How many of you do your own yard work? (Raleigh: cul-de-sac, how much)

[CarolinaCowboy]

I am curious how many of you do all your own yard work? If you, do you just cut and trim the lawn, or do all your own landscape work too?

I reside in a nice Cary neighborhood and since moving into my new home, I have been cleaning up the yard, lawn bushes and so on. Three neighbors so far have seen me out doing my yard work and stopped by to say hi. These neighbors also offered me a recommendation of who does their yard work, if I wanted. I told them all, I don't mind doing it myself and actually enjoy it. I find it therapeutic in some way. However, I can't help but think my new neighbors might find it strange that I do my own yard, as they all pay to have their's done? I certainly can afford to hire it out, but I sincerely actually enjoy doing it myself.

I've been pulling weeds, trimming bushes, trees, shrubs, planting flowers, laying down new stepping stones, brick work, walk ways and so on.

So, do you do your own, or hire the work out?

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

I do all my own yard work and I love it. It was one of the things I was looking forward to owning my own house for the first time. Of course I have a very small yard so it isn't a ton of work but it is amazing how much work you can create for yourself.

I mow, weed-whack, fertilize, lime, and aerate my own lawn.

I've planted several bushes and spent three days with a mattock busting up my hard clay soil and amended it with compost to make a nice 35' long planting bed along my back fence.

I'm planning on planting two larger trees this fall and I fully expect spending the better part of the day "digging a $500 dollar hole for a $50 tree".

FWIW, I think yard work is more about personal preference than price point.

I know people in my neighborhood who own a $150K home and hire out all their yard work. Meanwhile there are people living next door to us in Bedford who live in a $500K home and I see them out in their yards every weekend, mowing mulching and planting shrubs.

Some people just enjoy it more than others I guess.

I know it doesn't look like much, but this 35 foot raised bed along my back fence took three days of busting up hard clay with a mattock, removing lots of rocks and fill material and ammending the soil with tons of compost before I could plant my tea olive shrubs and eventually mulch it. It was a labor of love.

Before:


After:

[Sayantsi]

I like doing yard work, but its a time commitment. Some people would rather spend money for someone else to come and do it so they can do other stuff.

[lamishra]

We have always done our own in the past but things got a little out of control this summer. We were gone a lot and also dealt with a few medical issues which resulted in a fairly neglected lawn. We don't live in any fancy neighborhood (probably some of the lowest priced housing in the Town of Cary). Just a couple of months age we decided to hire someone (who was recommended to me on another board) to mow, edge and trim. I have to say I'm truly enjoying it.

[mfrank2109]

I do it myself as well, also because I enjoy it. Although when I look at the weeds in my lawn I sometimes wonder if I should be contracting that part out.

[durhammom]

I don't do my own yardwork.......my husband does.

And he does it for many of the same reasons that you express -- it is stress relief and he enjoys it. He's landscaped, built retaining walls, pathways and more.

But come to think of it -- most of the neighbors on my cul-de-sac do their own yard work and while I do see the yard maintenance trucks in the neighborhood, I also see a lot of neighbors out working. I think even a lot of the folks who have their yards cut, do their own landscaping and of course there are a few who just have the landscapers do it all. And I would say I live in a neighborhood where most folks could afford to have someone else do it.

But then again, I live in Durham so can't speak for Cary.

[bnatale]

On our street it's 50/50. My husband enjoys doing our yardwork as well. For significant landscaping, I don't know anyone around us who has done it themselves. The occasional bushes & perennial beds are handled by many of our neighbors, but for anything larger than a 7-gal planting, people usually hire out.

[Funky Chicken]

I compromise.
I have a landscaper that comes to mow/edge/blow the lawn. I work with him on some projects (mulching for example). I tend to the planting beds/trees myself. I pay a service to fertilize 6x/year-I couldn't buy the amount of product I would need to put it down myself any cheaper than their charges.
My lawn is simply too big to mow with a push mower in a reasonable length of time. I don't have anyplace to park a tractor and I don't really care to own one. Paying for that piece of the puzzle saves me 2+ hours per week that I can spend with my daughter.
My old property was smaller and I did everything myself. It took less time and I was really into it. I also had a corner lot with sidewalks and devil strips-I edged over 600 linear feet of sidewalk every time I mowed the lawn. Now there is simply too much lawn to deal with myself, but I still like to be involved in the yard, so splitting the work with the landscaper makes sense.

[KellyCrash]

We have hired someone to come fertilize, aerate, etc., but we do the mowing, edging, trimming of bushes, etc. I say we, but it's mostly my husband. Before my 6 month old baby was born I did a lot more - raking, weeding pulling, planting, etc.

[balboafest]

I do my own yardwork... and I hate it. If any of y'all hobbyists need another yard to do, let me know.