Reel Mowers

[Philip G.]

Do any of you use a reel push mower?  I started mowing a lawn a couple of months ago with a reel mower as opposed to a gas mower, and the lawn is doing amazing now.  It has rained, but I think it also is because I am using a reel mower and cutting it at its tallest height(2.5 in.).  It takes two passes to get it cut satisfactorily, but that is okay, the second pass helps to mulch the already cut grass laying there.

This is my understanding, when you use a gas mower, and cut at a tall height, the blade tends to get torn more because of the bend/flimsiness of long grass vs short.  So, the chopping of the grass blade is not as clean as when it is cut short with a gas mower.  But, those mower blades tear grass blades regardless in comparison to a reel mower.  With a reel mower that snips, even at a tall height it is still a clean cut.  So, the grass blade is not damaged.  And, when the grass blade is not damaged, it does not loose its water content, and it is not as susceptible to disease.  All this equates to a healthier lawn. 

How does that sound? 

[Gardener]

My personal opinion is that lawns, in general, should be natural and only cut to provide a fire break in areas susceptible to it, or to generate hay. I find the entire effort pointless, much more when doubled for a better cut.

That being said, you might enjoy this video from SmarterEveryDay:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GlJFVTzEsI[/yt]

[Philip G.]

That is a great video!  I knew about lawn mower suction.  But, even in the video, you can see that the flimsy nature of the grass still comes into play.  However, I do not think that is entirely the cause of tear.  I think the swipe of blade, and the blade running many times over the same cut of grass on its now cut very outer edge is the problem we see.  The blade of grass still bends enough at its new cut height, and all those revolutions after the initial cut continue to tear. 

I agree with you about grass.  And, I do so in my city environment by keeping my grass at my mowers longest height.  Grass should be as long as it God created it to be.  Longer grass my guess grows deeper roots, and deeper roots will benefit more than can be stated.  But, if one lives in the city with a small yard of grass, one should cut the grass. 

Here is a video about torn grass blades.

[Carleendiane]

My personal opinion is that lawns, in general, should be natural and only cut to provide a fire break in areas susceptible to it, or to generate hay. I find the entire effort pointless, much more when doubled for a better cut.

That being said, you might enjoy this video from SmarterEveryDay:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GlJFVTzEsI[/yt]

About hay, alfalfa, etc. If you want to get a few years of return for your planting, it must be cut. In my experience. My husbands tendency was to keep a lawn fresh clipped, always. Kind of his marine attitude of tucked in, squared away. Didn't contribute to a lush lawn, though, lol.

[Non Nobis]

We had a mower like this when I was growing up:



My dad and brothers did most of the mowing, but I have fond (?) memories of using this too. We got a motorized mower later - which I don't remember using at all!  Later (at least after my Dad died) we got a gardener, who didn't do much beyond cutting the grass. Now I don't have any grass to cut (and don't know what my brother does).

Gardener, how can a gardener not cut the grass? 

[Gardener]

We had a mower like this when I was growing up:



My dad and brothers did most of the mowing, but I have fond (?) memories of using this too. We got a motorized mower later - which I don't remember using at all!  Later (at least after my Dad died) we got a gardener, who didn't do much beyond cutting the grass. Now I don't have any grass to cut (and don't know what my brother does).

Gardener, how can a gardener not cut the grass? 

My username is a joke. I hate gardening and beyond any utilitarian applications (food), find it pointless.

[Philip G.]

gARDENER - is truth and goodness beautiful?

[red solo cup]

The idea of a large lawn goes back to Merry ol' England. The local lords needed large open areas for training their knights and retainers. Immigrants to America kept them as a status symbol associated with their betters. Gardiner is correct that lawns are an abomination and a needless burden on those who tend them. I only mow enough for the grandchildren to play in.
I was always taught that grass shouldn't be cut too low as it afforded more light for weeds which need it more than the grass.

[Gardener]

The idea of a large lawn goes back to Merry ol' England. The local lords needed large open areas for training their knights and retainers. Immigrants to America kept them as a status symbol associated with their betters. Gardiner is correct that lawns are an abomination and a needless burden on those who tend them. I only mow enough for the grandchildren to play in.
I was always taught that grass shouldn't be cut too low as it afforded more light for weeds which need it more than the grass.

