Maybe I don't belong in the suburbs...

I don't have a lawn or anything, but it seems that some kinds of grass require more maintenance than others? You could probably pave it, maybe with some nice tiles, make a recreational space and get rid of it altogether? For people that like nature but don't enjoy gardening, trees might be a good option, since their maintenance is lower than that of flowers. My family has huge orchards and they are full of weeds and wild flowers. Occasionally, they get this industrial-style weed cutter and get rid of most of them, but they always return. On the steep hills that have olive trees, they gave up on tending to them and just wait for the wild hogs to get rid of the wil vegetation around the trees. Aparently, they do that on their own. Get yourself a wild boar! ;)

ohh dear,,,just go and live in a resort where you dont have to move a hair!!,,,just sit and relax,,or do whatever you want and dont worry about what you left behind!!((how you're doing my friend??))

Hi, I know exactly what you are going through, I feel for you. Years ago, I gave up completly and let it all do as it pleased. Problem, it became overgrown and the neighbours offered to cut my grass because it stood out against all the other houses in the street. In other words, it looked different. I felt guilty and made it all pretty again. I had a laugh about a year ago, a guy in London somewhere was doing the leave the garden to its own thing, and a couple of botony professors walking past found a weed that had been listed as extinct in his garden. At the moment here in Oz, almost no-one has a lawn due to the drought, so almost everyone has a crap looking garden, but there are a few diehards that either don't listen to water restriction broadcasts and have no fear of jail or have their own water supply. Only one in four sports arenas may be watered. But I have seen some very clever gardens too. I saw a garden designed and planted with ground covers and big trees, as well as medium shrubs, they were all in the right place and yet, if you didn't know where you were, you would swear you were sitting on the side of a hill in the forest somewhere. He didn't cut his grass, he didn't have any. If any weeds popped up, they just looked the part, right at home. You need a garden like that. A random natural garden, no weeding required.

Yes, the suburbians expect everyone to be exactly alike, down to the length of the blades of grass. I was looking at a friend's yard (in the cul-de-sac, yet) and said I would not fit in there because they have rules about appearances. He said that they are only required to cut the lawn twice a year. I said that I would choose January and February then. But that would cause such ill felings with the neighbors. My house is surrounded by weeds. I call it a wildlife habitat. Sometimes I have still beeen congratulating myself on getting the weeds trimmed when I realized it was already up to my knees again. When I am talking to somebody that knows my road and telling them which one is my house, I would say it's the one that looks like nobody lives there.