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@marvindebot3264

Жыл бұрын

You seriously did a program on lawns and mowing them without mentioning Victa? Shame on you!

We ripped out our front lawn 3 years ago, (we live in an arid western state). Replaced it with native plants. Best thing we ever did to our property.

@seanmcdonnell6567

Жыл бұрын

Well done, I'm certain you have the best looking property, at the lowest of long-term cost, and of the lowest maintenance. I bet you get more colorful birds seeking food and shelter from the hot sun, too. Lawns are the definition of 'keeping up with the Joneses.'

When I was a kid, I grew up in a inter-city row house. The very small back yard was used exclusively for a vegetable garden and so, the only grass that we had to deal with is that which grew in the cracks of the sidewalk. Now that I'm older (73), I own a modest home in the suburbs where the lot is only 1/4 acre and so the lawn in both the front and back is very small. I'm often criticized by friends and neighbors for cutting my own grass at my age. I use a powered push mower that is NOT self propelled. I explain to my critics, that cutting and trimming my lawn is the only exercise that I get, much like going to a gym. Except, I don't pay for the privilege of exercising and don't have to pay someone to mow. It's a double win for me.

@gcb345

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if I'll be mowing my own lawn at 70, but I've told many people that common physical activity that we take for granted such as walking, can go away sooner than you think. So appreciate the ability that you have. One day you could find yourself envying those who can do daily tasks that you can no longer do, or is a huge challenge to do.

@jackkerouac6186

2 жыл бұрын

Richard that's smart

@sirmounted8499

2 жыл бұрын

Good on you man

@fireballxl-5748

2 жыл бұрын

Congrats you have been blessed to have the strength and the gumption to mow your lawn. Well done!

@campbellpaul

2 жыл бұрын

I intend to keep up my lawn until I'm 80 (at least that's my goal). I have no intention to listen to my neighbors, regardless of what they may say 😄

All my neighbors around me have perfect lines except me I like the little purple violets and this year I decided to find white yellow and mixed colored violets and sprinkle the seeds all over my lawn. I've often wondered when did we start considering pretty wildflowers as weeds and something to dump chemicals on. And we wonder why the bees are dying out.

When I was growing up, you could tell which houses were owned by serious farmers; very small lawn, and an absolutely tiny - but very well kept - flower bed. Farmers didn't have time to be tending non-cash foliage.

Chamomile was used for lawns, too, in England.

My grandmother had a sand lawn, swept with a homemade broom that I helped her harvest from broom straw fields and later bound up with bailing twine. Around her swept lawn was a privet hedge row that was about 48" high and trimmed into a square shape. Since the lawn was well shaded by oaks, she felt the need to rake and sweep her lawn almost daily. A number of years ago I wrote a grant that was funded to record the historic resources in my area. I chose a professor from the University of GA to be the professional of record, then had a great summer taking her around the area and recording the significant buildings and sites. The professor specialized in historic lawns, and as a very amateur gardener, I gladly learned much that summer. I combined the historic lawn knowledge with information I gained from a neighbor who was president of the GA Native Plant Society. I'm still not an expert on the subject of historic gardening; however, I have found it absolutely fascinating how people often took their "pass-around' flowers, shrubs and fruit trees with them as the settled the frontier. Oftentimes one can follow a migration path from north to south and farther and farther inland by the plants they left as they settled different areas. Two of the most touching finds I have made in looking at former homesites and trying to locate them on a property has been what remains as testimony of the history: 1. Often one will find the hearth and remains of a chimney. When I have found such sites I've often imagined the frontier family huddled around the hearth cooking, sleeping and sharing their own family histories. 2. The landscaping that remains often leads from the old wagon roads to the front steps of a home that vanished long ago. I often go looking for those old home places in late winter, 'before the snakes start crawling' as my grandparents said. In one homesite where I knew of the family who lived there on a high, undisturbed ridge, was their rows of jonquils lining each side of the walkway to the front step, then the depression where their root cellar had been and lastly the hearth and remains of a chimney. Sitting there for 100 years, abandoned and undisturbed, the legacy of a family remained recorded in the form of their hearth and the flowers lovingly planted so long ago.

As a child in the rural South in the '50's, I can recall a common children's chore being to pull the grass out of "the yard", a hard packed dirt area kept free of grass and weeds by little fingers.We moved to a home with a "lawn" about 1958. Then I cut grass.

