Trees, fruit trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, pond, hills, texture? That's so much land to have absolutely nothing on. Rent a backhoe and go fuck it up.
There was even less when I moved in, the driveway wasn’t even paved yet, we did have to take down like 5-10 trees when we bought the place because they were dead or dying but the front was still mostly empty. There’s like 5 or so acres in front, an acre in the back and another plot of 2 acres to the right side of the house. Have semi thought about putting up some solar panels somewhere on the land but I live somewhere that is extremely cheap for electricity and wouldn’t really save much if any money switching to solar, tho I consume a lot of electricity cause I have an electric car and my parents live next door in a very large house with a lot more electricity usage than me.
But I do agree that’s why I’m wondering what to do with it all because I don’t like it just all being empty either.
What region do you live in? For a lot of the space you can go for a field of native plants. Depending on your location you can possibly even receive money from the state to pay for the planting or at least compensate you for some of it. Native plantings can be very rewarding as they're great for wildlife. Once established they are low maintenance. You might only have to burn or mow every 2-3 years.
I'm in southern Ohio too! My brother was able to get money to do restoration work through the EQIP program. You can go online and look up your county Forester. They acted a little weird that my brother applied because he didn't have farmland because it's mostly farmers that take advantage of the program, but it's not necessary for you to have farmland to apply. They might be able to direct you to another program if it's a better fit.
Let me know if you have any questions. I've done some of this work myself and I'm friends with a guy that does restoration work like this in southern Ohio.
The deadline for this year has passed but next year is right around the corner! I just spent quite a bit of time doing a deep dive and nowhere have a seen minimum land requirement….
I heard somewhere the minimum for NRCS/EQIP is 9 acres.
The first step is to go to your county’s USDA office and get a farm number for your property (even if it isn’t a farm). Then you have to put together a forestry management plan (even if you don’t have a forest, either lol) and submit an application by late summer/early fall for cost sharing funds to do stuff in your management plan (e.g., plant natives, eradicate invasives).
State officials can help you with this, as can non-profits like Wild Turkey Federation. Our regional land trust helps landowners through the process.
For most typical native meadow plants basic soil is fine. If anything some get floppy in soil too rich.
I second the suggestion to put some of it into native grass/wildflowers. You’ll need to do site prep this summer (kill the turfgrass/field stuff).
Definitely check in with your county ag extension/USDA office about getting NRCS funding for doing stuff like meadows.
I came to suggest this. There’s an older house nearby that just lets their 1-2 acres grow naturally. City put a little marker up noting it as a specialized pure native zone, it’s right along a nice walk path, and we have the same program where they get a nice little slice.
5 acres?! Man, plant a giant field of wildflowers and get a few beehives. Have some fantastic local honey and be able to give out awesome gifts to friends and family!
I feel like leaf cutter and mason bees are much easier to let do their own thing compared to honey bees, once you get honey bees it's like another job. Plus leaf cutters pollinate like 20x more than honey bees or something crazy like that.
Omg local honey is totally underrated and if you grow native wildflowers it helps with allergies. Honey must be local! I heard this from an allergist who started me on shots.
Honeybees are European and unfortunately compete with native pollinators for resources, especially when beekeepers don’t provide enough forage for them.
Honeybees are more like livestock, and it’s not an easy hobby.
I understand, solar is a large investment and takes time to pay back. Just so you know dead/dying trees can be felled and left for wildlife, I know it's not traditional or "pretty" but you'll prob get more birds and critters. Start small and add an apple tree or two, create a designated brush pile for wildlife, look into some native perennials for your area. If gardening isn't your thing, idk what to do hah. I'm all for a pond though.
End of the year and beginning of the year, your local conservation district also probably has a tree sale, the trees will be very small but they will be super cheap. I picked up 70 total, in 5/10pk bundles of certain varieties, some fruit bushes, some trees to feed wildlife and some oaks, pines, ECT. It was like $250 for all of them.
And absolute fuck ton of native plants. Get a giant back of native wild flower and native grass seeds and throw it by the handful. You’ll see the return of birds and bees and a healthy ecosystem. Renature that shit. Also once you do. Requires almost zero maintenance. There are likely groups that will help you do this for free also
I am sure this is what you mean but it’s the internet and I feel like being explicit is most important especially with this advice: Just make sure they’re native wild flowers to the OP eco region. Not all wildflowers are equal and Most wildflower packets at big box stores are not native and can be invasive.
