What is your annual landscaping and lawn care budget…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a huge maintained yard (about an acre), and it's all outsourced, except the native garden I'm starting, so about 22K/year.

“I am starting…” so it’s 100% outsourced

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, all. It sounds like we are on par with others who outsource most of their yardwork. That said, I do feel guilty spending that much money on something we could potentially do ourselves. Maybe I'll get some motivation from the DIYers on here!

If it is in your budget, do not feel bad about it! Especially if you don't enjoy it. I hate yardwork and it takes away my weekend time with my little kids. The happiness I feel coming home to a nicely mowed lawn every Wednesday is well worth the $45.

[Anonymous]

In DC and have a rowhouse. We converted our small patch of front yard (maybe 15-20 x12 feet?) from grass to 100% plants, mix of perennials and annuals, natives and some hybrids. No more mowing.

I've become obsessed. I literally sit outside to see which plants the bees like most. I live in NE DC but I'm wondering if I can attract hummingbirds. I've never seen one in our part of the city and was fascinated to find out they even show up in cities sometimes.

I buy a bunch of new every year to keep filling in or replace anything that died, but the perennials also spread. I'm still learning about different plants so have a lot of trial an error.

Our backyard is sadly a deck and cement, but we do a few potted tomato and pepper plants, herbs, and flowers along the deck rails.

Probably about $500 over the course of the year, not counting extra water bill (have a drip irrigation setup through our potted tomato and pepper plants that turns on once a day - great for when we're on vacation)

[Anonymous]

I was also shocked about the mulch obsession when I moved to this country. I agree it tends to be an excuse for poor gardening skills.

[Anonymous]

Genuine question from a novice gardener in the city... even if we don't have much leaf cover in terms of trees nearby, we don't need mulch? I'm talking about for our postage stamp style rowhouse yard for which we ripped out the grass and do a mix of perennials and annuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a huge maintained yard (about an acre), and it's all outsourced, except the native garden I'm starting, so about 22K/year.

What type of maintenance costs almost 2K per month? There seems to be a huge gap in prices (judging by the reply of another poster with .75 acre lot paying less than 5K a year who also outsources)

I think it largely depends on how many planting beds you have, their size, the types of plants you have, etc. For instance, just the mulch alone (labor + material) is about 7K; it takes a crew of 4 or 5, 2-3 days to do it. The rest is weekly mowing, turf care (pre-emergents, broadleaf weed control, grub control, soil testing, liming if necessary, fall fertilization, aeration/seeding), flagging irrigation/turn on and winterization, spring cleanup, weeding visits 2x a month, to include light/seasonal pruning, pruning visits, fertilization, Integrated pest management, and leaf cleanup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a huge maintained yard (about an acre), and it's all outsourced, except the native garden I'm starting, so about 22K/year.

“I am starting…” so it’s 100% outsourced

"I'm starting" means it's a work in progress, and the landscaping crew is not expected to do anything for my plants. This is only my third year working in this garden myself (we've only been in the house 7 years, and the landscaping/pool took a better part of two years), and the previous focus was on just doing the research to determine what types of plants will do well in our somewhat challenging yard. Going native is also a more recent focus (in the last two years).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Genuine question from a novice gardener in the city... even if we don't have much leaf cover in terms of trees nearby, we don't need mulch? I'm talking about for our postage stamp style rowhouse yard for which we ripped out the grass and do a mix of perennials and annuals.

You don't need mulch if your garden is growing well and there aren't more weeds than you can handle. The main purpose of mulch is to protect the soil and prevent weed seeds from germinating, either because they are shaded out or because they can't reach soil. Mulch can also keep moisture in the soil, so if your garden tends to be dry that can help. But that's it.

It's also worth noting that ANYTHING can be mulch. Let your leaves decay in a pile over the winter, then use them as mulch (perfect for a woodland garden). Let leaves just fall where they may in a bed, and that is mulch. Collect your lawn clippings and spread it around your plants, and that is mulch. Buy or make compost, and that is mulch. Leave all your plant debris in the beds all winter, then come through and chop it up into little pieces and let it fall right there in the beds, and that is mulch. The last one is what I am doing - it returns soil nutrients right back to the soil it came from, and closes the circle. It doesn't make ecological sense to cart out yard debris (leaves, trimmings, grass) and then cart in cover and nutrients. They are the same thing! We've just decided that naturally occurring "mulch" looks untidy, and something you buy looks cared for. Hmm. Wonder who benefits there? Not the soil, and not my bank account!

[Anonymous]

Monty Don mulches. Good enough for me.

Mulch is important for adding organic matter to your soil, especially the clay we have around here.

Gardens in the US over mulch for sure, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for mulch in horticulture. You just don’t notice it when it’s done properly.

[Anonymous]

If I didn't mulch I'd have at least an hour a day of weeding in the summer. I can barely manage it as it is.