My suspicion is that in America it's a vestige of some sort of Victorian ideal, which the middle class latched onto post WW2 as a sign of "success".

In places like Colorado, it's an egregious misuse of precious natural resources.

[Philip G.]

I find it so funny that golden mean middle road types like yourselves are unable to avoid using words like abomination and hate to describe the one occupation the all-loving God created us to be employed in.  "And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it" Gen. 2:15.  "Every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit" John 15.2.  Cut grass is not just "fair to behold", or to serve a child's imagination; it is an invaluable source of fertility for the gardens that are "pleasant to eat of" "in the sweat of thy face".  I compost all of my grass clippings and leaves from my yard.  Have you ever tried raking the leaves from long uncut grass?  Baloney about weeds not growing in long grass!  As one who loves gardening, I pull weeds, and I love it.  Hate is a strong word, but I guarantee there is not a word strong enough to describe your types sentiments regarding weed pulling, yet that is what will happen at the end of the world.  "Lo, the kingdom of God is within you".  "Gather up first the cockle".

[Philip G.]

For those who love gardening and cut grass, watch this video. 

[Mono no aware]

The smell of cut grass is undeniably nice.  A lawn, however, is pointless tedium.  I love gardening and weeding, but I hate mowing.  In the Yankee town where I grew up, the colonial houses were all built close to the road.  They had a front gate and a small patch of front yard.  The colonial settlers lived close to the bone and didn't mess around; I respect the Puritan sensibility.  The only houses that had lawns were the big 19th century houses which would've been for the rich folk, the ones with spires and cupolas and wrap-around porches.  It wasn't until you got into the houses from the 50s, 60s, and 70s where you started to see all these boring cookie-cutter homes with aluminum siding and expansive front lawns. 

I don't know how the American love affair with big yards got started, except for as Gardener and red solo cup say, a "lord of the manor" or "bigger is better" delusion.  All a normal citizen really needs is a back yard suitable for a garden, a shed, a chicken coop perhaps, and sundries.  Those who like fresh-cut grass can stroll through the neighborhoods of the rich where those people can afford to pay gardeners to manicure their lawns.  But to spend a week working and then the weekend tending to a lawn seems Sisyphean.  I have a lawn now and I hate it.

[Graham]

Big suburban lawns aren't just a waste of space, water, and energy. The imposition of literal distance between neighbours can create a certain psychological distances well. As a general rule the arrangement of housing has some impact on relations between households, although the impact is not straightforward. Crowding for instance is likely to breed negative emotions of a different kind. And when you're looking at drivers of housing changes from the middle 20th C you shouldn't forget the expansion of personal credit.

[Graham]

If I had a smallish lawn of perhaps 400' sq. or less I would be very tempted to get a reel mower. I imagine it's more pleasant to use and easier to maintain than a gas one.

[Gardener]

I find it so funny that golden mean middle road types like yourselves are unable to avoid using words like abomination and hate to describe the one occupation the all-loving God created us to be employed in.  "And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it" Gen. 2:15.  "Every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit" John 15.2.  Cut grass is not just "fair to behold", or to serve a child's imagination; it is an invaluable source of fertility for the gardens that are "pleasant to eat of" "in the sweat of thy face".  I compost all of my grass clippings and leaves from my yard.  Have you ever tried raking the leaves from long uncut grass?  Baloney about weeds not growing in long grass!  As one who loves gardening, I pull weeds, and I love it.  Hate is a strong word, but I guarantee there is not a word strong enough to describe your types sentiments regarding weed pulling, yet that is what will happen at the end of the world.  "Lo, the kingdom of God is within you".  "Gather up first the cockle".

My username is a joke. I hate gardening and beyond any utilitarian applications (food), find it pointless.

The more pertinent verse to my post is Gen 3:17-18:

17 And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.   18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.   

I'm not going to waste my time chasing a 1950's ideal as inherited from European fops.