Yard Reclamation 101
July 2, 2019 11:01 AM Subscribe
We're moving into a new place this week. One of the quirks of the lease is that the tenant is responsible for lawn care. My wife was worried about the effort involved, but then we saw how the previous tenants handled it.
The previous tenants apparently took a pretty relaxed approach to lawn care, apparently deciding that the requirement would be met if they covered the yard with rocks, dead leaves, weeds, and (I am not messing with you on this last one) actual, literal Astroturf. So I'm not worried that we'll be able to meet the requirements. But...
It's kind of nice to have a yard, and I'm starting to think it might be fun ("fun") to actually clean it up and landscape it. I'm starting from zero here, though. Some of what I need to do is obvious (throw away the Astroturf), but for some of the seemingly obvious stuff like weeding, the details of how aren't so obvious. And things like planting grass seed might seem obvious to someone with no experience, but I'm sure there are tricks of which I'm not aware.
There are a lot of landscaping and gardening sites out there, but most of what I've found isn't really cleanup-related; more like what to do after you've cleaned up, which I'm not ready for yet. Most of the cleanup search results are companies offering to clean up for you, and I'd rather DIY.
I feel like the basic order will go something like: remove rocks, remove dead leaves, weed, plant grass seed. Any advice you can provide about any of this would be helpful. Don't worry about what to do with the lawn after it's cleaned up; I'll come back for advice about that.
The previous tenants apparently took a pretty relaxed approach to lawn care, apparently deciding that the requirement would be met if they covered the yard with rocks, dead leaves, weeds, and (I am not messing with you on this last one) actual, literal Astroturf. So I'm not worried that we'll be able to meet the requirements. But...
It's kind of nice to have a yard, and I'm starting to think it might be fun ("fun") to actually clean it up and landscape it. I'm starting from zero here, though. Some of what I need to do is obvious (throw away the Astroturf), but for some of the seemingly obvious stuff like weeding, the details of how aren't so obvious. And things like planting grass seed might seem obvious to someone with no experience, but I'm sure there are tricks of which I'm not aware.
There are a lot of landscaping and gardening sites out there, but most of what I've found isn't really cleanup-related; more like what to do after you've cleaned up, which I'm not ready for yet. Most of the cleanup search results are companies offering to clean up for you, and I'd rather DIY.
I feel like the basic order will go something like: remove rocks, remove dead leaves, weed, plant grass seed. Any advice you can provide about any of this would be helpful. Don't worry about what to do with the lawn after it's cleaned up; I'll come back for advice about that.
Can you ask the landlord if they can pay for a landscape company to come in and clean up and plant a lawn, and then you all maintain it? How big is this yard? It's hard to imagine what all went down with the landlord such that the previous tenants went to the trouble of putting down astroturf... and it's hard to imagine that the landlord is asking you to maintain that? So weird. Seems to me like it's worth having a conversation with the landlord about expectations.
Having said that! How much money and time do you want to throw at this? If you want a lovely lawn, then yeah it'll take some work (improving the soil, for example, for the grass). You could also clean up the yard and throw down some grass seed and see what grows.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:32 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
Having said that! How much money and time do you want to throw at this? If you want a lovely lawn, then yeah it'll take some work (improving the soil, for example, for the grass). You could also clean up the yard and throw down some grass seed and see what grows.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:32 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
If you want to put in grass, a friend of mine recently redid their lawn for their daughter's wedding. She started the seed growing in a wheelbarrow, which worked great and didn't take long at all (I think just a few weeks). She shared her method:
-Filled a wheelbarrow full of potting soil plus 3 lb bag of grass seed, mixed well, left for 7 days under a tarp with shovel on top
-Added more water mid-way through 7 days
-After 1 week, dumped the potting soil + grass mixture onto an old bedsheet, then divided into 5 equal portions and mixed each portion with a bag of topsoil. Shovelled the topsoil mixture a bit a time onto the dirt/patchy grass and spread with a rake
-Watered like crazy!
