Lawn care in Shearer Hills and Ridgeview.

Hills, shade and mid-century lots

The Shearer Hills/Ridgeview Neighborhood Association describes mid-century homes built on a series of hills with a view of downtown, shaded by mature trees. County records back up the age: 82% of the homes here date to the 1950s. The lots are fairly even. Half of them fall between 0.20 and 0.27 acre, so two thirds of the homes are our Large yard at $60 a visit weekly, and about a quarter are Standard at $50.

On Pinewood, Millwood, Springwood, Maplewood and Shadywood lanes the typical lot is 0.21 to 0.23 acre. On Sharon, Linda and Shannon Lee it is closer to 0.28, still inside our Large yard.

Mowing in the shade

Shade changes how a lawn should be cut. Texas A&M AgriLife in Bexar County says St. Augustine should be mowed at 2 to 4 inches, and shaded lawns half an inch to an inch higher than lawns in full sun. Tell us where your yard stays shady and we can leave it a little taller there.

The rest is the city’s rulebook, the same on a hill as on flat ground:

• Grass: weeds and grass over 12 inches are a public nuisance on any lot under three acres (Sec. 14-61).
• Brush: the city picks it up twice a year, 8 cubic yards at most, within 8 feet of the curb.
• Water: SAWS rules apply. In a drought stage, sprinklers run once a week on the day set by the last digit of your address.

Around the neighborhood

SHRNA calls itself San Antonio’s longest continually operating neighborhood association, and its spring calendar includes a Lawn Fest music festival. Barbara Drive Park is inside the neighborhood, Olmos Basin Park and its walking trails sit at the edge, and Blessed Sacrament and Mount Sacred Heart schools are inside the lines too. We also mow in Alamo Heights and Castle Hills.

Sources

1. Bexar County parcel records: lot size, year built, homestead exemptions
2. City of San Antonio: registered neighborhood association boundaries
3. Shearer Hills/Ridgeview Neighborhood Association: about SHRNA
4. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Bexar County: Lawn Management 101
5. San Antonio City Code Sec. 14-61: weeds and brush over 12 inches
6. City of San Antonio: curbside brush and bulky item collection
7. SAWS: watering rules and drought restrictions
8. City of San Antonio: Olmos Basin Park
9. Bexar County parks map layer
10. Bexar County public and private schools map layer