants or flowers. Also, make sure you know the how much sun/shade that area gets, and what time of day it is the sun or shade.

[Kanga]

Dh always mows the lawn. The only time I've ever mowed a lawn was when I was growing up, and that was on a riding lawn mower. I really have no idea how to start and shut off a push mower although I'm sure it isn't that hard and I'd just have to figure it out. This way, dh has to do it because I don't know how. It only needs mowed about 4-5 months out of the year anyways and dh doesn't mind at all except when it's really hot and humid. He actually thought about starting his own lawn mowing business, but we decided it really wouldn't be worth it because of the longer winters and shorter summers we have here.

We (or should I say dh ;) ) doesn't edge the lawn. We're not super finicky about our lawn and honestly I don't even know if we own an edger or not. As far as weeding goes, we don't do anything like that either. I think most of our "good enough" attitude towards our lawn comes from renting. If we owned our own house, we would probably care more about it.

[Jenean]

A very nice young man named Fabricio mows ours. I thought I might do it, but after seeing how long it takes and how involved all the ancillary work is, I realized it was worth it to me to have this guy come 2x a month and take care of it for us.

I am trying to learn about gardening, though, so I can take care of the rest of the landscaping.

[suzubeane]

He mows. I used to, but I don't anymore. I've decided the outdoors is his domain because we're remodeling, and I'm doing all the work. (demo/framing/plumbing) or deciding when to hire pros. I am the one capable of all household repairs; I love him but he's NOT handy. So yeah - HE can mow!

[Asha]

our condo association dues go towards having gardners take care of our cozy sized yard. though, it's not so cozy bc the gardners really only mow and rarely trim hedges. forget about them taking care of the weeds. :rolleyes:

[Annabelle]

I mow, I mow! DH always offers but I don't let him!

I love working in the yard and all the work that goes into keeping it up. DH does the weedwacking though - it's too heavy for me to use.

[PinkMartini]

FH mows. I wouldn't have the first clue on how to even turn the mower on :rolleyes:

[jaeger]

I've never mowed a lawn. Or turned a mower on, LOL.
That was the job of the past SO's...LOL

[DiscoDiva]

Come on ladies, empower yourself! Learn to work garden/lawn care equipment!! Honestly, it does kinda feel good when you know you can do it yourself and you don't need someone else to do it for you.

[angelraven]

I do all the mowing! Like DD said, it's a great workout and it's nice to be able to say you did it yourself. It's nice to drive up to a nicely manicured lawn knowing that it is that way because you did it. :) DH can't mow because of his asthma and allergies, but even if he could I wouldn't let him. I also trim the rose bushes (we have a lot!) and do the edging.

[DiscoDiva]

Also, I used to think that sweating was 'icky', I hated/feared bugs, and I didn't know anything about being outdoors. I was just uncomfortable being outside. But now, it's nice that I've learned a lot about gardening, landscaping, and home maintenance. I feel a lot more comfortable being outdoors, to the point that I would now even consider camping. (who knew...) Plus, I no longer run screaming when I see a bug!

[muguet27]

My DH mows our lawn. I have allergies that go crazy when I mow, plus I'm terrified of bees & wasps and they seem to be everywhere in our yard.

[lml41981]

DH mows. I am very much an indoors kind of girl. I am not a fan of the heat or of pushing around a mower. DH enjoys that kind of thing, so he does it. I have a little flower bed that I need to pay better attention to, but that's about all I do out there.

I used my parents' riding mower when I was 16 and left so many holidays in the yard that my dad had to redo it. He said from then on I was exempt from that chore. He and my brother are the primary ones who mow, but my mom has nothing against getting out and doing it either.

[Jen&Dan]

We both mow, but DH does mow the majority of the time. Sometimes we spilt it up, and I will mow the front and side yards, and he will mow the back yard.

[Chocolatecake]

When we were in my home prior to getting married, we both mowed since it was over 3/4 of an acre. Since we have moved into a home on a smaller lot, he mows and I take care of the garden!:D

[princesse]

Growing up my dad never let my mom cut the grass. I am oh so happy to carry on that tradition. I'll do everything else in the yard but not that. Not ever that

[cocoa_femme]

DH mows the lawn. I don't think he would even let me attempt it, for fear that I'd totally mess it up.

[jessied1025]

We both mow the lawn, but DH does more than I. Right now we have an older lawnmower (it was free!) without a bagger/multer, so we have to rake the cut grass up so it is a 2 person job.

Next spring we are investing in a new lawnmower and I can't wait! :D

[southerner]

that time of year again :)

[nyclaura]

My husband - however, he hates it. We'll likely hire a service this coming year.

[suzubeane]

that time of year again :)Speak for yourself! (We're still thawing out here.)

[MLA]

The guy we hire to mow the lawn mows the lawn. We don't even own a lawn mower. :o

[eli1126]

that time of year again :)

We still have at least a foot of snow on the ground! We won't need to mow until May at this rate :eek: But DH mows our lawn, I have allergies and I would be itchy and sneezing all day if I did it.

[Niobe]

The guy we hire to mow the lawn mows the lawn. We don't even own a lawn mower. :o

Same here. We're usually apartment dwellers, this lawn thing is a novelty to us. I've never mowed a lawn in my life, I wouldn't even know how to start a lawn mower.

[kdotp]

DH does at our house. We have a side hill and I'm a wimp with the push mower. My mom does the mowing at my parents. They have an acreage, and it takes a few hours with the riding mower. I used to do it all the time when I was growing up -- it was a great way to tan.

