ᐅ Municipal land should be mowed only once per year.

Jochen104 schrieb:
My property borders a roughly 4m (13 feet) wide municipal plot with a drainage channel running through it. This channel creates significant elevation changes, so it can’t be mowed with a lawnmower.

How deep is the channel?
We have the same issue in our new development: between the properties and the roads or paths there is either a green strip or an infiltration basin. Last November, grass seed was sown. As a result, the grass hasn’t properly established, so weeds are covering the areas.
This also affects the playground. The municipality probably can only maintain it once or twice a year.

Since Monday, someone has been working on the road embankments. My husband has been wondering for weeks why no father has taken a mower to the playground to make the area nice for the children and mothers. He would probably do it himself, but since he already mows the public strip and his neighbor’s lawn once a week, who is ill, he doesn’t see a reason to, especially since there are plenty of fathers around here.

And that’s exactly how it works if you want the area next to or in front of your home to look good: you take care of it yourself.
Since we have often been frustrated with the maintenance, I have some photos:

An infiltration basin in front of an undeveloped plot

An infiltration basin behind a developed property

Our basin (the grass seed didn’t take, so we will reseed)

The neglected playground

Behind our houses: public land maintained by residents

I find it perfectly reasonable to take action yourself and can’t understand many people who stop right at their garden boundary.

Hello everyone,
thank you for the feedback.

BeHaElJa schrieb:
Where exactly is the piece (in front of the house, behind the garden)? If in doubt, it’s often sold as a biotope

The piece is next to the house. In my profile picture, you can even see the dirt filter grate in the lower left area, which is positioned in front of the street underpass of the channel.

Mycraft schrieb:
Well, you just have to weigh it up... either you have grass a meter high at your door or you spend an afternoon a month behind the mower...

I just don’t understand why other inner-city areas are mowed roughly monthly by the municipality. This also applies to areas directly adjacent to the channel, such as the meadow visible at the bottom of my profile picture.

ypg schrieb:
How high is the channel?

The area I’m referring to is about 4m (13 feet) wide at the front and has a height difference of around 1m (3 feet). Over a length of approximately 45m (148 feet) — my property length — the municipal piece narrows to about 2.5m (8 feet).

ypg schrieb:
I find it completely unproblematic if you take care of it yourself and can’t understand many people who stop at their garden boundary.

I have absolutely no problem with that either. I also mow the strip of grass in front of our house on the street side. However, the lower part of the channel, for example, can no longer be mowed with a normal lawn mower. Up to now, I haven’t needed a (motorized) string trimmer on my property and would have to buy or borrow one every time.

In our area, several meadow and path edges are used as bee pastures or colorful flower/herb strips. Mowing is done very rarely, about once a year, and a diverse seed mix has been intentionally planted. Some neighbors dislike this, while others are quite satisfied. The insects benefit, as do the hobby fruit distillers and jam makers, and the birds as well.

The remainder of a meadow near our property has not yet been prepared in this manner and is generally neglected by the local municipality. My neighbor and I use a scythe (hand scythe) 2 to 4 times a year, taking care to preserve some of the flowering plants and thistles. Although it looks a bit rough, it still looks acceptable, blooms repeatedly (poppies, clover, and many more), and is gradually becoming more colorful year by year. As long as the municipality does not take action, this likely does not bother anyone.

I don’t think there’s much you can do except mow it yourself. In our town, new development areas also have strips that have to be left for rewilding. These are usually mowed only once a year, if at all. Even mowing twice will quickly turn your lawn into a meadow. My advice: either install a privacy fence, mow a strip twice a month, or just accept it.

This is how it currently looks:

Edit: The green strip to the left of the bushes was mowed by the local authority.
Next to the bushes, you can make out my hedge.

I wouldn’t like that either; I would take matters into my own hands. If the budget is tight after building the house, maybe consider looking for a brush cutter in classifieds.