to not mow my front lawn? Ever?

[FredWorms]

I just don't get this suburban thing about lawn-mowing. I do mine now and again, maybe 2 cuts a year, but I like it long. It harbours frogs and toads and all manner of creatures and I like the look of it too. I have flowers in pots and although my front garden isn't immaculate it's clearly not completely neglected either. It looks tatty, but not in that "old sofa and 3 rusty bikes" sort of way.

A couple of days ago a neighbour had a bit of a grumble about people not cutting their grass, clearly aimed at me, and I've heard other neighbours complain in the past. Why? How does it affect them? Is it because it makes the neighbourhood look run down? (quiet close in a small seaside town).

I genuinely don't get this. I was brought up on a farm, is there something I should know?

I don't know but my dad is really anal about lawn mowing. I'm with you - I like long grass and mine is so long at the moment I could probably make hay if I wanted to!

It's weird. They seem to feel so strongly about it.

YABU - it makes the house look unlived in and encourages other people to leave rubbish in it. Unless it's planted with meadow flowers it's just a mess and the weeds will spread to your neighbours.

I suppose it looks "messy." But in reality, it is sooo much more interesting than a cut lawn. Loads of insects can live in it, wildflowers can grow, it helps the bees and butterflies.

If you wanted to, you could make a pretty border for your lawn so that overall it looked more manicured and put together.

But why does it bother others if it looks messy? Do they think it reflects upon them, or is it because they have to look at it?

People are so obsessed by cutting the bloody grass. Its a permanent topic of conversation for my parents and the inlaws.

My back garden is a swamp, so unless I go out there with a scissors and cut it blade by blade it's going to continue to grow and grow. The front garden grass doesn't grow half as quickly for some reason. people would have to really be desperate to dump rubbish to go looking for a garden with long grass to dump stuff

Yes, no one wants to live somewhere that looks unkempt as it suggests that it's peopled by people who don't care.

Get a few packets of wildflower seeds and it will look amazing :)

yay fredworms!! i love to see a nice natural long grass lawn, smattered with wildflowers!!! Don't give a shit what the other people say!!!!! the only reason i cut the grass in my back garden (don't have a front garden) is because i have dogs and kids so it's impossible to pick up dog poo from long grass!

I think it's actually in our deeds that we have to keep the front lawn neat and tidy and the grass cut, otherwise the management company will arrange to get it done and then charge us :( We have no choice. I like long grass too, so we have a wild area in the back garden, but keep the front garden looking "suburban".

Funnily enough I was on a bus the other day and went past a huge row of houses with massively long front gardens.

Most of them were beautifully kept but a few looked dreadful...overgrown, unkempt and scruffy. It was a blight on the whole row really.

Having said that, I hate gardening so would probably let mine get scruffy too!

I think you should do what you want with your own garden. I like my garden lawn to be weed free and neatly mowed. It makes the house look neat, tidy and inviting. I think when gardens are left wild it looks scruffy .....that said, you should do what you want.

I get ivy come in from my nieghbour and it irritates me but I really do believe the nieghbours can do what they want, so I am irritated with the ivy and not the nieghbours. If you see what I mean.

If I don't cut my lawn a big woman from the council comes round to moan at me :( Ditto my hedge. Last year she came round when we were having gale force winds and asked why my hedge wasn't cut. "Because I don't want to blind passers by and carpet the estate with airborne clippings FFS"
I rarely cut either 'lawn', front or back, but I do cut the front more just because the council will get on my back otherwise. They are both full of frogs, spiders, moths and all kinds of critters.

I actually thought this thread title was a thinly disguised waxing/shaving/general epilation one blush

"Because I don't want to blind passers by and carpet the estate with airborne clippings FFS"

So did I hairytale (how apt, darling!)

"...overgrown, unkempt and scruffy".

But cut grass is just a convention. Long grass is actually very lovely, I think.

And the poor much-maligned dandelion. I'm not being disingenuous, I just cannot see that long grass is scruffy or whatever.

I wonder whether there is a correlation between lawn-shortness and ladygarden trimness?

This is just bound to have been done before.

It isn't scruffy. A meadow is a beautiful thing. Long grass, wildflowers - lovely.

It's just that people expect short grass in a garden and long grass in a meadow.

It's nothing more than convention. It looks scruffy in a garden because people feel it's scruffy and have all these associations. long grass in your garden=scruffy=scruffy people=trouble.

It's daft, really, but there you go. That's folks for you.

I think overgrown grass and wild stuff is nice in a meadow.

But I do think it makes a house look unkempt and scruffy.

But as I say, I would no doubt be guilty of this myself if I had a front garden

I've heard other neighbours complain in the past. Why? How does it affect them?
How many reasons do you want?
Apart from the obvious untidyness,
I expect they are tired of weed seeds blowing from your patch and taking root in their gardens that they work hard to keep tidy.
They might also dislike your long grass as a haven for slugs that come out and feed on their flowers and vegetables.

Fill it with poppy seeds - there'll be loads of heads around now setting seed. It'll look amazing next summer :-)

It makes the area look messy, where would you draw the line? is it ok to have cars going rusty on the drive, or for a broken window to not be fixed or for the paint to peel off the house?

When I was moving house I wouldn't even bother viewing ones where the neighbours house/garden looked rough, it just gives the impression the owners aren't considerate to others.

I think if we choose to live in a suburban area that we should all have the courtesy to keep our houses/gardens looking reasonable because it's not just us who are affected by it.

I love attracting nature too and so have planted shrubs and wild flowers that the insects and birds like and have a pond for the frogs, you don't need a long lawn to get them.

Well we let the dandelions grow as we thought they looked lovely so thye have now sorta taken over the grass . We now have long leaves in the front that will be staying for a while as the mower has broken

I have had a neighbour complain about the state of my bush!