Lawn and Order: Special Vegetations Unit

My son absolutely loves when someone calls him up and says they are sick of mowing or don’t have the time. He will be glad to come take care of it for you! It’s $$ in his pocket!!

I enjoy mowing my yard. I like to smoke a little smoke before the task and the hum of the mower combined with the music in my earbuds along with the walking is therapeutic for me.

@iancostigan5047

2 жыл бұрын

So do most professional landscapers lol.

Good morning from Ft Worth TX to everyone watching...I don't mind mowing, edging, and blowing my lawn/sidewalk. It gives me solitude and I get lost in my own thoughts while doing it.

@RetiredSailor60

2 жыл бұрын

@Jebus Hypocristos I also have a veggie garden and I tend to 5 hens who gives me fresh eggs every day.

@davidgarr7302

Жыл бұрын

Fort Worth resident as well. We have a small yard, but it's one of my escapes to go mow and edge the lawn every Saturday. I take pride in keeping it nice too! Most of my neighbors have crews that do it for them.

This updated rerun should have been preceded by a rerun of the History Guy's episode about lobsters, so that we could have "surf and turf" for lunch/dinner! 😁

@fireballxl-5748

2 жыл бұрын

Haha......nicely done!

@denisemerriman9574

2 жыл бұрын

😆

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in hating lawn care. I'm thinking a garden would be of better use than grass. At least a garden produces something edible.

@joesterling4299

2 жыл бұрын

I hate it too. That's why I pay someone else to do it. I was forced as a teenager to hand-weed an ivy patch for so long, hot Summer months for years, that I vowed I would never pull another weed out of the ground by hand after I grew up. So far, I've kept it.

@Colonel_Overkill

2 жыл бұрын

I have the luxury of only having to mow twice a year, though it is a hay field so its pretty unruly at times...

@fluffycritter

2 жыл бұрын

A couple months ago I murdered my lawn so that native wildflowers and low-maintenance ground cover could grow in instead, and also set up a bunch of raised beds to grow herbs and veggies in. SO much more satisfying, and the bees are way happier now too.

@renownedfear187

2 жыл бұрын

now now. if most of the population had their own food sources. how would corporate America leach off them. nope socially Condition middle america that a flat space of leafs u cant eat. is image of success.

I have a "mullet" lawn -- nice is the front, rather shaggy in the back. 🙂 That's because in my back yard of approximately 1/4 acre, I have 14 pine trees. When I bought the place I decided I wasn't going to even attempt to grow grass back there, so the back is pretty much nothing but pine needles with various weeds poking through. It IS mowed, occasionally, to keep the weeds in check.

@goodun2974

2 жыл бұрын

We have 3.9 acres where we live in rural New England and the house is surrounded by oak trees, and so the biggest issue we have is getting rid of the leaves in the late fall ( We blow them down the hill Into the woods and let them compost naturally) The lawn, such as it is, is half wild and I basically weed whack it every 4 to 6 weeks and take care not to hurt the frogs, toads snakes and salamanders that absolutely love our little piece of semi-wild habitat.

@craigbenz4835

2 жыл бұрын

I'm often tempted to fill my back yard with red pines to kill the grass dead so I don't have to mow it.

@viennapalace

2 жыл бұрын

@@goodun2974 You need a goat.

@goodun2974

2 жыл бұрын

@@viennapalace , tempting, but my gigantic Anatolian Shepherd would love nothing better than to eat livestock!

@jdinhuntsvilleal4514

2 жыл бұрын

@@craigbenz4835 You'd still have to mow occasionally because weeds and vines will still grow in the carpet of pine needles. I use a service, and they mow the back 3 or 4 times a season.

A history of Lawns The video I didn't know I wanted until now

My grandfather use to mow lawns with a manual push mower as a side job in the 30's. My father got a quarter for working with him for the day. I find mowing lawns relaxing and still use a walk behind one.

A quick look at state maps in the US shows the popularity of naming cities and towns Bowling Green. A lush lawn is a joy to walk through barefooted. Most lawns have more than just grass. They have shrubs and flower beds for color and fragrance. I get most of my exercise from mowing the lawn and I do like the smell of fresh-cut grass. When I was a teen, mowing lawns gave kids some pocket money. One of my former coworkers bought a riding mower, he had a young teenage son. He said he only mowed the lawn once all year long, his son mowed it at least once a week without being asked to. It seemed that he was pretending to be a racecar driver.

@scotcoon1186

2 жыл бұрын

That worked on me for about two summers. 2 acres with a 38" deck got to being too slow. Eventually I stepped up to an 84" deck behind a 35 horse utility tractor.