Just based on my own experience, if you want to plant flowers and shrubs I would recommend getting mulch for the bed. It helps keep the weeds down!
posted by DTMFA at 11:35 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
-Filled a wheelbarrow full of potting soil plus 3 lb bag of grass seed, mixed well, left for 7 days under a tarp with shovel on top
-Added more water mid-way through 7 days
-After 1 week, dumped the potting soil + grass mixture onto an old bedsheet, then divided into 5 equal portions and mixed each portion with a bag of topsoil. Shovelled the topsoil mixture a bit a time onto the dirt/patchy grass and spread with a rake
-Watered like crazy!
Just based on my own experience, if you want to plant flowers and shrubs I would recommend getting mulch for the bed. It helps keep the weeds down!
posted by DTMFA at 11:35 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
You should walk though the neighborhood and see what is being grown successfully, and that you like the look of. Consider consolidating the rocks into an "interesting feature," perhaps to place pots of ferns in it, and have them drape down.
Your effort to make it nice should be tied to how long you plan to live there. There is pride in having creating something that is pleasing to look at. Also, if you plan to own home someday this is an opportunity to practice with someone else's property, in case it does not work out great.
Look for a local full service hardware store or a garden and landscape type store to get suggestions and supplies. They will be more willing and able to talk to you about plans than the big box stores would. They will probably have spreaders to rent, or even for free use if you buy your seed from them.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 11:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Your effort to make it nice should be tied to how long you plan to live there. There is pride in having creating something that is pleasing to look at. Also, if you plan to own home someday this is an opportunity to practice with someone else's property, in case it does not work out great.
Look for a local full service hardware store or a garden and landscape type store to get suggestions and supplies. They will be more willing and able to talk to you about plans than the big box stores would. They will probably have spreaders to rent, or even for free use if you buy your seed from them.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 11:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
In both rental houses I've lived in, we were responsible for "lawn care" and the lawn was already mostly weeds when we moved in. We try to keep the yard neat by getting rid of all the stuff that falls from trees, and the weeds get mowed regularly. If you keep the weeds mowed, they don't look half bad. In my weedy rental house yard experience, the weeds stay green for much of the year, and you don't have to worry about watering them. In the spring I throw down some grass seed or EZ Seed to fill in patchy areas.
I've enjoyed learning how to prune shrubs at our rental house, and flowering bulbs come up every spring, which is nice.
posted by bananana at 11:55 AM on July 2, 2019
I've enjoyed learning how to prune shrubs at our rental house, and flowering bulbs come up every spring, which is nice.
posted by bananana at 11:55 AM on July 2, 2019
One of the quirks of the lease is that the tenant is responsible for lawn care.
To others' points, clarify the living daylights out of this. We had a similar clause in our last place (a rental house) that had a huuuuuge front lawn – and we were in a draught scenario, with water restrictions. Prior owners hadn't taken care of the lawn well either, but once chronic problems came up our landlord told us explicitly to ignore the water restrictions. We were also paying fully for the water ourselves. Get explicit stuff in writing to protect yourselves (and the landlord, frankly.)
posted by hijinx at 12:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
To others' points, clarify the living daylights out of this. We had a similar clause in our last place (a rental house) that had a huuuuuge front lawn – and we were in a draught scenario, with water restrictions. Prior owners hadn't taken care of the lawn well either, but once chronic problems came up our landlord told us explicitly to ignore the water restrictions. We were also paying fully for the water ourselves. Get explicit stuff in writing to protect yourselves (and the landlord, frankly.)
posted by hijinx at 12:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
I strongly +1 all suggestions to clarify with landlords their expectations. And get this in writing, and take before pictures. We rented a place with no irrigation, heavy shade, and basically nothing but weeds growing. We kept up with a mow/blow lawn service and eased back on water when our area entered a drought. The landlords never said anything to us, but when things got contentious at the end of our lease they claimed we had destroyed their lawn.
