One of the things I hate about spring is the way that the lawn goes from “It might as well be winter” to tropical rainforest practically overnight. As I’ve no doubt noted, I would not care if it were never cut, but I know my wife would object.
My father-in-law gave us an electrical lawnmower a couple years ago. I resisted it the first season for ecological reasons. I had a reel mower, which is a REAL mower, but I have succumbed, mostly because the grass under the teak garden bench had suddenly gotten is too long for the reel mower.
The electric mower, moreover, has adjustable heights from one to five. Centimeters above the ground, I guess? The first weekend, I set it at 5, for it would have surely clogged the machine at a lower setting. (Did I ever mention that I wrecked a new gas mower in its second use? And returned it for a full refund.)
The second time, I set it at 4 and was only about 10% done when the Daughter decided that SHE wanted to operate the mower. Far be it for me to reject the assistance. I dealt with branches that had fallen over the winter that needed tending. Unfortunately, the mower batteries died with maybe 5% of the job.
She made it clear that she’s only mowing the lawn because she WANTS to do so. If I were to make it a regular chore, she’d fight it. Now, she didn’t do it EXACTLY as I would have done, but I’m not complaining.
Not incidentally, she is quite strong. I flipped over the picnic table that we had built a few years back, to mow the part of the lawn that had been underneath. But I was having trouble making it upright when I was done because the table was too close to the fence and I couldn’t get leverage. But the teenager didn’t need help to flip it back.
I’d rather be blogging. As someone probably didn’t say, mowing the lawn is to spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk.
I have a reel-type mower. It does have different height settings, which I really need, because I’ve found if I let the lawn get a little “away” from me, I have to start out with it on a “longer” setting and then do a second pass to cut it shorter – because otherwise, I’m gasping for breath in our humid summers.
It works well on the broad St. Augustine I have; it works less-well where Bermuda grass has invaded from a neighbor’s lawn, and doesn’t work at all on certain weeds (I refuse to poison my lawn to get rid of weeds).
I like it because it feels like better exercise than a gas-powered mower, I don’t like messing around with small engines, and it’s quiet so I can mow early in the morning and not make my neighbors unhappy. (That is necessary here because it gets hot really fast during the day)
I have an electric, but it requires a cord. (I have 100 feet of cord on a spool.) It is more than adequate to the task until the grass reaches several inches. And the blade needs resharpening every third year, just like clockwork.