/u/JefferyTheQuaxly
[Ohio Prairie Nursery (OPN) seed](https://www.opnseed.com/) has excellent single species and mixes - all native unless otherwise specified. Non-natives are identified as "introduced" and they're usually only in some of the grass only mixes.
Install a berm between you and neighbors’ before planting noise reduction trees—you may want to stagger them with different varieties. As for the front, there are a myriad of understory flowering trees you can plant.
Thank you for addressing one of my other concerns when most other people are just addressing how to make the front look nicer! I’ll take that into account
Gotta think bigger. Build an underground tunnel from your maze to theirs. You both keep it covered and build the mazes around it. Then opening night, you get people confused as fuck when they come out in a completely different side of the road.
Could talk to neighbor and see if theyd be interested in adding a photo area package to their weddings. Places on your property to take photos. (Depending on how close/feasible for the parties, guests, you, etc.) could add trees, a pond, trellises with vines, some type of background that matches the wedding venue. Even some cute seating, antique furniture, and /or an old farm truck they could take pics in. Make a lil extra money that way too!
for low effort, nice results - native plains/prairie mix - let grass grow to brown, mow/bail and drill in seed mix. Depending upon where you are, pulls in lots of critters and birds.
Good site prep is not exactly low effort, as any quality native seed company will tell you. Good seed companies like Roundstone go into gruesome detail about how important site prep is.
call them and ask about converting lawn to native - they will tell ya the same thing. If you are going for ag credits - yeah, its a PITA to reclaim an ag field.
With an area that big, a blank slate, I'd think about trees, yes. A lot of them. But leave a large meadow in the center for wild flowers and an area for walkways and a bench or two, some tiny "hills" (berms? ) with bushes and flowers and trees and Bees. And a bee hive or two. There are sooo many options! But a huge perimeter of trees would provide your privacy and noise reduction and still leave you a good sized area to play with. And you could approach it as a photography setting to kind of guide your plans. You could even dig a fairly decent size pond in the middle. And use the dirt for the little hills.
Really, I'd (and its just me) let the grass grow and mow a few meandering paths through it. See what happens. You could spend a bit on getting in seed and digging the ground to remove the competition, but just letting it wild would be nice. You can always keep a tight strip on the street edge.
If you felt like it, you could experiment with some intense forestry in the Miyawaki style.
Start by saving your time, stop mowing it! Plant a bunch of native plants. Let natural biodiversity take over, create paths, some benches, little ponds! S
Native plant restoration.
Saves money on treatments/water.
You’d do something amazing for future generations. Not only amazing but critical. Local arborists sell or give away mulch to avoid paying at the dump.
If I had that much space,it would all be flowers. Native plants and peonies!! As much perennials and maple trees as I can! Do you mow it? I have a tiny front and back yard, so I can't imagine how long this would take!
First thing I would do is wait. Take some time to understand your garden/landscape style. Look at books, magazines and online to understand this. Then begin to build out a long term plan. You can work in sections of the land to build a property that is peaceful to you and helps the native species prosper. Enjoy!
Yeah, how about getting that idea of a perfect lawn out of your mind and give other species a chance to live. Plant fruit trees, nut trees, fruiting bushes, nut shrubs such as hazelnuts, anything to lessen the damage you have already done to nature and wildlife around your property.
I love your ideas for it! I would be going hog wild planting all kinds of native trees and shrubs. You could make a cultivated forest. It would be lovely.
Get rid of most of the grass and do something fun.
Wildflower field, trees & shrubs you can make a walking path through. Literally anything other than just grass.
Consider the cumulative maintenance associated with anything you choose to do, and try to imagine what any landscaping plan will look like in 30 years.
I actually would love to have a horse stable and a horse or too set up someday, I love horses and haven’t ridden in forever but when I was younger I liked riding horses and took lessons on it. So I might do that eventually, two of my neighbors on this street have horses and there’s a large horse farm down the road. I don’t know if that’s gonna be one of my immediate projects though, lol.
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I'm so jealous!
You have my preferred land style!