If we had a yard that required a riding mower (and hopefully someday we will) I'll definitely mow it!

But, we just had a winter storm blow through here, so it will be awhile before we have to think about mowing.

[hmbay]

Shortly after meeting DH I bought a house with a small yard. I mowed my own with a push mower. When we got married we lived in a townhouse--no one had to mow. Our next house had a 1/3 acre lot. We both took turns with the push mower. We now own 3 acres and a riding mower. Although I used to mow as a kid with a riding mower (grew up on a farm) I'll admit I haven't been on the thing once in the 3 years we've owned it. I do however use the push mower to mow along side the house and the landscaping.

[coquelicot]

DH does. If he's unable to, a friend of his who owns a lawn service mows it in return for DH helping him out with some other jobs he has. We have over a half-acre, and just got a used riding mower last year. DH used to push-mow the whole thing, and it would take him several hours to do so. Good workout, but not very practical given how much we're gone and how hot it gets around here in the summer.

He doesn't want me touching the yard, although I did push-mow my parents' yard a few times in my early 20s. The front yard was fine, but the back yard was a killer due to hills--one of them extremely steep. Definitely NOT my favorite chore, especially given how bad my allergies can get. He can have it. He actually LIKES doing it!

[lauren f s]

DH will. We just moved into our house in January. I'm a firm believer that along with taking out the trash, mowing the lawn is the man's job. I refuse to do it. We saw some neighbor's had a lawn service doing theirs on Saturday, but they charge too much and it's just as easy for DH to get out and do it (I think). Besides, it gets him some much needed fresh air and a little exercise!

[Hangin'in]

When i answered this question in July of last year, DH was responsible for all yard duty. Since that time, he slacked, with all kinds of excuses, and I have since hired my BIL to do all yard related maintenance. I can not because I have very bad allergies, and if I were to try to mow the yard, I would most likely end up in the ER! So, now everybody is happy!

[mamax2]

DH works 6 days a week so he just doesn't have the time anymore. He used to do it before owning his own business and having crazy hours. We have a service now. I don't know how much it costs, we pay it out of one of the companies we own and all 3 partners get their lawns done as a 'distribution'.

[mindy75]

DH does the mowing, edging and weedeating. I do the watering and the garden stuff. I have mowed before, but vowed to never do it again. When DH was overseas I had a lawn service come do it. We don't have a riding mower yet and our yard has a pretty good sloop to it. That's all DH and God bless him! LOL, by July, his cheap butt will be looking for someone to pay to cut it.

[May27JnJ]

DH does the mowing. I've mowed once since we've been married. I'll mow if I can use our riding mower. But while it was dead I had to use a push mower. Ew. I hate it! I always did yard work growing up, but if DH will do it...then I'm not touching it!

[Jenyfer9]

I said that I do the mowing... but in reality, he'll do it maybe once a season and I do it the rest. So I voted the way I feel, not "technically the correct answer for me".

[maggieb]

I couldn't vote. No one mows our yard b/c we only have a little patch in the front of our rowhouse and in the spring/summer/fall it's just a flower bed.

Growing up both my mom and my dad mowed the lawn, but mostly my mom. When we were teenagers, my brother and I took turns mowing. I didn't mind it at all.

[dionysia]

Both of us.

Di

[HeatherFL]

Well, we don't have regular grass. We have jasmine and a landscaped yard, so we have a professional team taking care of our yard. :)

[AHammer]

DH mows the grass, I do EVERYTHING else. tending to the flower beds, hedge and tree trimming, etc. I'd mow the lawn if DH wanted me to (since I have summer's off), but he thinks it's "a man's job"

fine with me :)

[kmmommy]

This spring/summer will be our first with a lawn but DH will most likely mow. I don't mind but I prefer a riding mower vs. a push mower and our yard isn't big enough to buy a riding mower.

[rachrich]

DH always. I had a freak lawn-mowing equipment accident when I was very young, and I was never allowed to mow growing up. I don't mind not having to mow.

[maplekitty]

i will admit that i have never mowed a lawn in my life...i dont even know how the lawnmower works :p

[Kristy]

We moved into our house in late fall, so we haven't had to mow yet, but DH already knows it's his job. I don't do lawns.

[jajacobsen]

Until this year it was primarily me. We had about 1/2 acre of lawn (lot size is one acre but some of it was wooded, house footprint, dog pen, etc) and I did it with a push mower. It was EXCELLENT exercise. I think maybe 4 times total in two summers DH did it with the riding mower. I really like yard work. Nor necessarily the grunt work but that's all part of it.

However, since we have invested serious $$ in professional landscaping, we now have a maintenance contract because they will guarantee our sod, tress and bushes for as long as we own our home. This allows me to have teh time to plant really nice annual beds, bulbs and a vegetable garden, which I neverreally had time to do before. So I still get to work in teh yard, but now I can do more of the fun stuff.

However, maintenance contract does NOT include laying of mulch or pinestraw, so I still do that (DH does do some, but I do most of it). And we're talking 200+ bales 2X year, plus 10 cubic yards of mulch. So I still earn my gardening cred. To be fair to DH, he does his part in things like installing landscape lighting and a pretty elaborate drip watering system (that is water efficient, since we're already under water restrictions due to drought), arches and trellises. He likes to build; I like to grow. So it works out.