The internet service here at the office has been going kerflooey, one computer at a time. Right now I've got access, but five minutes from now? Who knows.
In the meantime, I need to know how hard it actually is to use a manual push mower. I mean, do I need really strong arm muscles? I'll be (hopefully*) mowing a 70 x 140 lot - is that too much to do by hand?
Kitkat and Bridgett, I know you said they're great for small lots, but what about bigger ones?
*Tonight's the night. Inspection at 4 p.m. Pass or fail.
E-mail me!
You can e-mail me at rockycat24@yahoo.com
About Me
- rockygrace
- I was born in 1962; you do the math. (See also: I'm too lazy to remember to update this thing regularly.) I bought my first house in the summer of 2009; I share it with four cats and with the memories of The Runt and Little Girl, who both passed away in 2011. Rocky, the cat for whom this blog was named, passed away in 2008; I miss them all. I wish I lived somewhere where the winters weren't eight months long; other than that, life is good.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(332)
-
▼
May
(21)
- I don't know why; I don't understand .....
- While I was gone .......
- Call me Ah-nold
- ..... survey SAYS! ......
- Oh {ouch} hai!
- It was a 455 Rocket - Biggest Block Alive
- Last night on American Idol
- Oh, snap!
- ...... and Texas steps up to the plate
- My family - providing excellent blog fodder since ...
- Words
- Who cares? I'll bet their kids do
- Hands on hips
- Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting...
- Here for now
- Is anybody still into vinyl?
- Would anyone like a wagon-wheel chandelier?
- Gobsmacked
- Time to man up
- Weekend Weirdness
- Great moments in graffitti
-
▼
May
(21)
6 comments:
Our lot is approximately 104x115 and we use a push mower. Granted, part of our yard is an unusable, steep slope, but what is green (I wouldn't call anything in our lawn actual grass) is quite manageable with the push mower. What I don't like about the mower is that it leaves the "grass" too long for my taste and it doesn't seem able to chop down tough weeds.
See if you can pick one up on freecycle and try it out. Then,if it doesn't work for you, you have nothing invested in it.
I don't think that they are hard to push. It mainly takes shoulder/back muscles (an ordinary amount), some butt muscles (which I assume that you have from hiking), and a little core strength. I'd guess mine weighs about 30 lbs, but it's on well-oiled wheels, so it just runs along. I like the snick-snick-snick sound it makes and the whirling of the blade; I sort of get caught up in that and don't notice so much the physical effort. (Then again, I have a postage stamp lawn, so it feels like it's over before it starts.) It works best when the grass is dry, so plan your mowing for early evening before the dew falls but after it cools down. Getting up at the crack of dawn when everything is cool and the grass is still dew-soaked will only make your legs wet and make you have to rake the whole damn lawn. New ones have adjustable height settings. Mine is old, so there's just "the way the lawn looks after I mow it."
Can you rent one from your local Home Despot or a local nursery/lawn care joint just to see if you like it?
Yes, I'll second what Listie said about the tough weeds. Unless it's recently sharpened, the reel tends to just bend them over rather than cut them down. If we were nutty about the yard, I'd probably do a weed n feed application to make sure that the weeds didn't grow in the first place, but if I didn't have weeds, I wouldn't have much besides pachysandra growing back there.
Hmmm... lots to think about. Thanks!
Two-and-a-half hours and counting. wow ....
And the verdict is???
How did it go??
Post a Comment