@tomvoncharon6359

2 жыл бұрын

@@scotcoon1186 mowed 11+ with a 50" for almost 10 years. Decided it wasn't worth it. Moved back to town.

@mikebronicki8264

2 жыл бұрын

I mow about 3 acres of yard and near 2 miles of trails on my 26 acre property. It is my favorite chore along with hand shoveling snow. After a few decades of 46 inch tractors I now own a 54 inch. Over the years I have spent exactly zero dollars on weed and feed and I water only to avoid brown lawns.

@poughkeepsieblue

2 жыл бұрын

You almost share my sisters name... if it weren't for an I and an e. I just had to like your comment and say it. Be safe!

@NoNORADon911

2 жыл бұрын

I have mulch and food plants. Lawns are for grassholes lol

Always enjoyed mowing the lawn. The weed whacking and edging were also enjoyable. Always liked the end result.

@jenniferspeers6537

2 жыл бұрын

My absolute least favorite outdoor jobs. Lol. I find lawn care such a waste of time.

I was my family's "lawn mower service" from when I was age 7, right up until I got my own home (age 27). Now I labor on my own lawn... it is a time suck to a degree, but for me I enjoy tending to the garden, so doing the lawn is but a step.

@MrTaxiRob

2 жыл бұрын

it might not be as intricate as bonsai, but it's still very zen.

I"ll watch this when I get back...... I've got to mow the lawn. Please keep up the great work.

best nickname in history ever, "Pope of Turf Grass" lol. can see him walking past front lawns blessing them and leaving a waffer on the fence and a quick spritz of weed killer and then moving on.

Good morning THG. We made it to the middle of the week.

The original reason for lawns seems to be overlooked. It was recognized that if you cleared out the area around your dwelling it reduced the incursion of wild life. Rats, snakes, etc. But the problem is often the dirt would wash terribly in the rain. So growing something to hold the soil was a good idea. It had to be vegetation that could be kept cut short enough to not allow any cover for critters but still survive and keep growing. I have personally seen many situations where the lawn was not kept up and plants were allowed to grow next to the house. Inevitably critters moved in. Just recently I had to dig up and fill armadillo holes that went deep down next to the foundation. The holes were hidden behind some overgrown shrubs. I cut down the shrubs and the armadillos have not returned.

@jafinch78

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, that's about the only logic I buy into in regards to the enforcement of lawn requirements... otherwise... illegal and ill intent minded the toxic, not renewable, wasteful of agriculture resources and not regenerative methods.

@Laurpud

2 жыл бұрын

Huh, I never thought of that; interesting!

@OGKenG

Жыл бұрын

@@jafinch78 Illegal??

@jafinch78

Жыл бұрын

@@OGKenG Yes like ill, whether intentional or not, legal. Leering, coercion, trespass, assault, robbery, malice acts and other laws that violate property rights as well as personality and person potential incidents that depend on the invasive nuisances deviations causing, inciting or aggravating an incident that didn't exist until they starter leering to assault from what I've seen intentionally., willfully, wanton and knowingly... even if they play dumb once caught like typical pedo klepto old dope fiend mobs.

Great episode! As a homeowner for 22 years I was curious about the origin of the modern obsession with lawns. With lawns comes the never ending battle against weeds, drought, and of course growth, along with the noise and air pollution of gas mowers and blowers. We need to evolve beyond this mess!

I went from pushing my toy mower (age 4) behind my dad mowing with his Lawn Boy push mower, to mowing over 5 acres of my own today, with a compact tractor. And since I retired from the healthcare field, I spend a fair amount of time working with a friend who is a landscaper, with lawn care as part of his services (but no mowing). I've learned more about grass than I ever thought existed, and it is a great second semi-career.

I previously lived in South Central Texas during the worst 5 year drought in 100 years. And yet, even with water being scarce and very expensive, many people insisted on have golf course type lawns. On the other hand, I let mine go dormant and turn a beautiful shade of tan. I told my critics, that when God was ready, he would make it green again. Who am I to argue with God.

@truthsRsung

2 жыл бұрын

Except the folks who were there, before that land was developed, saw what God or an arid climate provided naturally, and said they knew better. God, or weather patterns, support thirsty vegetation in the British Isles. Did God or the Brits first badmouth the dandelion with the term "Weed"??? I'd like to pupose a campaign to clear dandelion's soiled name. We should be so lucky to know a hearty, edible, flowering species that is FUN to plant! There is another book, The Farmer's Almanac, that guides intelligent folks on what to plant when and where so it may grow without water being delivered, so I guess the only ones that use it are hedge fund managers.

