I've recently moved from renting an apartment in a complex to renting a privately-owned duplex. It has a little (8 ft by about 15 ft) yard-ish thing right now that I would like to transform into a real yard. The owners won't pay for it, but would be fine with whatever I do to it. The problem is, right now the yard is completely overrun with weeds; everything else gets choked out by them. I don't know what kind of weeds, there's a variety of them. The other problem is that I live in Phoenix and the ground is very hard and dry so pulling the weeds by hand is going to be... difficult if not impossible. I've seen previous yard questions, but I am a special desert-dwelling snowflake and a little bit of a hippy, so I'm looking for more ideas than the "poison the whole thing" that I see in some of the other questions and also Phoenix-specific advice.
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posted by Weeping_angel
on May 5, 2013 -
20 answers
We're starting a new backyard from scratch in the spring (new home with only dirt). We want a backyard that is compatible with our dog, and a toddler.
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posted by blue_beetle
on Jan 26, 2013 -
8 answers
How to quickly mitigate a somewhat busted lawn and garden -- and maybe get a small vegetable harvest out of it?
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posted by zvs
on Sep 1, 2010 -
6 answers
What do I need to know before overhauling my packed-dirt backyard? Bonus points for inexpensive and green/sustainable suggestions.
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posted by emilyd22222
on Jul 10, 2010 -
6 answers
[lawn care filter] I'm new to the world of lawn care. If I use a manual push mower (without a grass catcher) to cut my grass - would I need to rake and bag the cut grass afterwards or can I just leave it where it lies? (more inside)
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posted by cheemee
on Mar 11, 2010 -
16 answers
We've been getting molehills in our front garden lately, and we want them to go away. Which anti-mole technology is best for us?
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posted by Artw
on Aug 24, 2009 -
10 answers
I'm thinking of replacing my lawn with artificial grass or some other thing that doesn't require constant upkeep. I'd like to hear your experiences with such horticultural matters.
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posted by reenum
on Aug 13, 2009 -
22 answers
AnswerAnOngoingFamilyArgument-Filter: My sister says one of her highschool history teachers mentioned in class a month or two ago that in China, people use
scissors to cut their lawns instead of lawn mowers. Obviously, this is pretty crazy (right?), but my sister says that's what he said. Is there anything reasonable along these lines that could have been what he really said?
posted by niles
on Dec 24, 2008 -
31 answers
Did I totally mess up by meticulously preparing our yard with a tracter/box blade, spending days removing rocks and debres, planting 50 pounds of Fescue seed, thereafter covering it with 23 bails of straw, and watering it almost daily, but completely skipping the part about raking the seed into the soil? 7 days and counting.
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posted by passtehbrainz
on Apr 25, 2008 -
13 answers
Here in sunny Florida, my two large dogs tend to wear my back lawn down to the dirt. Is there a grass that recovers easily?
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posted by cmiller
on Feb 20, 2008 -
6 answers
How can I kill the grass currently growing in our backyard? We live in the Northeast, and we have a small (15' x 40'?) patch of lawn in our backyard. I'd like to kill all the grass there, and replace it with thyme as a groundcover. I've already found a source for the groundcover.
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posted by deejay jaydee
on Oct 10, 2007 -
19 answers
After years of renting apartments, I have moved up in the world: I am now renting a house. Strangely, the house comes with small organic green things projecting from the ground. Having never been responsible for a lawn before, I don't really know what to do with it. I also have two, I don't know, shrubs (I think). One is low growing, thick, with branches that kind of double as rhizomes, and one might be a juniper. As you can see, I'm pretty clueless. What do I need to know/what must I do/what must I buy to take good care of my lawn and it's various planty inhabitants?
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posted by arcticwoman
on Mar 31, 2007 -
17 answers
Lawn alternatives! Has anyone here tried replacing their high-maintenance grass lawn with an alternative lawn? I've read about some of the no-mow lawn grass types, and I understand other people simply let the moss and clover grow. Have you seen a lawn like this? How did you like it?
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posted by agropyron
on Aug 7, 2006 -
28 answers
I recently seeded a new lawn, about 50x150 feet, in buffalo grass seed. the entire thing is now sprouting in bindweed. is there anything I can do to get rid of bindweed without killing the seedlings? I have been hand pulling them, but it takes approximately 20 hours each weekend. I'm open to any suggestions.
thanks!
posted by pamohearn
on Jul 27, 2005 -
4 answers
In in New Jersey. How often should I be watering my lawn, and what time of the day should I do it?
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posted by exhilaration
on Jul 27, 2005 -
9 answers
I'm looking for places that have a lot of grass. I'm doing a research project on commercial lawnmowers and I need to find places that use a lot of them. Golf courses are an obvious start, but where else do you see a lot of big lawnmowers? In particular, where are they most obnoxious/loud?
posted by rorycberger
on Jul 2, 2004 -
14 answers
Doesn't it seem like I always have a question about my house or lawn? Well, here's another one: My Gladys-Cravitz neighbor just called to tell me that the guy who mows our lawn mowed it the other day when it was WET. Can you imagine the horror? Could anything actually result from mowing a wet lawn, other than clogged mower blades?
posted by LittleMissCranky
on Jun 28, 2004 -
6 answers
What do you do when the lawn gets so long your mower can't possibly cut through it?
posted by TurkishGolds
on May 28, 2004 -
29 answers
LawnAndGardenFilter: When they built our neighborhood last year, the builders gave us Bermuda grass and our neighbors St. Augustine grass. Now the neighbor's very healthy St. Augustine is, of course, sending runners all over my lawn. What's the best way to stop this lush green menace?
posted by vraxoin
on May 17, 2004 -
2 answers
My lawn needs some TLC, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to become your typical Suburban Lawn Nazi. I'm interested in lawn services, but I also have a toddler, and I'd like her to be able to play in the yard without wearing a hazmat suit. Anyone have any insight or knowledge about less-toxic lawn care (preferrably available from a service, not something I have to give up my Saturdays to do)?
posted by briank
on Apr 21, 2004 -
4 answers
I've decided to bite the bullet and start mowing my own .25 acre lawn. There lies the rub, as I'm a small woman with not much in the way of upper-body strength. Riding mowers are out because they won't pay back the original investment (I'd have to install a storage shed). I've been looking at mowers for some time, but haven't really been able to get much in the way of "um, but will I be able to maneuver this thing?" advice. Any suggestions? If it helps, I can afford to invest about $600 (what I pay to have the lawn mowed in the first place...).
posted by thomas j wise
on Jan 19, 2004 -
24 answers
