We went from a condo to close to half an acre, and do the lawncare ourselves. We bought a mulching lawnmower, so we can leave the clippings on the lawn instead of raking/bagging them. This also fertilizes the grass, which saves us from having to do that. We (and by "we" I mean my husband) try to mow once a week in peak growing season; but if we fall behind I don't stress. In the fall, we rake the leaves in the front yard to the curb to be vacuumed up. We run the mower over the leaves in the back yard and leave them to decompose, feed the soil, and block the weeds. We reseed twice a year and run the sprinkler whenever the kids want some water play.

Also invest in a weed whacker to do trimming//edging along your walkways and trees.

The great irony of the large back yard is that parents buy them thinking that they will have great quality time with their kids, but the reality is that the time they spend with the longer commute (assuming you commute to the city to work) to buy the larger property and the time they spend caring for their lawn results in *less* time actively engaged with their children.

Anonymous wrote:The leaves will probably be the biggest PITA. Get a riding mower and cut it short and you can probably cut it every other week (that's what we do). We don't water, and our grass looks fine. We don't use chemicals on our lawn, so it isn't perfect -- but it's fine. Maintaining the beds is also a PITA, although if you only have ivy then i guess you just leave that alone or cut it back every so often. But the leaves are a PITA.

I have a yard backing to trees, and I simply mow up the leaves. No raking involved. Take a bit longer since the bag fills faster but it's not difficult.

This is a great question to ask.

As some background, my parents have a large (1/2 acre) and exceptionally beautiful yard, verdant green grass, beautiful colorful plantings, mature trees. I have a much smaller yard that is measured in square feet - I think it is .15 of an acre.

This is probably the bare minimum I have to do to keep my yard in some semblance of order -- not looking great like my parents' yard, but I've never been cited by the County for overgrown grass, and my front yard especially looks well-maintained:
--Lawn mowing: maybe once a week in the spring/summer/fall. This isn't too much work at all because our lawn is small.
--Leaf raking: in the fall, I'll fill up several yard waste bags full of leaves.
--Mulching, weeding in the front yard; trimming bushes: to get the front especially looking good, you must trim bushes, weed, etc. I do this occasionally and fill up several yard waste bags, again. The more often I do this, the better the yard looks. I am less religious about doing this for the back yard, however - that is a more basic place for kids, dog.

My Mother's yard (front and back) looks much better than mine. These are the types of things she does that make her yard exceptional, versus my "OK" yard:
--Follows a very involved, organic grass process. Aerates the soil, and puts down all types of organic material (lime? corn gluten?). Uses organic material for weeds. Grass is a beautiful green.
--Sweeps driveway for small leaves, pine needles.
--Is very attentive to things like pulling weeds on patio and sweeping over patio with sand (so that more weeds don't pop up)
--Has trees trimmed regularly.
--Is attentive to plantings, visits garden shop regularly and consults knowledgeable employees about plant health new plants
--Seriously: is probably out now doing a couple hours of yardwork this Saturday morning, while I sit here with my laptop and a cup of coffee!! I just wish I enjoyed gardening as a hobby like she does.


If you are willing to pay someone to do these tasks, it could be easier. It takes work to make a lawn look good. I am happy with my small yard because it is manageable and I get it looking fairly good (esp the front of the house). We get the benefits of a yard -- private space, patio-- but without so much work.

Anonymous wrote:Plant only low maintenance flowers and shrubs, install irrigation system and find a good lawn service company.

I think this is the way to go if you can afford it. My parents did exactly these 3 things when they reached age 65 and years later they are still talking about it. Best decision ever. Lawn and landscape never looked this good when they were doing it themselves (and we kids were helping). They regret all the hours and money spent on DIY yard work.

Anonymous wrote:Never owned anything but a condo and now looking for a house. And new to the area. A house I really like is on a large lot--almost half an acre--large front and back lawn. This means more lawn care than we would like. What is involved in lawn care besides mowing the lawn? The area has a lot of houses with larger front lawns than in some other areas (MD, inside the beltway), and I guess we'll have to keep it looking good so the neighbors don't complain. Does grass here tend to turn yellow at certain times of the year? Do you have to use a sprinkler or is there enough rain in the summer? If we don't care for it ourselves, what kinds of costs are we looking at? There isn't a lot of elaborate landscaping, just grass and some patches of ivy around tree trunks. We do have a 10 year old--so I always wanted *some* yard but this is bigger than we were planning on. Will this be an albatross?

Mowing costs about 35-85 a week depending on the property size and landscaper. That's about 32 mows/year and the usually wack the bed/sidewalk borders as part of the price. Landscapers usually have a couple of properties on a street so they park and go house to house. Those guys are usually cheaper since they don't lose out on travel time.

I have several acres and do nothing with the lawn except mow it. No watering and no fertilizer. I buy bags of grass seed and scatter it on bare and brown spots. Rake to loosen soil if bare and scatter before you know it will rain. Landscaper mower costs are really not a big jump from 1/4 acre to 2 acres.

