Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

yep, time to trade in the snowblowers for lawnmowers. spring & fall are great for working outdoors but I just can't say the same about winter & summer.

at least in the summer you can get an early start in the a.m. or wait till later in the evening's p.m. but in the winter it helps to be a glutton for punishment to work outdoors

I've already moved my snowblower to the back of the garage and moved the lawn mower to the front, so hopefully I don't jinx the weather.

Although one thing I'm not looking forward to in the summer is the annual raccoon war.

Every year they keep on coming, and I do everything like sprinkle pepper around the areas of the deck they go on, and leave the motion sensor lights on, but they don't care. If anything, they enjoy the lights because they can see easier, and pepper gives their food flavour.

[Caulfield]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I've already moved my snowblower to the back of the garage and moved the lawn mower to the front, so hopefully I don't jinx the weather.

Although one thing I'm not looking forward to in the summer is the annual raccoon war.

Every year they keep on coming, and I do everything like sprinkle pepper around the areas of the deck they go on, and leave the motion sensor lights on, but they don't care. If anything, they enjoy the lights because they can see easier, and pepper gives their food flavour.

replace that pepper with a bottle of the hottest hot sauce you can find (pure capsaicin!?), a gallon of water and a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

replace that pepper with a bottle of the hottest hot sauce you can find (pure capsaicin!?), a gallon of water and a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid

I use ground cayenne pepper and that didnt work.

Its not even that they come here to eat or anything, they basically hang out on the deck, do their business, then leave.

Should I just accept it and buy them a litterbox lol.

[countryboy]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I mowed grass for the first time yesterday morning. I don't know that it really needed it, but I really like to try to cut around the first of Spring, weather permitting. Have to say, it felt good being out on a 50 degree morning mowing grass.

[l3ulvl]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I use ground cayenne pepper and that didnt work.

Its not even that they come here to eat or anything, they basically hang out on the deck, do their business, then leave.

Should I just accept it and buy them a litterbox lol.

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em lol, maybe you'll become allies and they'll help defend your property



totally random raccoon gif that I love and has nothing to do with anything:

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Mowed the lawn for first time this year. Most surprising thing is right when I was going to start, I heard someone else nearby doing the same. Usually I'd be the first one doing this, but seems like someone else had other plans. Wouldn't be surprised to see others slowly start doing the same.

Grass between April-June is always so much better than July-September.

One part that sucks though is that stores are closed so I can't just walk in any buy some stuff for the yard like grass seeds. They're not essential, and curbside pickup is an option, but I hate going to a store, just sitting in a spot for 5 minutes while I wait for someone to come out and put something in the car. Feels so lazy and entitled.

[JMD]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I've already moved my snowblower to the back of the garage and moved the lawn mower to the front, so hopefully I don't jinx the weather.

Although one thing I'm not looking forward to in the summer is the annual raccoon war.

Every year they keep on coming, and I do everything like sprinkle pepper around the areas of the deck they go on, and leave the motion sensor lights on, but they don't care. If anything, they enjoy the lights because they can see easier, and pepper gives their food flavour.

If critters are coming to your yard/home there must be a food source. Eliminate that and you won't see them anymore. I have racoon visitors every now and then , but I don't mind them , they keep the skunks away.
Here's a video I recorded with my phone. It's footage from our security cam system of a late night visit. Clever little critters , well not so little. When I left for work in the morning the trash cover was open , that's why I checked the overnight footage , and this is what I found.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E4gqNfiRYFU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

If critters are coming to your yard/home there must be a food source. Eliminate that and you won't see them anymore. I have racoon visitors every now and then , but I don't mind them , they keep the skunks away.
Here's a video I recorded with my phone. It's footage from our security cam system of a late night visit. Clever little critters , well not so little. When I left for work in the morning the trash cover was open , that's why I checked the overnight footage , and this is what I found.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E4gqNfiRYFU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

About 10-15 years ago they rolled out (no pun intended) new bins with wheels, and a lock on the top to keep animals out. It's not 100% animal proof, but I'd say probably 99% animal proof. They never go after people's bins, and the closed bin does keep the smell in.

Part of me feels like because other houses around me have pets, the raccoons stay away from those yards, so mine ends up being the easiest/"safest" one to go to.

I've gotten things to kill grubs in the yard in the past (there was a year where the raccoons completely destroyed my yard, digging up everything, and to make it worse, that was the time Google Earth captured satellite images of my area).

I'm installing a camera for the yard soon, so when they do come back, I'll see how many and what exactly they're up to.

Although its weird. Sometimes they'll be gone for weeks at time, then just randomly come back every day for a week or so.

[Keirik]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I e joy doing the lawn. Back injury has slowed that but my wife picks up rage pace. Got a tad under an acre here so it’s just fun to see which weed n feed to try with seeding, overseeing, milorganite, etc all year to get that nice looking grass for the year.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Apparently there's a drought going on here.

Makes sense I guess, hasn't rained lots so far, although to be fair, feels like past few years hasn't had huge amount of rain. Lawn is usually destroyed from sun, heat, dryness come July/August.

I'm already using bigger sizes when mowing the lawn, trying to avoid any burnout or dryness early on. Although it does suck mowing it on a higher setting since it doesn't really feel like I'm doing anything minus evening out the lawn, not even being able to see where I just mowed.


And speaking of yard work, apparently my neighbours want to get a new fence. No issues splitting the bill 50/50, but it does make things awkward. Them trying to bring up the fact that they want to get a new fence (without making it sound like their reasoning has anything to do with any sort of issues on my side), and my reply back regarding the height of the fence, trying to do so without making it seem like I want it as high as legally possible so it would be fully private and never being able to see them again.

If they ever moved, 100% a suggestion to them would've been to build a new fence before moving. Wasn't expecting them to want one without intent to move.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Grass is really taking a hit this year despite it feeling like I've done more to take care of it than usual. Some people barely mow their lawn or do anything and it seems greener, although maybe it looks greener from far away due to weeds.

Raked up a whole bin of dried grass. Grubs probably played a role in this as well, I don't want to overseed the lawn, but I feel like it probably does need a decent amount of grass seeds just over all the dead/browner patches.

[KSUowls]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

So I have this patch of different shades grass that I just noticed over the weekend. Anyone have any ideas of what could cause it?

The water company did recently replace our meter, which is the only thing that has really changed.

I've read that one possible explanation is a sewer line leak, but I don't know how to go about even checking for thatPXL_20210712_165308863.jpeg



Edit - seems my lawn care company somehow just completely missed a 5x20 patch when they came out a couple weeks ago.

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[l3ulvl]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

wouldn't a sewer line leak make the area grow stronger?

[KSUowls]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

That's true. I was just thinking about the different Shading.

Crazy that they missed they huge patch as well as another long strip that I just noticed.

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[KG]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

The shape and outline of that area almost looks like something was placed there whenever the company was providing their landscaping services l.


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