And if they are expecting you to restore/improve from the previous tenants - that would be a big no for me unless you are trading labor for rent. I like the idea of asking them to pay to get it to their desired state and you take it from there.
posted by handful of rain at 12:32 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
And if they are expecting you to restore/improve from the previous tenants - that would be a big no for me unless you are trading labor for rent. I like the idea of asking them to pay to get it to their desired state and you take it from there.
posted by handful of rain at 12:32 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Watering restrictions generally aren't a guideline; they have the force of law/by-law and ignoring them can result in significant monetary penalties. So consider this when deciding whether to comply with suggestions to ignore them.
posted by Mitheral at 12:35 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 12:35 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
One of the quirks of the lease is that the tenant is responsible for lawn care.
Yes, as others have said, clarify this - because another way to read this is that the owner is not responsible for lawn care, and so the tenant shouldn't go demanding help from the owner but has no particular obligation to do anything with the lawn. This seems quite different from, say, "the tenant is responsible for shoveling."
posted by cogitron at 4:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yes, as others have said, clarify this - because another way to read this is that the owner is not responsible for lawn care, and so the tenant shouldn't go demanding help from the owner but has no particular obligation to do anything with the lawn. This seems quite different from, say, "the tenant is responsible for shoveling."
posted by cogitron at 4:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Agreed, clarify with the landlord. If they expect you to create a very nice lawn, see if they won't pay professionals, or at least try to get them to cover your out of pocket costs and lend or buy you tools. (They can deduct these, among other reasons.) If they don't care as cogitron suggests, then your probably SOL on this.
If you're going for the "lawn" look, I think it's possible that your step called "weed" might be a bit optimistic. A lot of times the process is "try to kill everything, then roll out sod on top" to avoid an annual war with weeds. But if you're less picky, it's true that many weeds look okay if you keep them mowed. For this approach, if you're going to buy one tool, make it a weedwacker. You'll need to wack weeds on the sidewalk and fence line, and if the area isn't big you can get away with doing the whole yard that way.
Another option could be to pull out the junk, knock the weeds down with a mower, place the rocks artfully, then cover the ground with a weed barrier (even a double layer of cardboard works, or you can buy rolls of it), and spread mulch on top. A number of tree services will give you wood chips for free, or at least I've always lucked out. Then you can plant scattered perennials.
Here are the costs you're looking at:
Weedwacker, $75-?? (I like the $200 ones after trying the cheaper kind)
Extra string for the weedwacker ($10)
[Skip the cost of a gas can, fuel, and fuel additive by getting the electric one]
Weed barrier $0 (cardboard) / $35-100 (depending on yard size)
Mulch $0??
Wheelbarrow $75? borrow one?
Shovel or two $25? Or garage sale?
Plants Maybe like $10 apiece, and you'll want at least one for every 9 square feet of planting area (I spend about $100-150 every year, but if you knew which perennials would grow and managed to just buy those, you could potentially get away with less)
Expect to have to redo the weed barrier and mulch every 2-3 years. Have fun!
posted by slidell at 7:18 PM on July 2, 2019
If you're going for the "lawn" look, I think it's possible that your step called "weed" might be a bit optimistic. A lot of times the process is "try to kill everything, then roll out sod on top" to avoid an annual war with weeds. But if you're less picky, it's true that many weeds look okay if you keep them mowed. For this approach, if you're going to buy one tool, make it a weedwacker. You'll need to wack weeds on the sidewalk and fence line, and if the area isn't big you can get away with doing the whole yard that way.
Another option could be to pull out the junk, knock the weeds down with a mower, place the rocks artfully, then cover the ground with a weed barrier (even a double layer of cardboard works, or you can buy rolls of it), and spread mulch on top. A number of tree services will give you wood chips for free, or at least I've always lucked out. Then you can plant scattered perennials.