@jimmym3352

2 жыл бұрын

I live in Las Vegas. God is increasingly telling everyone where I live to go brown. Yet my next door neighbor still has a lawn.

@truthsRsung

2 жыл бұрын

@@jimmym3352 ...If you like green, why not grow something you can eat with that water?

When I was a kid there were no such thing as “lawn services.” Homeowners wouldn’t dream of paying someone to cut their grass, but if circumstances made that unavoidable, there were plenty of industrious teens in the neighborhood willing to earn a couple bucks. Now all you see and hear are these shiny new F350’s with huge trailers rumbling up the street, hauling their noisy 0 turn mowers, weed whackers and leaf blowers. All the dad’s used to just cut their lawns on the weekends, now we listen to the drone 7 days a week!

@joesterling4299

2 жыл бұрын

One of the reasons I like Winter more than I should. The constant noise of gasoline engines--lawn services with their big mowers and ear-splitting leaf blowers, loud motorcycles and lately loud hopped-up cars too--ruins the warmer months when I'm at home trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.

@jphilb

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like you are in Houston. I am about the only one on my block cutting my own grass.

@goodun2974

2 жыл бұрын

@@jphilb What you describe would depend on what part of Houston you are in. I read that 25% of the people living within Houston County live right at or below the poverty line and so I doubt that they are paying somebody to cut their grass. Or perhaps they are renters, and the landlord is responsible for keeping the grass cut. Or perhaps not *responsible* at all depending on the individual landlord.

@navret1707

2 жыл бұрын

In the 1950’s I was one of those kids mowing neighbors’ lawns.

@goodun2974

2 жыл бұрын

@@joesterling4299 , Here in rural New England winter gives me respite from the people who like to run their ATV's and dirt bikes around in the woods. Interestingly, there don't seem to be many people using snowmobile's in the winter here. Snow blowers are common enough but they're not necessarily all that loud or noticeable in the winter. Many of the neighbors, and I too, have generators for when we have power outages and the sound of those things is fairly common but it's a steady thrum that doesn't modulate and so the brain just sort of tunes it out, unlike the rise and fall of the sound of leaf blowers and dirt bikes and so on. The sound of chainsaws cutting up falling trees after a snowstorm or ice storm is of course quite common.

My neighbor is lawn manic. He does patterns and it immaculate. I mow because I have too. Now that I have a bagger it does not look like a hayfield. He told me he laughs at me box cutting style. But to his credit he understands since he is retired. He has time to do the fancy work. To make peace I let his friends park on my lawn instead of his for his large gatherings. I usually get a free steak too!!!

I went to an open day at Southampton (old) Bowling Green a few years ago, such an amazing place when you think it all started in 1299, a real honour to roll a few bowls across the sacred lawn :)

@lizj5740

2 жыл бұрын

Several of our local bowling clubs have replaced their lawns (some over 100 years old) with artificial turf.

Enjoyed the talk having my breakfast outside on my adriondack chair while looking across the lawn. Seeing horses sheep and cattle in the near distance and the mountains in the distance. Hearing birds sing and the distant sound of road traffic. It’s not a bad idea at all.

I’m of Ukrainian descent- my mom tells me stories of her growing up in Canada in the 1970s with her grandpa Panko (born about 1890 in Lviv) cutting the lawn by hand with a sickle, when he was in his 80s. Panko and his wife Anna (also born in Lviv-they immigrated together) lived in a duplex with each having one side to themselves, and both sides had a vegetable patch and a lawn, crossing their Old Country roots with the western style. Panko never once used a lawnmower. He also did not drive and instead rode his bicycle everywhere, almost every day until he passed at 94 years old. He sounds like an incredible person and I wish I could have met him, but the stories my mom has passed down about how hard they worked to provide a life for their daughter (my grandmother) make me proud of my heritage.

@fireballxl-5748

2 жыл бұрын

You have a wonderful story and beautiful heritage. Thank you for sharing.

This feels like the Sunday Morning Show. Love it.

Landscaper here, the most time consuming and costly part of your garden is your lawn. After that comes perennial flower beds, then brush, finally grasslands and forest.

I love how you make something so mundane so interesting.

