Did you know they make push lawn mowers that are self-propelled? I didn’t. I now sing their praises.
The previous owner sold this property fully furnished, which included all outbuilding equipment. So we inherited an assortment of power and gardening tools. That was lovely and it meant we weren’t sure what all was left behind. A mower, yes. But what kind of mower? Unclear beneath the years of accumulated grime.
It’s been over 15 years since I last mowed a lawn of any significant size. I think the mower we had then was something from Sears; the lawn was flat and not that large. It was easy enough to push it around and inhale the fresh cut grass. For the larger yard we had a ride-on mower.
Our lawn here is decidedly not flat and wonderfully large (and that’s before you count the acre of fields that we’ll likely let a few sheep trim). The trade off to living on an emerald isle is that the grass grows like a weed.
I knew I’d delayed mowing for long enough. Given the clear weather on Saturday, I resigned myself to a tiring afternoon. I had to fiddle with the mower a bit, but it fired up and I set to work. Easy enough.
Wondering what the second bar across the handle did, I pulled it down…and suddenly the push mower didn’t take much of a push. It just floated forward. Well happy days! Computers aren’t the only thing that advance in delightful ways when you ignore them for a decade.
It still took about 2 hours to finish, which was enough time to learn a couple things.
- The mower propels itself by spinning the back wheels. This means that you have to let go of the propulsion bar when you turn around, lest the wheels chew into the dirt.
- Propulsion is wonderful for flat ground and going uphill. Less good for downhill! I learned to push it downhill on manual mode as a racing small motor with a spinning blade is not my cup of tea.
- Large stones embedded in lawn are beautiful, scenic…and a royal pain to mow around. Oh well, not like they’ll move any time soon! Every portion of grass bordered by clean, straight lines felt like a gift.
