Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lawns

Are parks/lawns/gardens highly valued in Australian cities and suburbs?

GIMG — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:23:39 -0800

Are parks and lawns highly valued in Australian cities and suburbs? Does drought threaten parks/lawns/gardens in a palpable way? I've heard parks/lawns/gardens are valued highly in Perth, but are also threatened by worsening drought problems. Does this translate to other areas of Australia as well? Is the threat of drought on parks/lawns/gardens an impactful one?

buzzzzzzzzzz

timsteil — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:50:16 -0800

How to get rid of Cicada Wasps? My wife came in freaking out that we had a cicada wasp in the front lawn. I went out and checked, and found a big mound of dirt with about an inch round hole in the middle, sprayed a boatload of Raid into it, waited, and said "See....nothing there.", and of course the next second this HUGE ass wasp looking thing came crawling out. I sprayed it again, and it just would not frickin die. I finally had to introduce it to Dr. Boot to kill the thing.

From what she says, they are just about impossible to kill/get rid of, lay tons of eggs, and will burrow up your entire lawn if they go unchecked. Some folks resort to dumping gasoline into the nest and lighting it to kill them.

I have used my google-fu and found out every Latin name for them, that the males can't sting, the females can but rarely do, but nothing about how to douse the bastards.

Any suggestions? FWIW I don't care about eco-friendly etc, just a good solution. If it makes any difference, we live in Chicago. I'm not that concerned about the lawn or afraid of them, but the wife and kids are.

Plus, every night I hear cicadas singing and I just wonder if I am going to have a feeding frenzy on my front lawn and have to make a run for the car every morning

Hey, that's a VERY well behaved dog you have there

dancinglamb — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:39:30 -0800

What's up with all these dog silhouettes? I started seeing them several months ago on large corporate properties. First, I thought it was kind of a tongue in cheek thing. But then I spotted them in a cemetery (!). Not on the graves, but on the front lawn of the entrance area. I've also seen these "dogs" on municipal grounds. Some are running, some in a sitting position.

Is it some sort of warped idea of a goose deterrent? Some sort of mental 'chin up Wilbur'? I'm now seeing them pretty regularly. If it makes a difference, I've seen them in Philadelphia (University City area) as well as Northern New Jersey. I Googled around for pictures, but nothing came up.

Any ideas?

I hate mowing. I love moss.

agropyron — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:37:46 -0800

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? My (back yard) lawn is usually either brown and dead from lack of watering, or enormously tall from lack of mowing. I've noticed that moss is creeping in, and I've read that some people allow the moss to take over. I wonder what the disadvantages of a moss lawn would be. Would it get torn up from vigorous activity like kids playing on it?

I also like the clover idea. I know it attracts a lot of bees when it flowers, but I have the impression that you can just mow it once or twice when it's flowering to prevent this.

I'm not too interested in the gravel lawns some people use, but failing other alternatives I might resort to strewing nice-looking wood chips all over instead of grass.

What alternative lawns have you seen? What did you think?

Any positive reasons for having crabgrass and where can I get some seeds?

adampsyche — Sun, 25 Jul 2004 17:36:52 -0800

Neighbors be damned, is there any reason to not have a lawn of crabgrass as opposed to normal grass? And, if not, where can I get some seed?

my lawn is too long - help me

TurkishGolds — Fri, 28 May 2004 07:40:13 -0800

What do you do when the lawn gets so long your mower can't possibly cut through it?

Advanced Lawn Care

grefo — Thu, 15 Apr 2004 14:43:38 -0800

Is there a formula for figuring out the most efficient pattern to mow a lawn? Something that takes into account obstacles and elevation changes.