I've been faithful in mowing this year. With the heat, copious rainfall and and muggy weather so far this season, anything less than once a week is asking for a grass disaster, although anything that mows in my yard is lawn.
That being said, I bring you the basic rules of lawn mowing. Enjoy.
If you walk in bare feet across your lawn and you lose sight of just your toes, it's time to mow.
If you walk in regular shoes across your lawn and lose sight of their tops, it's past time to mow.
If you walk in 6" stilettos across your lawn and lose sight of the highest point of the heel, time spent mowing will be equivalent to the same time spent working out at the gym, especially if the lawn is large and/or hilly.
If you walk across your lawn in bare feet or any shoe gear and you lose sight of your calves, brush hog, weed-whacker, sickle, scythe, a tick removal kit and possibly snake anti-venom will be required before mowing.
If you walk across your lawn and it's any higher than any example cited above and you feel like you should be wearing jungle togs and carrying a machete to wander through it to find the golden idol, then it's time to call a professional lawn care service or rent out your property to buffalo herders.
Showing posts with label mowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mowing. Show all posts
Monday, July 01, 2013
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The New Grass-Eating Beast and Me
After 15-20 years of grass cutting service, I decided to give up on my mower. While it always ran once it was repaired (beyond tune ups and oil changes), it was old, considerably rusted and has definitely had its share of issues since 2008. I finally declared it not worth fixing one more time when, just exiting the gate for the first go-round of the mowing season, the pull cord broke. Fixable? Of course -- for about $90. Fixable by the owner? My knowledge of mowers doesn't extend much beyond pull safety bar to handle, pull starter cord, mow and don't reach under the machine while the blade is in motion. They weren't teaching small engine repair to girls when I was in school and, much as I'm now a smart, independent woman capable of learning the task, I'm not really inclined to challenge the sexist notion of it being male territory to fix such things. Me cook, Tarzan. You make noisy grass-eating beast all better.
With the decision made to go to a brand spankin' new mower, it was time to do the research. The nerd was now in her element. Riding mowers were out outright. There are parts of my yard which really should be dealt with by goats. It may be small in size, but 'uneven' is a good choice of word to describe it. So is 'hilly'. "Mountainous terrain' is the best phrase when trying to mow it, though. Much as my neighbors sometimes think their riding mowers are ATVs, they're not. Going ass over (mower) teakettle down one of the slopes of my yard holds no appeal, especially if pinned under the mower immediately after the fall. Uh, no. Push mower it is.
In an uneven yard that is an experimental weed factory and isn't as regularly mowed as other people's plots of land, gas power is best. The engines are able to deal with 6-8" crabgrass better than an electric or cordless type mower ever could. Self-propelled mowers, either one speed or the nicer variable speed models which allow you to walk leisurely or practically jog while cutting grass, were wonderful to ponder and drool over, but they added $75 to $125 to the price every time, regardless of the brand. Having the clippings bagged neatly behind the mower also sounded nice, but with my yard, it would mean several stops during the course of the mow to plunk the grass clump in some remote area of my yard to compost, likely an uphill walk. Since mowing is already an aerobic chore that I can't stand, why do I want to add to it? Besides. letting grass clippings lie where sliced off is actually good for the lawn, especially when one doesn't get out there and spread fertilizer and weed killer combos, which I don't. I like an organically grown, biodiverse lawn -- that's my lazy yard maintenance statement and I'm sticking to it.
Honda, Toro, Troy-Bilt, Husqvarna, Lawn Boy, Lawn Machine and others all got my appraising look-over of online specs and reviews as well as longing looks and touches up close and personal at several stores. There was also the occasional whimper while looking at the price tag. Yes, cost was also part of the equation. If it wasn't, there was a Honda variable speed, self-propelled mower with my name on it. Yes, Honda won the battle of the mowers, but not the war. In the end, I went back to the brand that had lasted all these years in my yard -- a Sears Craftsman. Some may scoff and say there are better and I would agree. But, with the exception of being self-propelled, it does everything I need for it to do -- and very well, I might add -- and was $200 less than its preferred cousin.
So, I begin the mowing season with a new grass cutter. It may be noisy. It may make me sweat to push it to all points of my property, up hill and down, that I wish to walk through without losing sight of my feet. It may make me grimace to periodically clean out the green grass biomass that invitably develops under the beast when I wait too long between mowings. It may make me cringe to keep it properly fed with gas and oil. But now, I have a machine with no ills that will likely stay that way for at least a few seasons. I have no excuse to not go forth and mow.
Wait, it's raining. Aww, too bad. Maybe tomorrow, grass-eating beast.
With the decision made to go to a brand spankin' new mower, it was time to do the research. The nerd was now in her element. Riding mowers were out outright. There are parts of my yard which really should be dealt with by goats. It may be small in size, but 'uneven' is a good choice of word to describe it. So is 'hilly'. "Mountainous terrain' is the best phrase when trying to mow it, though. Much as my neighbors sometimes think their riding mowers are ATVs, they're not. Going ass over (mower) teakettle down one of the slopes of my yard holds no appeal, especially if pinned under the mower immediately after the fall. Uh, no. Push mower it is.
In an uneven yard that is an experimental weed factory and isn't as regularly mowed as other people's plots of land, gas power is best. The engines are able to deal with 6-8" crabgrass better than an electric or cordless type mower ever could. Self-propelled mowers, either one speed or the nicer variable speed models which allow you to walk leisurely or practically jog while cutting grass, were wonderful to ponder and drool over, but they added $75 to $125 to the price every time, regardless of the brand. Having the clippings bagged neatly behind the mower also sounded nice, but with my yard, it would mean several stops during the course of the mow to plunk the grass clump in some remote area of my yard to compost, likely an uphill walk. Since mowing is already an aerobic chore that I can't stand, why do I want to add to it? Besides. letting grass clippings lie where sliced off is actually good for the lawn, especially when one doesn't get out there and spread fertilizer and weed killer combos, which I don't. I like an organically grown, biodiverse lawn -- that's my lazy yard maintenance statement and I'm sticking to it.
Honda, Toro, Troy-Bilt, Husqvarna, Lawn Boy, Lawn Machine and others all got my appraising look-over of online specs and reviews as well as longing looks and touches up close and personal at several stores. There was also the occasional whimper while looking at the price tag. Yes, cost was also part of the equation. If it wasn't, there was a Honda variable speed, self-propelled mower with my name on it. Yes, Honda won the battle of the mowers, but not the war. In the end, I went back to the brand that had lasted all these years in my yard -- a Sears Craftsman. Some may scoff and say there are better and I would agree. But, with the exception of being self-propelled, it does everything I need for it to do -- and very well, I might add -- and was $200 less than its preferred cousin.
So, I begin the mowing season with a new grass cutter. It may be noisy. It may make me sweat to push it to all points of my property, up hill and down, that I wish to walk through without losing sight of my feet. It may make me grimace to periodically clean out the green grass biomass that invitably develops under the beast when I wait too long between mowings. It may make me cringe to keep it properly fed with gas and oil. But now, I have a machine with no ills that will likely stay that way for at least a few seasons. I have no excuse to not go forth and mow.
Wait, it's raining. Aww, too bad. Maybe tomorrow, grass-eating beast.
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