I need some grass cutting tips

[Ringo1]

Seems that I'm always making my one set of neighbors mad. First, they didn't want me to put up a fence ~ even though they have two HUGE dogs; now they don't like the way I cut the grass.

I'll admit; I'm not that great as I always had a lawn service in the past ~ but I'm doing my best.

Is it not kosher to use the blower thing on my mower? I'm guessing it's not. Should I attach the bag to my mower each time? How often does that thing have to emptied?

I weed eat all around my fence - inside and out. I have a battery operated weed-eater and it runs out of steam before I can even finish! So I'm thinking I might need a gas operated weed eater.

Lastly, what does everyone do with their cut grass? Does everyone use a leaf blower thing to blow it back into their yard and off the sidewalks? Or rake? Or just bag as they mow?

This is harder than it seems. And with rain 6 out of 7 days a week - it's even harder. I'm secretly trying to watch how everyone else does it and I don't see that many people using baggers. But I'm often at work = so not sure.

The neighbors who hate me are always at home; she does not work and they have an autistic teen-ager ~ who is ALWAYS coming over and telling me how I made his parents mad. AND telling me that Matthew must be lazy. I've always been nice to him; give him money for any little thing he does (he's obsessed with mowing/weeding/etc). But today I told him that my son is anything BUT lazy - you don't get to be a scholar/athlete by being lazy. I know he is just repeating what his parents say - but believe me, they are FAR FROM PERFECT. So I hope he takes that right back to them. Obviously, they have not very nice things to say about my son - who will accomplish more in this one year; then their son will ever be able to do. That's just how it is; it's not my fault.

Ugh. I just don't want to give them anything else to complain about.

[ErinsWhitney]

Well if it were me, I would mow my yard how ever I wanted and let them b*tch and gripe all they want...it's not their yard and it does not affect them at all! But then, I have no patience with people like that so there are lots of people I don't get along with, and probably could if I put a little more effort into it.

I do not use the bag on our mower. I push-mow our yard, seeing as how we have a 1/4 acre corner lot, and just make sure the chute is aimed at the middle of the yard. The clippings usually dry up and disappear in a few days, and I hear they are good for the lawn. Either way, they don't bothe rme at all as long I don't let my grass get 4ft high before I mow it. If I use the bag, even with our tiny yard, I have to empty the bag several times while I'm mowing and it's a huge hassle. Also, I can't say enough for a gas powered weed eater and blower! They have so much more tater than the electric ones. When I'm done clipping, I go around the perimeter of the yard and blow any fly-aways back onto my own lawn. The more you keep up with the mowing, the less clippings you have.

My opinion could jsut be based on my equiptment, seeing as how I really haven't ever had a snazzy mower or anything, so this is just what is most convenient for me. If you have a bigger mower than I do (prob do ) then you might not have the bag emptying issue I do. If your neighbors' issue is your lawn clippings ending up on their side of the fence, then just blow them back in your yard! And smile and wave when they glare at you from the doorway. If their issue is with how your yard looks/your method, I wouldn't bother doing anything differently. It probably wouldn't make a difference, and they'd find something wrong with the new way you do it.

I'm sorry you have PITA neighbors! They sure can make life miserable sometimes.

[KazzyK810]

I'm grinning as I'm typing this, cos it soooo reminds me of the uppity neighbours at my last house. Admittedly, it was a deed restricted subdivision on a golf course, with all kinds of rules...but my neighbours took the cake. PERFECTLY manicured lawn. Bagged EVERY cutting. On their knees with hand scissors trimming around the actual house. And more chemicals dumped on that perfect lawn than you would believe...heaven forbid ONE dandelion ever grew!

I mowed with my mulching mower and weed wacked on a weeky basis & swept the little bit of grass residue on the driveway and bagged it in one of those brown lawn bags from Home Depot and called it good. I was more interested in my flowers than my lawn. My kids played on my lawn...it wasn't a showpiece to me...that's what the golf course behind me was for

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

Seems that I'm always making my one set of neighbors mad. First, they didn't want me to put up a fence ~ even though they have two HUGE dogs; now they don't like the way I cut the grass.

I'll admit; I'm not that great as I always had a lawn service in the past ~ but I'm doing my best.

Is it not kosher to use the blower thing on my mower? I'm guessing it's not. Should I attach the bag to my mower each time? How often does that thing have to emptied?

I weed eat all around my fence - inside and out. I have a battery operated weed-eater and it runs out of steam before I can even finish! So I'm thinking I might need a gas operated weed eater.

Lastly, what does everyone do with their cut grass? Does everyone use a leaf blower thing to blow it back into their yard and off the sidewalks? Or rake? Or just bag as they mow?