But some low maintenance evergreens, 🌲 or fruit trees but plant in 3s to they can be pollinated. Or have other flowers/shrubs that help with pollination
No, I'm only joking because in Canada.We no longer have areas like this near cities and all developers are buying them and putting town houses in condos up.
That's awesome.I'd love to have a plot of land like that.I am a landscaper , but I still don't know what I would do with it.
I think depending on the climate I would love to have some fruit trees, I would love to make a big vegetable garden with a nice fence keeping out unwanted animals. Or if I was worried about the kids.I might build a big fence of columner Aspens, so give me privacy.
Anyway that's a dream space and you should feel very lucky to have it. Good luck with whatever you choose.
If I were you I might reach out to a local landscape designer to see if they could design something for you that you could implement over the next decade or so.Slowly transforming the space into something really amazing.
Ever seen Coraline? You've got plenty of space to make their back yard/garden...
https://youtu.be/flLABeF_99A
The most expensive part will be the giant praying mantis. I'd accept either a robot or a genetically engineered one, but either way I'm sure it won't be cheap.
/s of course 😅
Honestly though, I'd make it a cool shady area. Some trees/shrubs, some sort of pergola or other structure, maybe a water feature (a pond, perhaps pump water slightly uphill and let it run down a rocky thing).
Secret Garden layout and you could choose to leave the hedges waist high or a little bit higher or shorter depending on children. The blonde guy that played in the Barbie movie as Ken. He’s got a shoot ‘em up playing on Netflix. The end scene of this should give you some good design cues.
Dang you mow that whole shebang? is that like a whole saturday? impressive but I'd consider some wildflower, prairie grass, pathways, berms, swales, dirt bike jumps, secret natural pools, burying a shipping container for a kids (or adult) doomsday hang fort, getting an old giant antenna tower & letting vines take over, did i mention a huge dirt bike jump?
If you're keeping it as lawn make it pasture & utilize goats. Make some goat milk, goat cheese. Raise sheep for wool.
Go into beekeeping, or bat hotels area depending.
Honey & guano, amazing resources.
You could put a pond & seed it with fish.
You can grow an orchard.
Like really, as long as it's not outright against zoning laws you have a lot, a LOT of options.
grow a massive garden. strawberry patch. blueberry patch. fruit trees. if it was mine it would be a food and nature oasis. every year it would be bigger. border driveway with [yellow chain trees](https://www.gardenia.net/plant/laburnum-watereri-vossii-golden-chain-tree). sunflower patch. get rid of that nasty grass. cant eat it. have to pay constantly to mow it. you could make your property a food business.
My sister had similar acreage. Other than planting corn, sunflowers, and other amazing crops she dug out a pond and put in beach sand on an island in the middle of it.
Don’t wait until it’s way to long so when you cut it, it looks like a hay field. If you can’t keep up, replace the grass with some sort of native wild grass that will keep itself looking good.
i would kill somebody for a lawn like that, oh my god. so much room for a greenhouse, fruit trees, cherry trees, chickens, bees, any veggie. oh my god.
If you don't want to grow anything on the land yourself, consider renting it out to a local farmer so it does someone some good. Or let it return to natural prairie to provide habitat and food for wildlife.
I’d let 3/4 if that grow wild. We have 9 acres, if I had to mow that all I’d shoot myself.
Prairie that! The wildlife will love it. Plant a few trees to encourage small animals to come, the rest will follow over time.
Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Service website. Search native trees. Natives evolved in your climate will be disease resistant and pollinator friendly. I would also search native wildflowers, rewilding, establishing a meadow and other topi’s along those lines. My goal would be to return the land to a more natural state and wildlife habitat without introducing an invasive plants.
While in the site get the contact information for the agent assigned to your county. Give them a call and ask for advice. My agent actually came out to our property for a visit.
You may also consider growing hardwood trees for future harvesting. Not knowing where you are located means I don’t know if you can grow furniture walnut trees for example. Friends planted a walnut grove before they had children - that grove just paid for law school for their youngest.
A friend of mine in Wales, UK had a spare lot a bit larger than this (he owned hundred of acres and gave land-leases to farmers for the rest). On his lot he planted lots of very desirable trees, ones that would each be worth huge money after 15 - 20 years when he planned on retiring, and the trees were already 10 years old. He planted various species so a species-specific blight wouldn’t take them all out. My rough estimate based on $15K-$20K per mature tree meant when he cashed in he’d make millions. Just a thought.
