I am the kind of person who takes a certain amount of obsessive pride in the quality of my lawn. It was incredibly disconcerting that when we moved into our current residence almost two years ago – I learned that the previous owner had sprayed round-up on the lawn in an attempt to remedy a significant weed problem. His plan was to reseed or sod the back yard but he never got around to it.It has taken a lot of work to bring the lawn back – and there is still much work to do. It is still patchy-but it is pretty lush.
The front yard however is another matter altogether. Our cul-de-sac is one of those neighbourhoods where one or two make it their business to chide and guilt people into keeping the neighbourhood looking good. So there exists a weird sort of competitive snobbishness about how our front yards look.
Now my front yard has it’s own challenges. A large pine tree is located in the center of it. I am less than affable toward this giant forest dweller. It sucks water and covers the ground with acidic needles that ruin the ph of the soil in the front yard. Because we are a corner lot we only have a small pie shaped piece of lawn – difficult to water and small enough to reveal every blemish. I fret over it constantly.
My neighbour to the west gets a professional company to come in with their fancy sprays and chemicals. His front yard postage stamp of a lawn is decent. I’m far too Mennonite and proud to stoop to having someone else prop up my lawn.
My neighbour to the east has a nice size lawn that is square to the street. No trees. His lawn flows right into mine. We intentionally mow our lawns at different times to tell where one property begins and ends. I was priding myself on how well I was able to keep my grass in comparison to his given my inherent challenges.
Imagine my delight when this morning I drove out of my driveway and discovered that he had sprayed round up on a large section of his grass in much the same manner that our previous owner had done.
The jaws will be waggin…
i just smiled!
oh by the way here is a new and interesting product - never needs cutting or watering!
4 comments:
Oooh...the awful ugly round up! Why do people use that!? The only place I could even begin to justify it would be in driveway cracks where nothing is supposed to grow. We recently invested in the "Weed Hound" - it's been amazing. Our neighborhood has had an unfortunate take over of dandelions this year, but our lawn has not one. We just bust out the hound when we see the starts of one, and it plucks up the weed, roots and all, plus it aerates the soil with it's little hole that it leaves behind. No sprays and no back-bending to pluck up the little buggers. Wish I were there to see your lawn and obsess with you - it's so fun!
How does the saying go..."to the 3rd and the 4th generation"?? I'm sure Cd. Tire appreciates all the fertilizer we buy and the city is happy for the revenue generated by the water we then need to put on the lush grass - but hey the clippings all go to the town compost site and we pick up free compost for our plants, so we keep obsessing about our lawn!!
yeah yeah
Communities in Bloom here comes Dale! A force to be reckonned with - too bad for mr. neighbor tho. Roundup on the grass... really what some people won't do... I can hear the communities in bloom people crying already, hopefully they are bending over their flowers so that they will recieve the much needed nutrients from the tears!!!
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