This is harder than it seems. And with rain 6 out of 7 days a week - it's even harder. I'm secretly trying to watch how everyone else does it and I don't see that many people using baggers. But I'm often at work = so not sure.

The neighbors who hate me are always at home; she does not work and they have an autistic teen-ager ~ who is ALWAYS coming over and telling me how I made his parents mad. AND telling me that Matthew must be lazy. I've always been nice to him; give him money for any little thing he does (he's obsessed with mowing/weeding/etc). But today I told him that my son is anything BUT lazy - you don't get to be a scholar/athlete by being lazy. I know he is just repeating what his parents say - but believe me, they are FAR FROM PERFECT. So I hope he takes that right back to them. Obviously, they have not very nice things to say about my son - who will accomplish more in this one year; then their son will ever be able to do. That's just how it is; it's not my fault.

Ugh. I just don't want to give them anything else to complain about.

It's fine to do whatever YOU are more comfortable doing. I've mowed grass all of my life. In Kacee's fenced-in yard, I use a mulching mower with the bag attached, because I don't want the grass sticking to her and my feet to be tracked in. I have an acre, so I use a riding mower on the rest.

You can use the blower to clear the grass on your sidewalks, etc. You'll be fine and it will get easier. I promise!

I was going to say that if you use the bag, you can tell when it's getting heavy or you start to see the grass clippings on the lawn that it's time to empty it. You can put the grass clippings in a trash bag and let it rot as compost or dispose of it. You could even start a compost pile and when it's well-cooked, you'll have quality dirt!

[ArmaniMan]

Originally Posted by ErinsWhitney

Well if it were me, I would mow my yard how ever I wanted and let them b*tch and gripe all they want...it's not their yard and it does not affect them at all! But then, I have no patience with people like that so there are lots of people I don't get along with, and probably could if I put a little more effort into it.

^^ that.

Seriously, even if you are the absolute worst grass cutter in the whole world, who cares?!

I have dealt with these kinds of neighbors before as well- I just don't understand why people care so much about what other people do!

[Cha Cha]

Originally Posted by KazzyK810

I'm grinning as I'm typing this, cos it soooo reminds me of the uppity neighbours at my last house. Admittedly, it was a deed restricted subdivision on a golf course, with all kinds of rules...but my neighbours took the cake. PERFECTLY manicured lawn. Bagged EVERY cutting. On their knees with hand scissors trimming around the actual house. And more chemicals dumped on that perfect lawn than you would believe...heaven forbid ONE dandelion ever grew!

LOL, you just described my Dh, but we are far from uppity up. I give him a lot of slack about his lawn, but I can say, in the 10 years I have lived here I have not found one flea on my dogs. So, I do appreciate that.

I agree, if I were you I would mow however it suits you. My dh is obsessed with his lawn, but that's only because it's his hobby. He likes to do it and takes great pride in having a perfectly manicured lawn. In comparison, he takes care of his yard like I do my dogs, and I want the best for my dogs. On occasion I do have to listen to him gripe about what the neighbors do. Hubby spends a lot of money keeping his yard nice so he does not appreciate the neighbors letting their mowers blow their clippings (and dandylion seeds and other weeds) onto his lawn for him to pick up. He edges around sidewalks and the drive and he sweeps that up and bags it. As far as the grass, sometimes he catches and bags it, sometimes if it is not too long he just lets the mower mulch it back into the ground. However, all our neighbors do things different. Some blow their clippings out into the street for the wind to carry off. Sometimes though, I think there are some people who like to complain (yeah, my dh is one of those, I admit it, LOL) about every little thing and no matter what you do they won't be happy so if you feel you are doing the best you can then that should be good enough for anybody. My dh would never approach anyone about it, he just grumbles to me, so my insight is just from his POV.

[CouversMom]

My DH does the lawn but he usually bags the grass and dumps it in the compost bin. He edges once a week and blows the grass back onto the lawn to keep the sidewalks clean.

I say don't worry about it as long as you are taking care of things... I say anything is better than my neighbors down the street that have only dandelions for lawn and supply the entire neighborhood with weeds

[Ringo1]

Well, one thing I did right was invest in an organic lawn service ~ so I have NO weeds at all. There are yards in our so-called HOA neighborhood that are nothing BUT dandelions.

I think I'll invest in a leaf blower to keep the grass of the sidewalks, etc. And I took the blower off the mower so when Matt mows the TINY STRIP outside our fence and next to their yard - none of our grass clippings will get in their yard. THEY are the ones who told me to put the blower on last year.

Sheesh. I think Matt and I are just getting the hang of it. But I'm working all the time and he's in school or at practice every day - so time has been an issue.

