• Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
    46·
    3 months ago

    Turns out I’ve been cultivating natural gardens and eco friendly habitat for years, much to the chagrin of my neighbors, just by not caring enough to spend my whole summer seeding, weeding, and spraying.

    • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
      31·
      3 months ago

      I’ve done the same, and now my yard is green year round because all that’s left are native plants. My neighbor was bragging about his $300 water bill, then asked me what my secret was.

      I let everything flower in the spring to let whatever survived the heatwaves, droughts, and freezes seed and outcompete the new stuff, then it gets mowed every other week at the highest setting.

      I am about to seed some clover to help fix more nitrogen into the soil, though.

      I just realized I can probably spray the yard with aquarium water after I do a change instead of pouring it down the drain.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
      25·
      3 months ago

      After the 2nd year of cutting our farm, we stopped, our vets told us it’s actually better for our rescues to have roughage than just straight grass. A good number of ours are metabolic and aren’t supposed to eat super sugary grass. After the 1st year of not cutting, all the animals look great and tons of insects came back, now we have fireflies in the summer by the thousands, I haven’t seen them since I was a kid. It’s been amazing. Some of the fields in the morning during the summer I’ll go out and just listen, as the noise from all the bugs is incredible.

      O and the few small caves we have…the bats are back in large numbers as well…love me some bats.

      • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
        8·
        3 months ago

        My place has a pile of bats, in a large part I suspect because of the wrap-around style gutters they like to hang out in. Had a bunch decide to move into the fireplace for a bit though which wasn’t ideal. Brought a pup that got lost into a rehab shelter. Made for a nice chance for the my kid to see something a lot don’t get to up close.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
      3·
      3 months ago

      I thought the one thing about these sort of yards compared to more varied ones is that they’re way easier to maintain.

      Of course just not doing yard work is another option but maybe not so pleasant after a while.

      • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
        9·
        3 months ago

        It’s less of a not doing work and more of a not trying to fight nature. I have very dense clay soil here, so trying to force some fragile grass seed is an uphill battle. But the clover and this fern-like stuff, that shows up without trying and keeps coming back. Just give it a trim every so often and let the critters that wander through help shape what suits their diets.

    • xor@infosec.pub
      3·
      3 months ago

      that seems excessive…
      it turns out, due to the prevalence of grass allergies, letting them get too long releases a lot of pollen and makes it a “noxious weed” (legally, in at least one town)

      if you just kill off the grass and let something else grow, it’s totally fine…

      i recommend sheet mulching with cardboard

      • qisope@lemmy.world
        7·
        3 months ago

        Depends where you are looking. I live slightly out of town, and the subdivision HOA does little more than road maintenance and snow plowing (so the HOA owns a plow truck and a tractor), trash service, maintenance of communal areas.

        A nearby subdivision has no HOA and it must be a pain working out who’s responsible for maintaining or snow plowing sections of road, with the answer from everyone probably being “not me”, and everything is a mess.

          • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
            6·
            3 months ago

            Sure, but having the home owners come together in some kind of association to take on some basic services makes the suburbs slightly more sustainable for the city. When the city does everything for the suburbs it’s a serious problem - the infrastructure costs more because of the huge lots and lack of housing density so they have to build more. Dense urban areas generate more tax revenue and most suburbs and neighborhoods of single family homes end up costing cities money, it’s one more way society subsidizes the lives of wealthier people.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        3 months ago

        I think they might be hard to maintain, there’s a reason they rake it everyday. I remember seeing one at a hospital and it was dusty and dead looking. But if you have the energy, more power to you.

        • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          3 months ago

          Huh. Maybe could mod a lawn cutting robot to rake it? I’d be happy to tend to the shrubs, but daily raking seems a bit much. I have piles of stones in yard now that never get raked and seem ok though.

          • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            3 months ago

            Huh. Maybe could mod a lawn cutting robot to rake it?

            That’s honestly a great idea, make it look like an air ball, lol.

            I have piles of stones in yard now that never get raked and seem ok though

            I don’t know your set up, but if the piles of stones are surrounded by nature, then there’s movement around it and they won’t look dusty and dead. Also, it looks different if it’s all rocks and there’s no contrast with at least equal amounts of nature. That could be it?

  • BirdEnjoyer@kbin.social
    6·
    3 months ago

    I mean, I would unironically dig that aesthetic updated with the bluejeans meme. The coat could be super comfy if it didn’t get paired with aweful breeches/bloomers or whatever you call those janky ass knickers.

    …But the meme would probably just Jeg up the lawn and wig