Plant a row of tulip poplars along the road, they are tall and drop leaves in the winter, then in a few years, plant a row of under story trees, maybe something evergreen like short cedar trees.
Depending how much maintenance you want to add, I would start by planting some oak trees. A few clumps of three and a few individuals will give it a more natural feel. Then as they grow you can add garden beds around them with herbaceous perennials and shrubs.
If you want a hardscape design like a permanent fire pit or pool, base the tree and bed locations around that.
Trees, fruit trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, pond, hills, texture? That's so much land to have absolutely nothing on. Rent a backhoe and go fuck it up.
There was even less when I moved in, the driveway wasn’t even paved yet, we did have to take down like 5-10 trees when we bought the place because they were dead or dying but the front was still mostly empty. There’s like 5 or so acres in front, an acre in the back and another plot of 2 acres to the right side of the house. Have semi thought about putting up some solar panels somewhere on the land but I live somewhere that is extremely cheap for electricity and wouldn’t really save much if any money switching to solar, tho I consume a lot of electricity cause I have an electric car and my parents live next door in a very large house with a lot more electricity usage than me. But I do agree that’s why I’m wondering what to do with it all because I don’t like it just all being empty either.
What region do you live in? For a lot of the space you can go for a field of native plants. Depending on your location you can possibly even receive money from the state to pay for the planting or at least compensate you for some of it. Native plantings can be very rewarding as they're great for wildlife. Once established they are low maintenance. You might only have to burn or mow every 2-3 years.
I live in southern Ohio. I do live in middle of farmland so it is probably pretty fertile land too.
I'm in southern Ohio too! My brother was able to get money to do restoration work through the EQIP program. You can go online and look up your county Forester. They acted a little weird that my brother applied because he didn't have farmland because it's mostly farmers that take advantage of the program, but it's not necessary for you to have farmland to apply. They might be able to direct you to another program if it's a better fit. Let me know if you have any questions. I've done some of this work myself and I'm friends with a guy that does restoration work like this in southern Ohio.
The deadline for this year has passed but next year is right around the corner! I just spent quite a bit of time doing a deep dive and nowhere have a seen minimum land requirement….
I heard somewhere the minimum for NRCS/EQIP is 9 acres. The first step is to go to your county’s USDA office and get a farm number for your property (even if it isn’t a farm). Then you have to put together a forestry management plan (even if you don’t have a forest, either lol) and submit an application by late summer/early fall for cost sharing funds to do stuff in your management plan (e.g., plant natives, eradicate invasives). State officials can help you with this, as can non-profits like Wild Turkey Federation. Our regional land trust helps landowners through the process.
For most typical native meadow plants basic soil is fine. If anything some get floppy in soil too rich. I second the suggestion to put some of it into native grass/wildflowers. You’ll need to do site prep this summer (kill the turfgrass/field stuff). Definitely check in with your county ag extension/USDA office about getting NRCS funding for doing stuff like meadows.
Do an oak savanna. Great hunting land, great habitat, good visibility, low maintenance. You should be able to get funding for it.
See if you can get the government to pay you for not growing corn or soy beans.
Food forest. Make it diverse. Check out the movie "The biggest little farm".
I came to suggest this. There’s an older house nearby that just lets their 1-2 acres grow naturally. City put a little marker up noting it as a specialized pure native zone, it’s right along a nice walk path, and we have the same program where they get a nice little slice.
5 acres?! Man, plant a giant field of wildflowers and get a few beehives. Have some fantastic local honey and be able to give out awesome gifts to friends and family!
I feel like leaf cutter and mason bees are much easier to let do their own thing compared to honey bees, once you get honey bees it's like another job. Plus leaf cutters pollinate like 20x more than honey bees or something crazy like that.
Omg local honey is totally underrated and if you grow native wildflowers it helps with allergies. Honey must be local! I heard this from an allergist who started me on shots.
Honeybees are European and unfortunately compete with native pollinators for resources, especially when beekeepers don’t provide enough forage for them. Honeybees are more like livestock, and it’s not an easy hobby.
Possible tax breaks in some states too if you have bees.