And the battery operated weedeater - may have to go for a better one. We'll see.

I want my yard to look decent - but I'm definitely a flower garden kind of person and NOT every blade of grass has to be perfect kind of person.

Thanks for your tips and I'm going to quit worrying about it.

[diannenet]

Definitely quit worrying about it. We live next door to a neighbor who has severe OCD (so severe he comes out every night at 7:30 p.m. and knocks on all four corners of every window of all his vehicles - I have no idea why) and he is obsessed with his yard as well.

I do not bag as I mow. I use the mulching mower and if leaves get in his yard, too bad. Since he seems to love yard work he can deal with it (and he does.) I like a well manicured lawn but am not obsessed with it. I weedeat every time I mow and if I get clippings on the sidewalk I do blow them in a pile and sweep them up. I've even seen our neighbor go out about an hour after he's done his lawn and blow 3-4 leaves out into the street. He is absolutely the most severe case of OCD I have ever seen.

Do it your way and the heck with the neighbors. It's your yard and you have no control over mother nature and how hard the wind blows.

[AlicetheYorkie]

I personaly wouldn't give a crap what my neighbor said about my yard, it's my yard. We have a couple a little younger than us living right next door and I swear the guy is OCD. My husband mowed the little front part of our lawn when we first moved in and they have a bush and some flowers with mulch in their front. That guy was out there on his hands and kness picking the few tiny pieces of grass that landed in his mulch.

I seriously don't know what I would do if I had a neighbor like you do, I'd probably have a nice talk with her. Especially since you're so nice to her son, she should appreciate you.

As far as the grass clippings (we just let them lay but if the grass was high and there's alot, we rake it up, put it in a garbage bag and dump out the bag in the woods across the street). Have you thought of maybe investing a mulching mower? It mulchs up the grass really finely as you mow, so there's practically no clippings, good for the lawn too

[Ringo1]

We do have a mulching mower; I think the problem was that I left the blower on. (Told you I was a novice). Anyooo, a tiny little bit of grass got in their yard.

Let's see, Mom's an alcoholic; autistic son, and Dad. They do nothing with their son; have nothing to do with any of the neighbors . . . and I was extremely nice to her.

I think that because we moved here from WV - they think we're stupid. Even though I went to college and make enough money to have this house. They made comments about the contractors that put my fence up - even though they were from OHIO - but a few 'redneck' comments slipped through.

So, that's all I need to know. I will never make them happy; they will never respect me; and they have no respect for my son because he's not a champion grass cutter. He IS an athlete and SCHOLAR - which their son will never be - so I'm done trying to get them to like me.

I walked the pupsters around the neighborhood this evening and our yard looks pretty darn good compared to most.

Screw em. That's MY version of the serenity prayer this evening.

But I do appreciate all the tips I got. I AM going to bag my back yard so Lucy and Ringo don't drag grass in all night but that's about it. I will using the mulching part so that I'm not blowing grass AND I'm investing in a good leaf blower for grass AND leaves. Cause I'm not raking up any damn leaves in the fall either!!

[yorkieusa]

Good for you!

Just an FYI: My leaf blower is also a mulcher/vac, so it does come in handy when I want to clean up tons of leaves. It's just an electric model, but works like a dream.

[Baroness]

Don't let people like that get you down. Mow your lawn the way you see fit. Use the grasss catcher on your lawnmower if you'd like, and bag it in big black bags as it fills up. I use an electric weedeater...it's easiest for me and no gas spills on my lawn. As far as the neighbors being nasty, blow them off...they aren't worth it. I live next to jerks like that. Their 3 dogs have been attacking my fence to get to Teddie and we have had to resort to metal fencing to prevent them from digging/sticking their heads under to nip at him. Their dogs are outdoors all the time and never shut up. They also have an autistic son whom they don't watch very closely...he shoots bb gun balls into my yard and my dogs are always trying to eat them. Sometimes we just end up living next to bad apples that have nothing better to do than gripe...Don't we ALL wish we had nothing better to do than worry about what our neighbors worry about?

[kjc]

Got Goats?

Haha! When my neighbors irk me I buy invasive plants and plant them along the fenceline! My neighbor still has bamboo growing over there after I pulled my up 7 years ago. Everytime I see it I just smile..

Mints are great in iced tea and spread like wildfire...

[Ringo1]

Originally Posted by kjc

Got Goats?

Haha! When my neighbors irk me I buy invasive plants and plant them along the fenceline! My neighbor still has bamboo growing over there after I pulled my up 7 years ago. Everytime I see it I just smile..

Mints are great in iced tea and spread like wildfire...

I love that tip too! And just might put it to good use.