Grass is NOT low maintenance!

[PoolGate]

I put a lot of sod (grass) around the pool areas last year. This is getting to be a HUGE pain because the grass blows into the pool/deck when it is cut. It is also a royal pain to cut right next to the aluminum fence since the weedwacker gets hung up on and tears up the fence bottom so can't be used. We end up having to cut all that by hand. The other areas we did not design very "smartly" and they go to a "point" which makes mowing impossible and again, hand trimming when done. I sure would like to just pave everything over and lose the landscaping weekly headaches.

Any ideas of what to do with these problem areas? We get a lot of wind so don't want to just do mulch which I have thought about. One thing I tried and seems to work well is I put a 1x4 pressure treated board under the fence sections so no grass grows directly under it and so I can use the weedwacker easier since it doesn't need to get right up on the fence for what the mower can't get to. I should have gone with a 1x6's and may still do that since I just started that project.

TIA!

 

[Dirk]

is this an area you need/want to walk on? Otherwise, there are ground covers that use way less water, need no mowing, and give you the "real" green of grass. Some can be walked on sparingly.

 

[Pool_Medic]

Artificial grass

 

[PoolGate]

is this an area you need/want to walk on? Otherwise, there are ground covers that use way less water, need no mowing, and give you the "real" green of grass. Some can be walked on sparingly.

Really this is purely aesthetics.

A lot of this area where the 3 trees are. It is thick and lush right now this pic was taken in the fall.

Behind the waterfalls on the left where there is grass.

and that area under the gazebo.

 

[Dirk]

I'm in the process of wrapping my head around removing at least two of my four lawns. I love the grass... about six weeks a year. Here where I live the grass is either brownish because of the cold, or brownish because of the heat. Gophers are eating through one of them. City continues to ratchet up water costs each year. And I pay $130 a month for a "gardener" that can't even care for a lawn properly, let alone the rest of my landscaping. Though he does manage to pepper my pool with grass clippings somehow. One area of my yard has a ground cover that radiates out up to 9' from its center, stays low, evergreen, and looks like a lawn from a ways away from it. That's what I'll likely use to replace some of my turf. The lawn is just not in keeping with my maintenance and financial sensibilities.

I do share a similar challenge, in that I have trees. Not sure what leaf maintenance is going to be like. Currently the gardener blows the leaves. I'm assuming I'll be able to do the same if it's short ground cover instead of grass. But that's just a few weeks a year.

I see in your pics: brown grass, patches of missing grass, etc. Same here. I think we'd both be better off with some attractive low-maintenance landscaping, combo of ground cover and shrubs. It'll be fraction of the work, a fraction of the cost.

 

[ajw22]

If you want low maintenance put a row of river rock under the fence.

If you want a different type of maintenance put a shrub bed for 2' - 3' on either side of the fence.

 

[CajunGuy]

We have bull rock beds all around our pools, helps tremendously with not getting grass clippings, leaves, debris, etc in the pool.

 

[Arizonarob]

If you want low maintenance put a row of river rock under the fence.

If you want a different type of maintenance put a shrub bed for 2' - 3' on either side of the fence.

Ditto. You can make it look real nice following the curves of your fence. That way you can mow away, and weed wack the edges no problem.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I did 800+ sq ft of turf in my backyard. Best investment we made. No water. No mowing. No fertilizing or seeding. Looks like real grass. All I need to do is blow it with the leaf blower to clean it. That and lots of decorative stone.

 

[Pool_Medic]

I would love to see a pic and approximate costs for that turf. I’m aboit done with mowing, fertilizing, dandelions and everything involved with lawn maintenance.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I would love to see a pic and approximate costs for that turf. I’m aboit done with mowing, fertilizing, dandelions and everything involved with lawn maintenance.

I can find or snap a pic some other time. Good turf generally runs $6-$8 per sq ft installed and can cost more if the area needs grading, shaping or leveling. Lifetime should be 8-10 years. Good quality turfs has multiple grass colors (greens, yellows and browns) and UV blockers built into the fibers. In-fill is also a must to give turf a finished, real grass look. Prices can vary a lot by region but ground prep, as in all things, is key. I suggest you get multiple quotes from different installers as there are lot of fly-by-night operations out there that will take your money and leave you with a low quality job.

 

[bmoreswim]

What I do for my fence lines is to mulch a bit less than a foot on either side. Then my mower can go among that and I trim it every month or so. I need to redo the mulch about every three years and I use vegetation killer in the meantime. I can’t imagine you’d have any issue with mulch blowing that distance. After a bit of time the mulch gets compacted and kind of hard anyway and doesn’t move. It doesn’t remove the maintenance but changes it and it’s less weekly work.

For the bigger area, I’m a perennial lover so it would all be landscaping like my pool area. Again, not trouble free but landscaping is my hobby.

For the area along the mulch and concrete border I put liriope which in time would defend against any blown mulch at the closer point. I mow that once a year in March.

 

[Gorilla]

I did 800+ sq ft of turf in my backyard. Best investment we made. No water. No mowing. No fertilizing or seeding. Looks like real grass. All I need to do is blow it with the leaf blower to clean it. That and lots of decorative stone.