I understand, solar is a large investment and takes time to pay back. Just so you know dead/dying trees can be felled and left for wildlife, I know it's not traditional or "pretty" but you'll prob get more birds and critters. Start small and add an apple tree or two, create a designated brush pile for wildlife, look into some native perennials for your area. If gardening isn't your thing, idk what to do hah. I'm all for a pond though. End of the year and beginning of the year, your local conservation district also probably has a tree sale, the trees will be very small but they will be super cheap. I picked up 70 total, in 5/10pk bundles of certain varieties, some fruit bushes, some trees to feed wildlife and some oaks, pines, ECT. It was like $250 for all of them.
#GOALPOSTS
I mean, it's farmland, plant a crop again.
Holy smokes, what a big empty space. Just picture that 50 years from now, with some big oak trees (or insert other species here) scattered around.
And absolute fuck ton of native plants. Get a giant back of native wild flower and native grass seeds and throw it by the handful. You’ll see the return of birds and bees and a healthy ecosystem. Renature that shit. Also once you do. Requires almost zero maintenance. There are likely groups that will help you do this for free also
*not zero. In this case, he should plan to burn it on a regular basis once established.
this is the way. this
Plant a field of wild flowers. Will support animals and birds and insects. Will be beautiful and self generated
I am sure this is what you mean but it’s the internet and I feel like being explicit is most important especially with this advice: Just make sure they’re native wild flowers to the OP eco region. Not all wildflowers are equal and Most wildflower packets at big box stores are not native and can be invasive.
That is what I mean correct- local, native species- restored natural meadow
/u/JefferyTheQuaxly [Ohio Prairie Nursery (OPN) seed](https://www.opnseed.com/) has excellent single species and mixes - all native unless otherwise specified. Non-natives are identified as "introduced" and they're usually only in some of the grass only mixes.
And you don't have to mow it. Win win win.
I second this. This is something very easy you can do right now giving you time to come up with a bigger plan.
Install a berm between you and neighbors’ before planting noise reduction trees—you may want to stagger them with different varieties. As for the front, there are a myriad of understory flowering trees you can plant.
Thank you for addressing one of my other concerns when most other people are just addressing how to make the front look nicer! I’ll take that into account
If you do install a berm, rototill existing turf as it could act as a barrier for roots.
Install some cows
Turn it into a flower field for bees.
CORN MAZE!
I do live across the street from a farm that holds an annual fall festival and holds weddings so I could probably profit off of a corn maze lol
Gotta think bigger. Build an underground tunnel from your maze to theirs. You both keep it covered and build the mazes around it. Then opening night, you get people confused as fuck when they come out in a completely different side of the road.
This person corns
Could talk to neighbor and see if theyd be interested in adding a photo area package to their weddings. Places on your property to take photos. (Depending on how close/feasible for the parties, guests, you, etc.) could add trees, a pond, trellises with vines, some type of background that matches the wedding venue. Even some cute seating, antique furniture, and /or an old farm truck they could take pics in. Make a lil extra money that way too!
I'd start with a shit ton of trees. Like 50. Put those in first. Give it a year or 2 and then decide how you want to landscape around them.
for low effort, nice results - native plains/prairie mix - let grass grow to brown, mow/bail and drill in seed mix. Depending upon where you are, pulls in lots of critters and birds.
Good site prep is not exactly low effort, as any quality native seed company will tell you. Good seed companies like Roundstone go into gruesome detail about how important site prep is.
call them and ask about converting lawn to native - they will tell ya the same thing. If you are going for ag credits - yeah, its a PITA to reclaim an ag field.
When was the last time you sharpened your mower blades?
I’d make a fucking forest.
I would take a section, random not square or circle and let it grow wild and see what nature brings
Cannabis field
With an area that big, a blank slate, I'd think about trees, yes. A lot of them. But leave a large meadow in the center for wild flowers and an area for walkways and a bench or two, some tiny "hills" (berms? ) with bushes and flowers and trees and Bees. And a bee hive or two. There are sooo many options! But a huge perimeter of trees would provide your privacy and noise reduction and still leave you a good sized area to play with. And you could approach it as a photography setting to kind of guide your plans. You could even dig a fairly decent size pond in the middle. And use the dirt for the little hills.
Lease it to a farmer.
I'd make a 3-4 ac wildflower and prairie grass field.
