It's Spring and while the temperature is doing its up and down dance, the snow is now long gone, and plants have awakened from their long winter's nap. As the first few blades of grass began poking through the snow a month and a half or so ago, my thoughts immediately turned to "Ugh. I'm going to have to mow that soon." Fortunately, the temperature went back to cold for a while, so that the grass had not really started growing until recently (of course, when it finally got mowed this weekend, it was desperately in need of it*).
However, thinking of mowing the lawn brings me back to a subject I was wondering about last fall. As I mowed and listened to my MP3 player, I pondered (because apparently those two activities are not enough to keep my mind from wandering) how other people mow their lawns. Are they horizontal row people, vertical row people, or do they go for the concentric circle (square/rectangle/trapezoid) approach?
The different styles have their own distinct advantages. Mowing in rows can give the appearance that you want, with row after row of freshly cut grass, the only visible pattern a faint waviness as your eyes pass over each row. The concentric pattern does not always turn out as well upon completion, but does hold other advantages. It is considerably more forgiving of obstacles and slopes which can be a problem if one simply goes back and forth across the lawn. It also allows for easier mowing along edges and does not require turning the mower on a dime. In addition, it also is more rewarding for the person doing the mowing because for each lap that is performed, the remaining laps decrease in size until the final trip around the lawn is nothing more than a mere patch which must be mowed.
What do I do? I don't have a defined answer. I use both methods, which is what started me wondering about this in the first place. But that's not the real question. The important question here is what about you? What do you do?
*Thoughts inspired by the actual mowing later.
May 07, 2007
They See Me Mowin' My Front Lawn, I Know They're All Thinkin' I'm So White & Nerdy
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3 comments:
You know I love to mow, so I'll give you the big answer here. First of all, concentric circles is my favorite method, just because it's fun, but it looks the worst afterwards. Back and forth, straight lines, definitely looks the best, but even when I do that, I'll trace an outline around the outside first just so I don't miss anything during those hairpin turns. Second, everybody I've talked to and everything I've read suggests that for a healthy lawn you should vary your mowing pattern each time. They say do horizontal lines this time and vertical lines next time and keep alternating. Something about how if you do the same each time the grass starts to lay down in the direction. So that's what I do, alternating back and forth, but I thrown in a concentric circle pattern every once in a while, just for fun.
I've never mowed a lawn, but my dad used to do the horizontal lines on the riding mower (we have a BIG lawn).
I pay someone else to do it for me!
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