A wonderful long running BBC program called “Gardener’s World” ran a multi part special about lawns, lawn care, and the development of the gadgets to maintain these patches of green. One version was actually pulled by camels, because their softer feet didn’t require the boots the horses or ponies did.

I am real old school, I love my lawn and I don't consider maintaining to be chore but more of hobby. Green grass, a few palms, some kiwis and papayas, its a little slice of sub tropical paradise.

you read my mind this time! just the other week i was mowing the lawn and thought "surely those great lawned estates in history predate the lawnmower... is it even possible to evenly scythe vast stretches of land at ankle height? i wonder just when the first mechanical lawnmower came about?" i got those answers a lot faster and easier than i expected!

Quick note : Horse drawn rollers, cutters, the horses were fitted with leather overshoes so as not to leave prints in the lawn.

Soooo many people hate doing lawn work. I find it therapeutic. I love spending time on my lawn and garden. And over the years, I've figured out for my area how to have the greenest lawn even though I give mine less water and it gets more kid/pet traffic than any of my neighbors. Perhaps it's a source of pride, but more than that, it's my sanctuary. It makes me happy to see a lush green lawn, and getting outside any day to work on it is better than sitting inside at a computer and working.

When I was a kid, we had a lawn mower that had no engine. The curved blades were gear driven. That was fun and nice & quiet.

Mowing a lawn is a relaxing escape from the pressures of life. If the lawn is big enough, you can have a lawn tractor to ride while mowing. Seat time can be fun if you time how fast you cut the yard. Good Luck, Rick

When my father was growing up in Louisiana in the 1930s and 40s, vegetation in the "yard" adjoining the house was considered unsanitary. He would be tasked with hoeing anything that took root on a weekly basis.

I started mowing yards with my older brother when I was six. We mowed about 10 yards in our neighborhood. $3 for the Front and $2 for the back. The yards were generally not that big but you had to charge extra for the corner lots. For some reason they were always bigger. A couple of years later my brother got a job at a fruit stand. I picked up all the houses he did plus I had some of my own. I bought my own bike that summer and had plenty of money when my parents went on vacation. Good times they were. Now I am still mowing the yard. I own 8 1/2 acres of land mostly Cedar and Mesquite. Some gets eaten by cows, some gets mowed and some I ignore.

And you just reminded me I need to mow.

This episode touches on the greatest untold tale in history, "The Enslavement of Mankind by the Grasses!" Think about it, civilization was started to grow grasses, wheat, rice, barley etc. The modern human spends an inordinate portion of their free time tending to the almighty grasses. Plant gardens, NOT Lawns!

@fhujf

2 жыл бұрын

Is this inspired by Yuval Harari's little rant in 'Sapiens'? :D

@bobbun9630

2 жыл бұрын

Dare I mention that my garden has corn growing in it, and has had wheat and rye on other occasions?

The late humorist, Erma Bombeck, titled her book on suburban living, *The Grass is Always Greener over the Septic Tank.*

@victorwadsworth821

2 жыл бұрын

"If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing in the Pits?"

Water your lawn so the grass grows faster and then you can cut the lawn. Very curious thing to do .

@b_uppy

2 жыл бұрын

Same with fertilizer...

@mikecain6947

2 жыл бұрын

@@b_uppy good point

Well that was a bonanza, especially for Lorne Green with green lawns. Alright, I'll go away now!

I was amused by the hybrid bicycle and reel push mower at 11:56. I took a photo of a nearly identical device proudly displayed on a lawn last summer in Edgemont, South Dakota in Fall River County; not far from Hot Springs... the childhood home of none other than The History Guy. The lawn mowing apparatus I saw had a large sign next to it that reads: Redneck Riding Lawnmower.

A number of large houses and manors have what is known as ha-ha around their large lawns. This is a sunken ditch with a hedge or wall with an inward inclined grassed slope in front of it that allows sheep to graze the lawn but not escape. It makes for an uninterrupted view across the lawn without raised fences or hedges. Sheep or other animals can graze but can not climb out of the ditch on the side of the house. 🐑🐑🐑🐑😊😊😊😊

I was thinking about this yesterday! Thank you for the post History Guy.

Just finished mowing my lawn with my new lawnmower, there is some pride and satisfaction in keeping a well maintained lawn.

Thank you for yet another great episode! I must be in the minority of people who loved mowing my yard. I guess it really depends on the equipment and/or your personal life. My father bought a Gravely zero-turn, which I absolutely loved driving! When I owned my own home, I had a Gravely zero-turn "walk-behind" self-propelled mower. I am currently seeking to buy another home, which means more lawn care, which I absolutely loved doing.

