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I have six acre property with easy 5 of it being lawn.
I actually like mowing, problem is - land is very bumpy and nothing can be done about this. Moles. Re grading not gonna work as they will ruin it in a month or so with mounds and for the love of god, I am not going to dedicate my life to hunting moles on 5 acres.
So question is - how do I aesthetically pleasingly reduce mowable area significantly? It's land of horse properties, but everyone is up keeping lawns.
I have good mower, as of now, I mow about 4 acres and did it Friday in 2 hr 20 minutes. But it's back breaking because of bumpiness. Should it all have been football field level, I'd have been happy as, as I said - I like mowing. It's not my back that hurts, it's actually neck muscles.
So, what say you? As I mentioned, not ruining the curb and overall property look. It's a nice property. But I'd love to reduce mowing to acre and a half maybe. You know, around the house.
House is set back 2/3rds into the lawn, long driveway. Front looks to me like about 3 acres, with about an acre of wetland.
Thank you.
We do consider grazing animals, but they need a lot of upkeep and I am leaving at 6 30 and back at 6 - 6 30. Wife is night shifting, so we are trying to not load ourselves with additional babies to take care of. I'd rather look into maybe some "botanical" solution. Plants, shrubs... Donno. Open to suggestions.
I have an acreage and do a lot of mowing myself. My suggestion to you would be to buy a better mower! You can buy a small tractor with a finish mower. Some are very easy to use, having 4-wheel drive and a hydrostatic transmission. You can get a roof too. Best of all, the tractors hold their value, so when you sell your place you can recover a lot of the cost.
Wild flowers, while possibly attractive the first year, can end up looking like weeds, and weeds can work their way in. Ground covers, like ivy, periwinkle, etc will simply offer breeding grounds for rodents. So mowed grass is still your best bet, although you could just let your grass grow wild (it would get weeds in it though).
~Strategic groupings of pines in groups of 3 or more to fill in large chunks. Think of your landscape design and how you want them to look once they are 30 feet tall.
~Create another section that you will allow to reclaim itself back to woods. Start it out by randomly spacing out native hardwood plantings to use as anchor trees, to get the regrowth started.
~Donate a large section to a neighbor who cuts hay, if you have enough acreage to turn over. A farmer a few miles away from me did this on several acres that I turned into a field. I did not charge him to lease the land because he was doing me a favor, cutting my hours on the tractor and saving me time and gas.
Trees will take too long to grow. We are about ten years from retirement. Likely downsize then.
No, I do not "not want to mow". I LIKE mowing. I simply do not want to spend TOO MUCH time doing it. Besides, the very moment it rains non stop for 2 weeks, I am back to point zero as I can't mow grass that is too wet. As I said, I have good mower. But even that won't do. When we moved in, that's what happened. I ended with 4 feet tall grass, thing grows like weeds, pun intended. Took me lots of effort to clear most of it, I don't want to do this again.
Oh yeah, tractor with field mower. 10 grand used? Arrrggghhhh...
Surprisingly, wife had same idea - give away free hay. Well, that's an option.
Of course, there is Matt that mows neighbor's property. $30 per acre.
~Strategic groupings of pines in groups of 3 or more to fill in large chunks. Think of your landscape design and how you want them to look once they are 30 feet tall. Something like this.... Would have been nice, as we are open to winds and if it blows, it blows. That would have created a natural wind barrier too, as it mostly blows from south/south west. That's 2 acre backyard. We keep thinking about this, planting natural wall. It's just that it takes so long....
No woods anywhere around. As in woods. Acreage properties all around. I shall look abandoned.
Meadow yards is what they are called, and there are companies who specialize in getting you started. You kill the existing grasses, plant the continuously blooming flowers, and let them go. Cut them once in the fall, let the cut stalks lie where they fall, and reseed as per directions (and seeds) from your supplier.
You do not fertilize wildflowers.
Property near the house would be separated from the meadow in some fashion.
You could turn 1-3 acres into meadow and leave the rest lawn.
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