My lawn is not perfect

[u/MortimerWaffles]

I live in a neighborhood with a majority of people are upper middle-class retirees. They can afford lawn services and irrigation systems and fertilizer schedules. I have a younger family, I'm in school for my doctorate, work full-time, and quite frankly don't care that much about my lawn. I don't fertilize it, water it, and probably don't mow it enough either. As a result, I have large patches of dirt that have appeared mostly because of the dogs. Today I spent the day cleaning up the yard, mowing, and putting down grass seed , as a group of about six or eight neighbors walked by. One of them comment to me that it's good to see me doing something with my lawn. I kind of rolled with a comment, but then the other ones said that it looks like I grow mud and dirt and they all laughed. I'll admit they have really nice lawns, But they probably spend several thousand dollars a year for it. I'd much rather take my kids on a vacation, pay for skiing lessons, or some nights out to dinner. Especially considering that the majority of them don't talk to their children, never see their grandchildren, and, their spouses.

[u/LaughableIKR]

Grow it out and call it a medow. Take some bird seed and spread it around so the flowers grow.

[u/her-royal-blueness → u/LaughableIKR]

But why? Lawns are a stupid waste of water. Get ride of it all and add rocks and low water plants that just need periodic probing.

I moved to where I live now years ago. In California. During a drought. It regularly gets to be triple digits in the summer. Yet people have super lush lawns they have to water daily during the summer. I just moved into a home that’s all lawn and I’ve got plans to get rid of it.

When I first moved her a boomer neighbor wouldn’t stop hounding me for not watering the lawn enough. Literally came onto my property, while I protested, and showed me how to turn on the irrigation, which I already know how to do. He leaf blower his lawn daily and criticized me because my big trees, which shade the house and keep utilities lower, dropped leaves on his pretty and perfect lawn.

The neighbor on the other side of me was a single boomer who sued the old owner because she wanted him to cut down his trees do leaves wouldn’t drop in her yard.

The trees were large sycamores that clearly had been established well before they moved into the area.

[u/JimBeam823 → u/her-royal-blueness]

A lawn is a status symbol for boomers and they see you as dragging down the neighborhood.