I have a love/hate relationship with my lawn. I hate cutting it but love the way it looks and smells right after I do it.

Lawn care also drives an entire industry of landscapers, as we have throughout Southern California. When I lived in Michigan, lawn care was only needed for about 6 months of the year adverse to year round in SoCal. I am usually in an office environment all day, so the time spent outdoors doing lawn work is something that I actually look forward to. There is a satisfaction that comes with a nicely maintained yard.

@truthsRsung

2 жыл бұрын

I wonder what feeling you will have when look at the level of the damn that you draw that water from. Would it sound funny if someone planted palm trees in Alaska? How is it you understand hot and cold but not wet and dry?

Hey History Guy 👋 👦 🤓 there's a saying that the deep doesn't give up their dead. About 5 years ago and I think last year I said Lake Meade will begin giving up her dead. 3 bodies so far this week. Zoinks there's a few more to be found

@jimcappa6815

2 жыл бұрын

3 now?!?! I've only heard of two, the first being the body in the barrel. Probably pirates

I love my lawn and caring for it is one of the simple pleasures that I enjoy.

As an owner/operator of a lawn care business I found that very interesting. I did always wonder where the term lawn came from. Also, as the grandson of WWII vet, it is neat to see how the modern industry of lawn care matured as a result of wanting to make their lives easier.

@robertpendzick9250

2 жыл бұрын

My father bought a chemical application company franchise called General Spray in 1958, the drought in New York State that year bankrupted the company and all branches were closed. In 1959 my father restarted the company from his customer base in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So did another franchise branch in a different part of the city. In 1961 "Scott's" of Maryville OH, tried to sue for using the term "Lawn Care" as they had a publication of the same name, and thought that the term might confuse people that we were connected. Funny thing is that we actually did use some of there products up till then, but not after, but still used the term. I took over when my father passed on and after 30 years finally sold it to my employees. Who changed the name and focus. But the other company still is running.

Covid did a lot for the American Home. Not only did folks, stuck at home and tired of looking at their crummy lawn, decide to do something about it; I've noticed that many, many homes are being remodelled, also. Nothing like having to work from home and having to look constantly at your sub-par surroundings, to get the gears moving. Good vid!

Cut grass surrounding the house makes it difficult for bugs, mice & snakes to enter your house without being seen and eaten by predators.

@kdaltex

2 жыл бұрын

True. Good for bird control at airports too. 6"-12" being the ideal height

@TheTeufelhunden68

2 жыл бұрын

I would have been happy for the snakes.

@TessHKM

2 жыл бұрын

There are lots of grass alternatives that provide the same benefit but don't require the intensive care and water waste that lawn grass does.

@rachelk4805

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheTeufelhunden68 Maybe it depends on where you live and the kind of snakes that get in. Most people don't want venomous snakes in their home.

@ken125y

2 жыл бұрын

@@rachelk4805 Most people don't want **ANY** snakes in or near their home. Fixed that for you.

I got Briggs & Stratton to take care of my lawn. Does a fantastic job and uses no gas and with zero effort on my part. Briggs is a Boer and Stratton is an Alpine....... goats, that is.

I love mowing my yard, and keeping my grass beautiful!!

This THG episode mentioned bocce, tennis, golf, badminton, and croquet, but didn't mention *horseshoes*, nor that quintessential lawn game of my youth: Jarts! 😁 (PS, A history of shodding horse's feet seems to be called for; who was the first person or the earliest civilization/culture that decided to drive nails into horses hooves and put metal rings on their feet? Did they strap some kind of other foot gear on horses before they started using metal horseshoes?).

Many cities forbid dandelions, they also have a height limit that keep home owners from having grasses or wild flowers that grow tall stems for pollination and seed heads.Many grass varieties or plants that would feed birds and encourage bees and other pollinators have to be cut before they go to seed. And pesticides poison the animals and our ground water. There is the need for fire control in dry conditions, but plant height isn't the best way to do it.

I love the creativity of your introductions! I’ve always enjoyed your history lessons, but I wait with anticipation to see how the segment will be started! Thanks!

We didn't have a lawn at home. Dad always said "mow the yard" to his four boys. And he never bought a new lawn mower. He bought junky pieces and had us build our own mowers. No riding mowers, or even a self-propelled. Nothing but a pure and simple rotary push mower. One by one, we reached the age of 12 and were engaged in this family tradition. Then after the last of us attained the next age of passage and went to college, dad popped down to Sears and Roebuck and bought a riding mower.

