Grass is NOT low maintenance!

I have mulch around my pool landscaping. Twice a day I have to sweep it back off the deck. The Squirrells love to bury stuff in mulch, and like to dig it back up too.

Squirrel diggings everywhere.

The neighbors cats like to dig and pee in it too.
 
I have golf buddies that live in PHX area and thats where I got some of my landscape ideas. I hated the mulch thing once if not twice every year so we did this just a couple of months ago out front...

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We love the decomposed granite and price was very reasonable at under 2K.

Is that a tombstone leaning up against the house?? :shock:
 
Yes...I use it to keep my wife in line :)

Seriously its our family rock that was made for us by an old golf buddy.

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Two words. Micro clover. Google it. I’m putting it in my lawn

At least the French were good for something :)

thats pretty interesting. If u mix it with seed will you still be able to see the clover or does it just thinkin up the grass? I saw a link that talks about that.

Im pretty particular about my lawn. I don’t let anyone touch it but myself. I did zero grass around or by the pool or pool house. Everything is getting flowers and rock. My mulch is staying in the front now only. Along with my lawn but also on the side of he house and by swing set. Bit everything else is landscaping now. I purposely also laid my fence out so it had zero grass under it.
 

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When we were planning our pool, we decided to not have any grass, plants, trees, shrubs, etc. inside the pool fence. We did not want to have to bring a lawnmower inside the fence nor any trimmers, etc.

Our pool area is multi-level. So, we have a rather large area inside the fence. Here are a couple of pictures from 5 years ago:

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We had about 20 yards of river rock delivered. We put down landscape fabric and then spread the river rock on top. We had enough concrete decking poured such that there is really no need for anyone to walk in the areas covered by river rock. Other than occasionally finding a weed that has managed to poke its way through the fabric and river rock, we have virtually zero maintenance inside the pool area. And, we don't have problems with grass clippings getting in the pool.
 
Hi Matt,

How is the heat with the turf? I have grass around 80% of my pool (right up to the coping) and was wondering if it gets hot like a patio? I know football fields can get very hot but I'm sure it's made different for a home. Thanks, Chris
 
I put a lot of sod (grass) around the pool areas last year. This is getting to be a HUGE pain because the grass blows into the pool/deck when it is cut. It is also a royal pain to cut right next to the aluminum fence since the weedwacker gets hung up on and tears up the fence bottom so can't be used. We end up having to cut all that by hand. The other areas we did not design very "smartly" and they go to a "point" which makes mowing impossible and again, hand trimming when done. I sure would like to just pave everything over and lose the landscaping weekly headaches.

Any ideas of what to do with these problem areas? We get a lot of wind so don't want to just do mulch which I have thought about. One thing I tried and seems to work well is I put a 1x4 pressure treated board under the fence sections so no grass grows directly under it and so I can use the weedwacker easier since it doesn't need to get right up on the fence for what the mower can't get to. I should have gone with a 1x6's and may still do that since I just started that project.

TIA!
Hi. Are you using a bagger on the mower? It shouldn't blow that far. I've got grass right up to the coping and it's never an issue. Maybe you can borrow a neighbor's mower w bagger if you're not using one to see if you like the outcome? Rocks are still work since weeds will grow in them and leaves will fall in them and get stuck and be a pain to get out even with a blower. I just put a fence in (not pictured) and I'm going to use weed/grass killer under it to avoid weed whacking under the fence.
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I have a very small round patch of lawn in the back that I keep watered and trimmed, looks great!

But the huge front yard the way the sun is exposed and a giant tree that draws moisture, it's just impossible
to keep it green during the summer. It always looks fantastic in the spring, but even watering it 1 inch per week
or even half inch, it just can't stay green. I've decided not to waste any more time or money watering it in the summer
so it's going dormant til the fall.
 
Hi Matt,

How is the heat with the turf? I have grass around 80% of my pool (right up to the coping) and was wondering if it gets hot like a patio? I know football fields can get very hot but I'm sure it's made different for a home. Thanks, Chris

It can be hot to walk on in the summer months so the kids play on it with Crocs or flip-flops on. I would say it would be cooler than putting in a concrete patio but not cool like real grass. For me, the zero-maintenance aspect of it (ok, not zero but very, very low...) is well worth the extra heat. I look at neighbors that have real grass (and not much larger in area than my turf) and all the water and maintenance they have to do to even keep it marginally green.... No. Thank. You!

However, being in the south west desert is a much different climate than where you live in NY. I grew up on Long Isalnd and was the “lawn care specialist” in my teenage years. The lawn practically took care of itself as all I needed to do was keep it properly trimmed. My dad would fertilize once in the spring and the rain we got took care of most of the watering needs. If we went through a dry spell, I’d have to drag out the hoses and sprinklers (they had no in-ground irrigation system) and spend a day or two messing around with water until the dry spell passed. So it wasn’t a big deal. Around here, if you even pretend to neglect your lawn for more than a day, it goes yellow in the blink of eye and then you spend weeks trying to get it to turn back to a pleasant shade of green....
 
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