Here are the costs you're looking at:
Weedwacker, $75-?? (I like the $200 ones after trying the cheaper kind)
Extra string for the weedwacker ($10)
[Skip the cost of a gas can, fuel, and fuel additive by getting the electric one]
Weed barrier $0 (cardboard) / $35-100 (depending on yard size)
Mulch $0??
Wheelbarrow $75? borrow one?
Shovel or two $25? Or garage sale?
Plants Maybe like $10 apiece, and you'll want at least one for every 9 square feet of planting area (I spend about $100-150 every year, but if you knew which perennials would grow and managed to just buy those, you could potentially get away with less)
Expect to have to redo the weed barrier and mulch every 2-3 years. Have fun!
posted by slidell at 7:18 PM on July 2, 2019
A few months ago I decided it would be "fun" to add some much needed landscaping (a couple of flower beds, plants around the porch and foundation) to the large yard surrounding the house I'm renting. The lawn is abt 50/50 weed/grass and other acceptable green (e.g. clover) and other than removing dandelions, I'm not going to attempt to change that ratio.
I thought I knew what I was getting into. I've owned a few houses and I had more or less enjoyed yard work. But it's been almost 20 years since I last had a yard to take care of and, boy, did I forget how much exhausting, physical labor is involved. E.g., a new flower bed means either removing the sod or tilling it - adding compost, etc, (and you're probably dealing with clay in OH).
And the recent wet, unholy hot and humid weather (I'm in eastern IL) makes for horrid working conditions and weeds grow so fast you can practically see them putting out new runners while you watch.
At the very least, I would push the landlord (insist?) to have the yard restored.because you shouldn't be saddled with fixing it - or for that matter, even maintaining it in the current condition. Then tackle new projects slowly while you assess how much you enjoy/loath yard work.
posted by she's not there at 10:45 PM on July 2, 2019
I thought I knew what I was getting into. I've owned a few houses and I had more or less enjoyed yard work. But it's been almost 20 years since I last had a yard to take care of and, boy, did I forget how much exhausting, physical labor is involved. E.g., a new flower bed means either removing the sod or tilling it - adding compost, etc, (and you're probably dealing with clay in OH).
And the recent wet, unholy hot and humid weather (I'm in eastern IL) makes for horrid working conditions and weeds grow so fast you can practically see them putting out new runners while you watch.
At the very least, I would push the landlord (insist?) to have the yard restored.because you shouldn't be saddled with fixing it - or for that matter, even maintaining it in the current condition. Then tackle new projects slowly while you assess how much you enjoy/loath yard work.
posted by she's not there at 10:45 PM on July 2, 2019
Nthing talking to the landlord as the clause is to keep them, as the property owner of record, from being cited for being out of compliance. That means different things in different neighborhoods, as neighbors can be chill, vigilant, or somewhere in between. See what your landlord brings to the table, as doing them this favor adds value. Could they remove the obvious eyesores? Drop off some packets of composted soil from a garden center or the local landfill (ours has a giant compost site, but it’s on you/your landlord to bring a container or loadable pickup/trailer).
If it turns out that they just want you to straighten the AstroTurf once a week, you may want to adjust your efforts accordingly.
posted by childofTethys at 5:43 AM on July 3, 2019
If it turns out that they just want you to straighten the AstroTurf once a week, you may want to adjust your efforts accordingly.
posted by childofTethys at 5:43 AM on July 3, 2019
Climate and seasonality matter a lot in lawn care. Where I live, the best season to plant grass is the fall. The new grass grows well, and has minimum competition from weeds. My approach would be to take July and August to clean the debris. Starting Sept 1, rake aggressively to disturb the soil, sow the seed, and keep it watered. In the spring, use preemergent crab grass killer, and use a weed killer in early summer.
I'd find a local hardware store or nursery where someone can give you plausible advice about kinds of grass that work well in your area.
Pace yourself.
posted by SemiSalt at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2019
I'd find a local hardware store or nursery where someone can give you plausible advice about kinds of grass that work well in your area.
Pace yourself.
posted by SemiSalt at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by homodachi at 11:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [32 favorites]