Our exterior landscape lights have been out of commission for the past few weeks. We intentionally disconnected the lights in order to come up with a solution for dealing with our tufty grass.
The wires connecting the three pairs of lights run above ground, so Rick has not been able to get too close using the ride-on lawn mower. The result being that we have about a 30 foot strip of grass where the lights are placed, plus another 30 foot of wire that runs to the house, where the grass remains much longer than the rest of the lawn. Whilst we can weed-wack the majority of the grass around the wires, it’s not the best idea to get too close to the lights themselves. That’s left us with these huge tufts of grass obscuring the lights. We could, of course, manually pull up the grass around the lights every week, but that sounds like way too much work! 
) Much easier to come up with a more permanent solution to our tuft problem.
So, that’s why we decided we needed to disconnect the lights and bury the cable. Once the wires are out of the way, Rick will be able to mow the majority of the grass with the lawn mower. Much easier. No more 60 foot strip of overgrown grass. Nice.
In order to protect the cable in its new earthly resting place, we bought about 60 feet of 3/4″ pvc pipe to thread the cable through before burying. The pipe came in 6 x 10 ft. sections, which worked out really well as the lights are spaced approximately 10 feet apart. So the break in the pvc pipe comes at just the right spot where the next set of lights start.
We used pvc connectors at the end of the pipes, plus an elbow connector to steer the cable towards the electrical supply on the house. We decided against using any pvc glue to join the pipe/connectors. This gives us some flexibility to change the pipe configuration at a later date, should we decide to add to our little landscape light family.
Next up? Digging. We tried using a shovel to dig a small 2-3″ trench for the pipe to lay in. Tried, being the operative word here. Our clay soil is one hard …. (insert appropriate expletive here), and even after a few days of rain when you think the soil would soften up some, we were still unable to make much progress. Seeing as renting an appropriate tool costs anywhere between $60-$80 bucks for the day, it was definitely the more cost effective solution to spend 50 bucks on an edger/trencher attachment for the weed-wacker. So with power tools in hand, Rick was able to make the 60ft long, 3 inch deep trench in a matter of seconds. Ok, not seconds. But, you get the idea.
With the cable buried and the majority of the lawn “mowable” again, we then needed to find a solution for the tufts of grass around the lights that are not “weed-wackable” (wow, I’m creating a slew of new adjectives here). Our original idea was to dig (ugh!) around the lights and bury some landscape edging. Doing this on four sides would create a little box for the lights to sit in and be protected from the ravages of Rick’s weed-wacker. We could then stop (or at least temporarily inhibit) the weeds and grass coming through by placing down weed cloth with landscaping rocks on top.
When we got to the DIY store, list in hand, we actually came across a better solution. These rubber mulch rings, typically used for around trees, were perfect for slipping around the lights and inhibiting the weed growth. Yey, no more digging! Plus, they are totally safe for being mown over should Rick get a little lawn-mower crazy.
So, there you have it – our solution for dealing with tufty grass around landscape lights. Minus the 50 bucks for equipment, this project was very cost effective (around $30) and will save Rick a lot of hassle over the coming summer months. Cheap and effective. What more can a girl ask for? Well, now that you ask… Shoes. Clothes. Make-up…
