Making the grade.

[badmomma]

Having a yard that is both attractive and functional can be difficult. I have a large front yard that is very nice but difficult to care for.

Most of the difficulty comes from the extra stuff my husband has bought and parked there. He will be getting rid of it or he will be storing it somewhere else.

Mowing your yard shouldn't be torturous. It may have trees or flower beds that you have to cut around but the design should make that task as simple as mowing an empty yard.

I believe that the grade of the yard can add to the feel of the landscape but if you are going to have hills you need to landscape them for easy care and no mowing.

Check your options and choose plants that you or someone else will be able to care for easily. No one wants to go out and trim a hundred foot of hedges. I love them but I wouldn't do it so I won't put them in.

As we age it can become more and more difficult to care for our landscapes so planning now will save us future hassle.

[flippinout]

You have brought up some very good points about yard care. One being that less is actually more. And the less you or a potential buyer has to mow around or trim is the ultimate way to go.

I do agree that you do need to take into consideration how hard a yard will be to care for as you age. Getting out there and mowing will be harder as the years creep up on us and something else that should be considered here.

You can pay to have someone mow your grass as you age, but they wont always care for your flower beds etc as you would so again less is better when it comes to paying others to take care of your lawn and surrounding flower beds etc.

[troubles74]

In my yard we took and put down plastic under the flower beds and made them circular shaped so that they were easy to mow around.

We took weed killer and put it around the beds so that we did not have to wee eat.We put weed killer all around all of the beds and any yard decor that we have filling in any spots with mulch.

This way all we have to do is mow,we even have the path that we mow mapped out,it leaves a pretty design in the cut of the yard.

We always get compliments on the yard all of the time and we really do not put much time in it,now that everything is done.