During my early years of grass cutting, there were a couple of times a year that as soon as all the area was cut, it was time to start again. A bigger mower wasn't in the budget. After I began learning about mechanical contraptions, dad and I made a deal: I would get the mower goin' and he would get the goer mowin'. Thank you, Lance, even though there were no pirates, it was still a good story, especially about something so, ummm, common.

Love these thorough historical investigations of the things that are so benign and taken for granted by us, we don't even give their origins a second thought.

Lawn care is a soul crushing time suck. that was AWESOME since I can't stand doing any kind of yard work at all. so that statement is perfect for me.

In the 90s I had a 44 thousand square foot lot, which sounds huge until you realize that a large chunk was taken up by a water retention basin. In growing season I’d hop on my Craftman tractor, put on my headphones and turn on the Motor Racing Network as I, Walter Mitty style, attacked the high banks of the basin like Dale Earnhardt at Talladega!

Land was wealth and if you planted grass and not edibles on your land everyone could see that you were rich so the poorer people started to have lawns also as a status symbol. It is possible to have lawns that are planted with indigenous plants that are eco friendly.

@lairdcummings9092

2 жыл бұрын

Xerescaping. Yes, and California needs to *seriously* needs to get into it.

@jangamaster8677

2 жыл бұрын

Americans don’t seem to care about the environment. They care more for their status symbols.

@lairdcummings9092

2 жыл бұрын

@@jangamaster8677 that's hardly unique to America. The big difference, as much as there is one, is higher levels of general affluence allows for greater impact.

@dk3062

2 жыл бұрын

It's also possible that it's esthetically pleasing and a fairly cheap way to make your property look good. Not to mention the pleasure it brings to care for it. It's not always about greed and destruction. Sheesh

@tombombadil3185

2 жыл бұрын

@@dk3062 When someone cares more for how their property looks to the casual person driving by than how it looks from their front door it's vanity. It's like makeup on a hog.

loved that bicycle lawnmower at 11:57 sole crushing time suck was right on lol

I may not be the World's Best Small Engine Mechanic but I am certainly a contender for the title. After spending all day working on tractors, zero turns, hand mowers, blowers, saws, trimmers & edgers - I love to go home at night to my newly acquired apartment where I do not have to care for the grounds :)

My brother and I were the official lawnmowers of our family pushing a mower and using a hand-operated trimmer. We did not see a power mower until high school and it belonged to a neighbor. There is a certain satisfaction in having a well-manicured lawn. That said, I think it is a big expense and a waste of time and water. People spend a sizeable amount of both to get the grass to grow only to cut it off and start again. Very interesting informatin, as usual. thank you.

My Lawncare skills as a kid..... History that Needs to be Forgotten.

Frankenstein's Monster is on the loose on the History Shelf!😱😱😱😱 I still remember the smell of the fertilizer my Dad used on our front lawn. Interestingly, he didn't put that much effort into the back lawn. When I was a kid, it was common practice for teenage boys to "borrow" the motors from their dads' lawn mowers to power their DIY street go carts🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

A well manicured sward is a delight to the eye

Ironically I put about the least effort into my lawn, yet it tends to be just about the nicest one in my neighborhood. Except for the initial surge, I discharge the cuttings and leave them to decompose on the soil and I let the dandelions and clover grow. Additionally, I'm the only one left who still uses an old two-cycle Lawn-Boy and my grass is a noticably darker and richer shade of green.

Dad: "Get out there and mow the lawn"

The Czech Republic is quite a small country. One has a tendency to generalize the habits of inhabitants of every country. We used to tend our lawn by the electric lawnmower in 1970s, living in Northern Moravia. But when I visited my relatives in South Moravia, I was very surprised that they and their neighbors in suburbia of one regional city turned every inch of their front garden (frankly, I didn't have time back then for a back garden) into a vineyard. There was no room for grass - every square foot had its vine plant on wire. What blows my mind is, how do these habits travel: every neighbor had it like this, and the same was true for next village in every direction. How does it happen that suddenly some next village stops having this passion for vinery? Except for the local weather conditions of course.

I'm seeding my lawn with native grasses and wildflowers. Gonna wild it up.

I inherited the family farm house. Grandfather built it in the country. The lawn is just a hay field that's been mown for 80 year. I don't worry about it.

