I’ve noticed some people treat their lawn like a carpet. If there is 1 leaf, that’s clutter that needs to be picked up. If a tire touches their grass, it’s like you got oil on their rug. They’ve usually manicured their lawn into 1 species monoculture grass with zero weeds and zero bugs. Which because of this lack of diversity, it is now incredibly fragile.
For many people, their yard is like a room of the house. And they expect people to treat it with a living room level of respect. They’ve put a lot of effort into creating this fragile monoculture grass, and they’re protective of it.
Maybe you can tell from the way the question is phrased, but I view the outdoors as different than indoors. If someone misses my driveway and leaves a mark in the grass, I don’t care because I know the grass will grow back eventually. If leaves fall on my yard, I don’t pick them up. These problems tend to solve themselves. At least that’s my view. But I’ve noticed a lot of people see it the other way.
I used to have a neighbour that would wash his driveway on a weekly basis. It was coated asphalt. It wasn’t “nice”. Nor was it ever dirty. Oh, but it had a giant ugly orange traffic cone at the end to deter people from pulling in and turning around.
I used to constantly fight with two different relatives because they insisted on putting all their yard trimmings into a paper bag before putting them in the giant rolling bin. That gets tipped into the truck on collection day. Why? “So the can doesn’t get dirty.” I don’t understand why a GARBAGE CAN that SITS OUTSIDE ALL THE TIME ever needs to be kept pristine ON THE INSIDE.
People like to create work for themselves that I will never understand. I’m certain I do the same thing and leave people shaking their heads.
Definitely not, in fact it’s my biggest pet peeve. I hate when people (or HOAs) get chemical bullshit sprayed all over their lawn, which they then scalp with their lawnmower every week, and then it always dies anyways around mid to late summer once it starts getting hot and dry. Meanwhile the people who don’t give a shit about their yard always have green grass. It’s almost like thicker vegetation and biodiversity are good for the environment. Like who could have ever guessed?
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Not like that, no. But we do live out there to some extent, have a nice back deck and garden. Not the sort of lawn that is the monoculture carpet and no, we don’t rake, want bees & butterflies, dragonflies, lizards, snakes, all sorts of other creatures use the yard and no, perfect is not the goal.
To be fair, I’m not that crazy about the inside of the house, either.
It’s weird whatever trend is going on now.
My parents just got new neighbors who destroyed the entire garden, paved it over and just sit there, talking, smoking, giggling, playing music, like it’s their living room.
Some other new neighbors further down the road bought a house with a beautiful garden and killed everything to replace it with tiles and gravel. They’re never even outside.
People actually complain when leaves from their neighbor’s trees fall onto their property.
And it’s as if people don’t remember how it was in the 90s and before. They freak out when there’s a bug. The world used to be full of bugs before. And it’s the people who have nothing but grass who actually water their gardens.
I do what I can with the little balcony space I have. It’s messy but it’s green.
What is a yard but a third bathroom? I don’t clean it either
Leaves get raked. Weeds get removed or I wouldn’t have grass (weeds would over take the grass). The grass is not one type of grass, it’s multiple types. It’s better that way. Survives winter in Minnesota,US. As for bugs… honestly I’m not sure what you mean by that. I’m not sure how you’d get rid of bugs in general. My bushes … those I do pay attention to certain types of bugs that will destroy the bush. Those bugs I get rid of, or I wouldn’t have a plant. But bugs in general yeah not sure how you get rid of them.
Driving on the grass that would piss me off. But walk and run on it all you want.
There are significantly fewer bugs on monoculture lawns. Never been clear if that’s from all the poison, or if it’s from the lack of plant diversity.
Both
We spend a lot of time in our yard and have many many plants that require near daily maintenance. We’ve put rocks in waking/seating areas so those spots don’t get worn and muddy. So, yeah, we treat it like living space and we want it to be nice, but we’re not crazy. It’s covered in leaves and dog poop 6 days per week.
I don’t have a lawn atm, but last time I did I made a very low key campaign to replace the grass with clover.
I treat my yard like a room as in I like to spend time out there and make it nice for that purpose. But at the same time, I’m doing my best to maximize native biodiversity and natural darkness.
Highly recommend Prairie Moon Nursery for your online native plant needs.
My yard looks just as messy as my house, though I would like both to be neat and orderly. Those perfectly mowed crisscross lines in the grass give me goosebumps!