You could have 1/20 of an acre and have as much of an albatross as 2 acres due to number/type of trees, size of beds bordering hardscape, types of plants, etc.

The leaves will probably be the biggest PITA. Get a riding mower and cut it short and you can probably cut it every other week (that's what we do). We don't water, and our grass looks fine. We don't use chemicals on our lawn, so it isn't perfect -- but it's fine. Maintaining the beds is also a PITA, although if you only have ivy then i guess you just leave that alone or cut it back every so often. But the leaves are a PITA.

Dandelions aren't hard to uproot at all! you just need the right tool. It's a metal tool with a forked tongue like a snake, and you dig the forked tongue under the roots of the dandelion and pop it right out. Takes a few seconds per dandelion. You can use it for other weeds too, like crabgrass.

The problem I have is that after I've spent some time weeding, I get the urge to pull dandelions from other people's yards. I've managed to fight it so far.

Plant only low maintenance flowers and shrubs, install irrigation system and find a good lawn service company.

Anonymous wrote:Never owned anything but a condo and now looking for a house. And new to the area. A house I really like is on a large lot--almost half an acre--large front and back lawn. This means more lawn care than we would like. What is involved in lawn care besides mowing the lawn? The area has a lot of houses with larger front lawns than in some other areas (MD, inside the beltway), and I guess we'll have to keep it looking good so the neighbors don't complain. Does grass here tend to turn yellow at certain times of the year? Do you have to use a sprinkler or is there enough rain in the summer? If we don't care for it ourselves, what kinds of costs are we looking at? There isn't a lot of elaborate landscaping, just grass and some patches of ivy around tree trunks. We do have a 10 year old--so I always wanted *some* yard but this is bigger than we were planning on. Will this be an albatross?

I grew up on 1.5 acres and currently have a 0.5 acre lot. If you want to do the care yourself a riding mower is a great investment. The biggest pain, IMO, is the fall care (raking) the lawn. Sucks big time, takes HOURS. Once a year, in the fall, I fertilize (takes 2 25 lb bags). In the spring I *should* aerate, but will also put down new seed in areas that need it. (Usually 1 10lb bag is enough). I don't water my lawn because I personally think its a waste of water. The lawn will go brown in August, but may go green again in the fall before winter. If we pay someone just to mow it costs $40, but it would be much more if we're talking actual lawn care.

In addition to lawn care, the garden beds are tough. Weeding could easily take many hours. I let mine go au-natural in ditch areas and try to keep the beds free of big weeds, but dandelions are so hard to uproot! Also, get rid of the ivy. It's a beast.

Honestly, the tasks are the same with a smaller yard as a bigger yard, but each task just takes more time. I went from a townhouse lawn to a little more than 1/8th acre, and I spend a couple of hours a week on lawn care, more when it needs gardening, weeding, reseeding, etc. The mowing itself takes very little time, but consider the extra expense for a self-bagging mower, because the raking afterward takes forever. I have to keep on top of crabgrass, dandelions, etc. or they'll quickly take over. I reseed in the fall and again in the spring, and the good grass seed (with the fertilizer/mulch added in) is $50/bag, and you'll need multiple bags. Plus lots of mulch for the gardens. Also, pruning trees and shrubs takes time.

If the yard looks nice now, jsut ask the oweners what they did. If they use a company jsut use them and go from there but if they did themsleves and you plan to it is a lot of work. cutting, trimming, leaves, weeding feeding, watering, mulching etc.

Keep an eye on that ivy, they are triming it back and it will get up that tree quickly.

Thanks! The ivy isn't on the trees, just around them in an landscaped amoeba-like shape. I can't say it's worth our time or money to have a yard larger than we need...but would it be a deal breaker for buying a home we otherwise like? What would you do?

Just plan for the expense, if you don't have the time. Only zoysia (sp?) grass turns brown in winter, but it's great because it requires very little water. No need to mow grass here from Dec to Mar. Definitely get the ivy off the trees, it's a good way to kill them, which will cost you money (see the other thread about tree maintenance and costs). Most yards in my neighborhood, are about $50/mowing (and that's small or large, since it's the cost of getting them out). You'll also need to mulch, leaf cleaning (which a big yard can be a pita, and up to $700-$1500 to outsource), shrub pruning, and tree maintenance (though not annually). Be sure that you it's worth the time and/or money to you.

Never owned anything but a condo and now looking for a house. And new to the area. A house I really like is on a large lot--almost half an acre--large front and back lawn. This means more lawn care than we would like. What is involved in lawn care besides mowing the lawn? The area has a lot of houses with larger front lawns than in some other areas (MD, inside the beltway), and I guess we'll have to keep it looking good so the neighbors don't complain. Does grass here tend to turn yellow at certain times of the year? Do you have to use a sprinkler or is there enough rain in the summer? If we don't care for it ourselves, what kinds of costs are we looking at? There isn't a lot of elaborate landscaping, just grass and some patches of ivy around tree trunks. We do have a 10 year old--so I always wanted *some* yard but this is bigger than we were planning on. Will this be an albatross?