My family still won’t let me live down the time I was supposed to cut the grass for the first time after a rather snowy winter and wet spring. Not matter how I tried, the gas mower would not start. I checked the gas tank and it was full of the usual faint red fluid and I told my dad the mower was broken. He came out to check the mower and asked the usual questions dads always do when trying to fix a problem, and after 10 futile minutes of trying to start it he began to check over the mower himself. When he looked into the gas tank to see if there was any gas he discovered that it was full of rusty water from sitting outside all winter and spring. After removing all the water and refilling it with real gasoline it fired right up on the second pull. To this day (I’m 66 years old) my younger brother always calls me in the spring to tell me to give tank on my mower a “sniff” test before I use it for the first time every season.

When I was a kid in the 50s a man and his wide lived a block away. He was blind but still mowed his lawn with an old-fashioned push mower. His wife had some lumber, probably 1 inch x 2 inch by 12 feet long. She would lay these out on the lawn in parallel rows and the husband use them as guides. As for myself, I don't mind mowing the lawn as it always looks much better when the job is complete.

@victorwadsworth821

2 жыл бұрын

Love your music.

Awesome. I lived in Chandler AZ, and we had a good sized lawn. But with the cost of water in that area, it was too expensive to keep. So we took it all out and put in Small pebbles. They looked good and you didnt have to water them.

thanks for such rocking content history guy .....I wish there were more like you

In common "Lawns" were also used to sun dry washed linen. That is why certain plants were to be excluded. Those plant might stain the linen.

I don’t care what the subject is, History Guy makes the subject matter interesting and always informative.

Back in the Saddle again

The original meaning of 'lawn' as 'a glade or opening in the woods' continues to be used in the name of Balmer Lawn in the New Forest in southern England, and other open spaces in this forest are referred to as 'lawns'. Is this usage still in existence elsewhere?

@SandyRell

2 жыл бұрын

Great Lawn of Central Park NYC + Oak Lawn Park Dallas - with Forest Lawn Golf Course Georgia + Forest Lawn Cemeteries Hollywood playing on the original meaning...

I really enjoy watching someone else my lawn while I’m inside an air-conditioned room with no bugs.

This explains so much about the settlement of Covenant in Bethesda's Fallout 4 video game. The name, the organization. It's interesting to see where game developers get some of their ideas.

When we first bought our home in 1990 (California) the entire yard was lush green grass. Over the years I have replaced 90% of it with decorative rocks, native plants and garden boxes. I still have a small bit of grass in the front yard. With all the brown hills, I do like to see a bit of green. I may have to give up this little patch as well due to a lack of water. I have never hired someone to take care of our yard work, it is great exercise and calms my mind.

@craigbenz4835

2 жыл бұрын

I would pave my yard here in Michigan to avoid mowing it, except that I know that not even that would work. I've seen roads with grass growing up through the cracks in the pavement.

@gyrene_asea4133

2 жыл бұрын

All you said is eminently sensible. My spouse always took pleasure in in tending the garden plots, flower pots, and varied shrubbery around our homes over the years, yet she NEVER cared about the lawns, only whether they looked okay after I cut and raked them. We got rid of the front lawn after 15 years. At 18 years re-sodded the rear lawn, and at 24 years sold the damn house and bought a new home with a backyard pool with accents of plastic grass. Through our view fence we enjoy the sight of 1.5 acres of lawn watered, mowed, and otherwise tended by others. Happy Days. : )

In 19th Century Florida snd some other parts of the American South, a well-kept "lawn" consisted of bare swept sand. This provided fewer hiding places for snakes and other "vermints," as well as substantially reducing the danger of house fires.

It was common in areas of the south to maintain the area around farm houses free of grass and weeds. This left a nice flat space of compacted dirt which the housewife swept daily to ride it of leaves and other debris. No mowing required.

@goodun2974

2 жыл бұрын

That technique probably works better down South where the soil often has an extremely high clay content. On the other hand that clay got messy and slippery when it rained.

Covid came and we (wife and I) just had more time. we took to gardening and have had a few years now of flowers and a nice back garden where we sit when it isnt raining :)

As a Californian, we are definitely trying to push for fewer lawns because it's such a huge waste of water - lots of people are shifting towards drought friendly gardens instead.

I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't count, "freshly cut grass" as one of their favorite smells.

I am one of those obsessive types. My lawn and garden suck up way more time and money than anyone could possibly justify. But it keeps me happy, so there!