Ok put a short par 3 that ends with a par 4 coming back it’s a circle!!!
Turn it back into a Forest or prairie, to maintain that much lawn and is idiotic
Start an illegal settlement. Either a cult or a shantytown should do nicely.
What the fuck, are you a king?
I'd make a 3-4 ac wildflower and prairie grass field.
Really, I'd (and its just me) let the grass grow and mow a few meandering paths through it. See what happens. You could spend a bit on getting in seed and digging the ground to remove the competition, but just letting it wild would be nice. You can always keep a tight strip on the street edge. If you felt like it, you could experiment with some intense forestry in the Miyawaki style.
That's just begging for a fruit or nut orchard. Maybe a vinyard depending on your climate.
Fence it and throw some horses in there! 😂
Chickens, goats, bees maybe a band and a music festival too
Bleachers, lights, concession stands, Friday night football.
par 3 golf course
A green and some bunkers
Start by saving your time, stop mowing it! Plant a bunch of native plants. Let natural biodiversity take over, create paths, some benches, little ponds! S
Native plant restoration. Saves money on treatments/water. You’d do something amazing for future generations. Not only amazing but critical. Local arborists sell or give away mulch to avoid paying at the dump.
Start an arboretum. Huge lawns are a colossal waste.
How much yard do you want? Anything beyond that, add as much diversity as possible.
If I had that much space,it would all be flowers. Native plants and peonies!! As much perennials and maple trees as I can! Do you mow it? I have a tiny front and back yard, so I can't imagine how long this would take!
Fruit orchard beautiful and useful
Run around with a giant bag of native plant seeds like Jonny Appleseed.
First thing I would do is wait. Take some time to understand your garden/landscape style. Look at books, magazines and online to understand this. Then begin to build out a long term plan. You can work in sections of the land to build a property that is peaceful to you and helps the native species prosper. Enjoy!
Plant native grasses and wild flowers, turn it into a medow
Remove most of the grass and create an enormous meadow.
Natives man. Dude you could rewild this into a gorgeous native garden.
A Subdivision would really spice this up.
Stop.mowing it. Plant some trees. Rotational graze it. Anything but a large patch of turf for the sake of turf.
dirt bike/go kart track
Goats
Yeah, how about getting that idea of a perfect lawn out of your mind and give other species a chance to live. Plant fruit trees, nut trees, fruiting bushes, nut shrubs such as hazelnuts, anything to lessen the damage you have already done to nature and wildlife around your property.
I love your ideas for it! I would be going hog wild planting all kinds of native trees and shrubs. You could make a cultivated forest. It would be lovely.
Stop its expansion into the street. Clean up you clippings and edge.
Get rid of most of the grass and do something fun. Wildflower field, trees & shrubs you can make a walking path through. Literally anything other than just grass.
Multiple other people have suggested wildflowers or something too so maybe I’ll try something with that.
Consider the cumulative maintenance associated with anything you choose to do, and try to imagine what any landscaping plan will look like in 30 years.
Fence it and add some sheep or horses.
I actually would love to have a horse stable and a horse or too set up someday, I love horses and haven’t ridden in forever but when I was younger I liked riding horses and took lessons on it. So I might do that eventually, two of my neighbors on this street have horses and there’s a large horse farm down the road. I don’t know if that’s gonna be one of my immediate projects though, lol.
Rows and rows of lavender
Wildflower meadows!!!!
Worlds longest slip n slide
Prairie, fruit trees, other trees and Forbes and a trebuchet to toss pumpkins or whatever the fuck you want
I’d have a fruit orchard, native plant garden with a winding path.
Too much grass. Large wildflower meadow would be so much better for the environment plus more beautiful.
I'd put a subdivision of 78 townhouses in there, and then buy another property without any stupid neighbours.
Horses and cattle
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I'm so jealous! You have my preferred land style! But some low maintenance evergreens, 🌲 or fruit trees but plant in 3s to they can be pollinated. Or have other flowers/shrubs that help with pollination
No, I'm only joking because in Canada.We no longer have areas like this near cities and all developers are buying them and putting town houses in condos up. That's awesome.I'd love to have a plot of land like that.I am a landscaper , but I still don't know what I would do with it. I think depending on the climate I would love to have some fruit trees, I would love to make a big vegetable garden with a nice fence keeping out unwanted animals. Or if I was worried about the kids.I might build a big fence of columner Aspens, so give me privacy. Anyway that's a dream space and you should feel very lucky to have it. Good luck with whatever you choose. If I were you I might reach out to a local landscape designer to see if they could design something for you that you could implement over the next decade or so.Slowly transforming the space into something really amazing.