I recently got quotes for around 800 sq ft of artiicial turf and they wanted between $6k to $8k! I about had a heart attack. Now I’m considering installing myself.

 

[gtnos]

I put a lot of sod (grass) around the pool areas last year. This is getting to be a HUGE pain because the grass blows into the pool/deck when it is cut. It is also a royal pain to cut right next to the aluminum fence since the weedwacker gets hung up on and tears up the fence bottom so can't be used. We end up having to cut all that by hand. The other areas we did not design very "smartly" and they go to a "point" which makes mowing impossible and again, hand trimming when done. I sure would like to just pave everything over and lose the landscaping weekly headaches.

Any ideas of what to do with these problem areas? We get a lot of wind so don't want to just do mulch which I have thought about. One thing I tried and seems to work well is I put a 1x4 pressure treated board under the fence sections so no grass grows directly under it and so I can use the weedwacker easier since it doesn't need to get right up on the fence for what the mower can't get to. I should have gone with a 1x6's and may still do that since I just started that project.

TIA!

thats crazy $$$ for turf. I was considering some on our build, but not at that price. wonder if I can DIY it...


as far as weedwacking your pool fence, I HATE weedwhacking with a passion... dont mind other yardwork but hate weed whacking. So I popped $40 for a back pack sprayer and twice a year starting as soon as things start growing I go along everywhere that would need to be weed whacked and spray a good dose of round-up to about 3-4 inches out. still looks fine and I can run my riding mower right up to that point. Now the weed eater only comes out when I need to edge the drive with the edge attachment. I would recommend doing roundup along the bottom of your pool fence, problem solved, just keep the wand close to the ground and target a 3 to 4 inch swath. We also have a round tower on the front of our house that produces two of those "point" areas you mentioned. One is in the flowerbed so a good thick load of large pond stones about golf ball sized resides there to keep things from growing. The other side of the tower gets a healthy dose of the aforesaid roundup twice a year where it is less than a foot wide on back. You dont notice the dead grass back there in that point....

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I recently got quotes for around 800 sq ft of artiicial turf and they wanted between $6k to $8k! I about had a heart attack. Now I’m considering installing myself.

Where I live, it’s well worth it!! Water is not cheap here and grass consumes as much water as a pool in terms of evapotranspiration. So $8000 amortized over 10 years is $800 per year. One could easily spend that much on water, fertilizers, seeding (good lawns need to be seeded a minimum of 2 times per year here with different types of grass in summer and winter). Factor in the hours of labor trying to keep it up and looking nice, and I’d much rather pay for the turf.

Laying turf is not like flipping hamburgers especially if your installation area has curves and needs several large pieces. If you don’t do the seams right, they will lift up and turf will separate. Like everything, you get what you pay for - pros that take pride in their work can make a patch of turf look better than real grass.

But turf has its downsides - it’s HOT in the summer sun and you can’t let animals pee on it or dig in it. So if you have dogs, turf is pretty much out of the question unless they can be trained to stay off it.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Where I live, it’s well worth it!! Water is not cheap here and grass consumes as much water as a pool in terms of evapotranspiration. So $8000 amortized over 10 years is $800 per year. One could easily spend that much on water, fertilizers, seeding (good lawns need to be seeded a minimum of 2 times per year here with different types of grass in summer and winter). Factor in the hours of labor trying to keep it up and looking nice, and I’d much rather pay for the turf.

Laying turf is not like flipping hamburgers especially if your installation area has curves and needs several large pieces. If you don’t do the seams right, they will lift up and turf will separate. Like everything, you get what you pay for - pros that take pride in their work can make a patch of turf look better than real grass.

But turf has its downsides - it’s HOT in the summer sun and you can’t let animals pee on it or dig in it. So if you have dogs, turf is pretty much out of the question unless they can be trained to stay off it.

3 or 4 years ago we faced possible draught sanctions, I offered pools are mini reservoirs & conserve water then the state left us alone.

oops sorry irrigation contractors, how is the view below a bus?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

3 or 4 years ago we faced possible draught sanctions, I offered pools are mini reservoirs & conserve water then the state left us alone.

oops sorry irrigation contractors, how is the view below a bus?

Pools and lawns/landscaping use about the same amount of water per unit of surface area. Depending on how you water a lawn and if you do a good job in creating quality top-soil, you might get grass to perform a little bit better.

Around here in the desert, grass makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you want a patch of green, turf is the way to go and everything else gets decorative rocking. I grew up back east so I know how easy it is to have nice big lawns and lots of greenery. Out here, it’s just a different way of thinking when it comes to landscaping here in the desert. It’s hard for many of us witpro....ummmm...i mean “transplants” to get used to.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Like any witpro.. umm I mean environmentally concerned citizen, I recall learning something very similar to your square footage water demands while preparing, but ya’know, you have to choose words wisely & it’s hard to remember.

 

[ctrav]

I have golf buddies that live in PHX area and thats where I got some of my landscape ideas. I hated the mulch thing once if not twice every year so we did this just a couple of months ago out front...





We love the decomposed granite and price was very reasonable at under 2K.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

We use A LOT of natural DG in Arizona....