Ever seen Coraline? You've got plenty of space to make their back yard/garden... https://youtu.be/flLABeF_99A The most expensive part will be the giant praying mantis. I'd accept either a robot or a genetically engineered one, but either way I'm sure it won't be cheap. /s of course 😅 Honestly though, I'd make it a cool shady area. Some trees/shrubs, some sort of pergola or other structure, maybe a water feature (a pond, perhaps pump water slightly uphill and let it run down a rocky thing).
Secret Garden layout and you could choose to leave the hedges waist high or a little bit higher or shorter depending on children. The blonde guy that played in the Barbie movie as Ken. He’s got a shoot ‘em up playing on Netflix. The end scene of this should give you some good design cues.
Damn this makes me jealous. And inspired. Try some native shrubs although that might break the beauty of the marine lawn areas.
Fill it with wildflowers and fountains
Plenty of fertilizer so you need to cut it twice as often.
Maybe a par4 hole?
Wildflower meadow!
Dang you mow that whole shebang? is that like a whole saturday? impressive but I'd consider some wildflower, prairie grass, pathways, berms, swales, dirt bike jumps, secret natural pools, burying a shipping container for a kids (or adult) doomsday hang fort, getting an old giant antenna tower & letting vines take over, did i mention a huge dirt bike jump?
Lease it the center out for cropland. Buffer views you don't like with native old growth forest species.
Get yourself a Piper Cub and enjoy it.
Deed it to me for my combination auto salvage yard and hard rock nightclub.
Looks like you have the perfect spot to design a really cool Miyawaki forest with fruit orchards and whatnot
Golf course
If you're keeping it as lawn make it pasture & utilize goats. Make some goat milk, goat cheese. Raise sheep for wool. Go into beekeeping, or bat hotels area depending. Honey & guano, amazing resources. You could put a pond & seed it with fish. You can grow an orchard. Like really, as long as it's not outright against zoning laws you have a lot, a LOT of options.
grow a massive garden. strawberry patch. blueberry patch. fruit trees. if it was mine it would be a food and nature oasis. every year it would be bigger. border driveway with [yellow chain trees](https://www.gardenia.net/plant/laburnum-watereri-vossii-golden-chain-tree). sunflower patch. get rid of that nasty grass. cant eat it. have to pay constantly to mow it. you could make your property a food business.
Wildflowers.
Native meadow, some shade trees, why not have an enjoyable (and beneficial) environment? All grass is such a waste
Farm it
My sister had similar acreage. Other than planting corn, sunflowers, and other amazing crops she dug out a pond and put in beach sand on an island in the middle of it.
Don’t wait until it’s way to long so when you cut it, it looks like a hay field. If you can’t keep up, replace the grass with some sort of native wild grass that will keep itself looking good.
Build a par 3 golf hole
i would kill somebody for a lawn like that, oh my god. so much room for a greenhouse, fruit trees, cherry trees, chickens, bees, any veggie. oh my god.
Pond or a natural swimming pool be cool
If you don't want to grow anything on the land yourself, consider renting it out to a local farmer so it does someone some good. Or let it return to natural prairie to provide habitat and food for wildlife.
Local, native wildflowers.
yay wildflowers https://youtu.be/4HMw1eV2Qcs?si=D0KKW8wViCtkp_ba
Cricket pitch - obvs
I’d let 3/4 if that grow wild. We have 9 acres, if I had to mow that all I’d shoot myself. Prairie that! The wildlife will love it. Plant a few trees to encourage small animals to come, the rest will follow over time.
Sheep, for the English pastoral look, or conversely, regrow the prairie. A couple acres of undisturbed restored prairie
Plant a ring of differing fruit trees and have them protect a little man made lake and put in a fire pit. Dream living right there.
Turn it into prairie. Never mow again.
Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Service website. Search native trees. Natives evolved in your climate will be disease resistant and pollinator friendly. I would also search native wildflowers, rewilding, establishing a meadow and other topi’s along those lines. My goal would be to return the land to a more natural state and wildlife habitat without introducing an invasive plants. While in the site get the contact information for the agent assigned to your county. Give them a call and ask for advice. My agent actually came out to our property for a visit. You may also consider growing hardwood trees for future harvesting. Not knowing where you are located means I don’t know if you can grow furniture walnut trees for example. Friends planted a walnut grove before they had children - that grove just paid for law school for their youngest.
Add a bunker and maybe a small pond. Then make sure the green slopes towards you to help hold the approach.
Just make a full foot ball field with goal post 😂
That space looks prime for a go kart track 🤙
Par 3 with a water feature
Fill it with native plants. No reason for all that grass unless the neighbor kids are playing touch football out there
Trees. Lots and lots of trees. Then shrubs. And grasses. And flowers. And literally every plant ever. Google native ones for your area
Damm you gotta nice spot. That's awesome.
Plant saplings. Make it a forest.
Maybe just plant something cute along the road. I would probably go with some fruit trees or something that blooms
A 30 foot yellowstone sign
Driving range
A friend of mine in Wales, UK had a spare lot a bit larger than this (he owned hundred of acres and gave land-leases to farmers for the rest). On his lot he planted lots of very desirable trees, ones that would each be worth huge money after 15 - 20 years when he planned on retiring, and the trees were already 10 years old. He planted various species so a species-specific blight wouldn’t take them all out. My rough estimate based on $15K-$20K per mature tree meant when he cashed in he’d make millions. Just a thought.
Nice yard!!!!
Let it go. Give it back to nature.
All that grass and no native wildflowers or flora 😬
Needs some two toed ungulates
Par 3 is the obvious answer
Irrigation system for sure!!
Trees trees trees 🌳
Buy a mulching kit for your mower.
More trees with planted berms along the perimeter.
Koi pond
Keep it just like this
rent ne a few acres..I'll put a herd of cows so you won't have to mow all that grass anymore!!..
Par 3 golf course, make money off it
Condos? Strip Center?
Fence + Goats
Plant a row of tulip poplars along the road, they are tall and drop leaves in the winter, then in a few years, plant a row of under story trees, maybe something evergreen like short cedar trees.
Fence and a few steers I figure
Do you golf?
Dude, get way better movwers and make sick lines
Cows
Start a solar/wind farm, and sell the power to your neighbors or back into the grid.
A big ass slip and slide
A Jacaranda tree
Native meadow!
Wildflowers and native grasses.
Native plants.
I heard the Raiders are looking for a new stadium.
If you have a drain field in there for septic you can’t plant trees or shrubs in the field, clogs them up
Soccer goals
Native wildflowers instead of lawn
Personally, I would allow a portion that makes sense to grow to a meadow. Throw some native flower seeds around and stuff.
Perfectly straight rows of lavender and tulips. It would make my OCD heart so happy!
Sand trap, green, flag for the hole...
A fence with a couple-three cows on the grass would make it more peaceful and bucolic to me.
Amazing property, always loved driveways like that. I see your an Ohio boy why is there not a football field there OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fruit trees EDIT: Make Fruit Trees the norm and not grass
Orchard, or grow hay. That's a lot of grass.
Let it go back to natural unless you’re hosting regular football games or car meets ;)
Looks like it's ready to rake and bale.
You need a couple of cows
Install a baseball field
Flag pole? Water feature w pond maybe?
Simply put a shit ton of [slow release fertilizer](https://amzn.to/3QuhNzr) and mow twice a week. The lawn will be the show stopper
Disc Golf baskets!!!
Maybe put a football pitch?
Definitely a maze that has to be navigated to get to your front door.
Dude, make your own mini putt course
Cornfield with creepy scarecrow would look sick.
Native plants that support wild life
Shag bark hickories. Fill it up. Your grand kids will get nuts.
Depending how much maintenance you want to add, I would start by planting some oak trees. A few clumps of three and a few individuals will give it a more natural feel. Then as they grow you can add garden beds around them with herbaceous perennials and shrubs. If you want a hardscape design like a permanent fire pit or pool, base the tree and bed locations around that.
you. need. plant. beds. my creativity would go wild here oh my god
Permaculture
Make an orchard and where the flip do you live lol