h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very pragmatic guide to mowing, but shocking in its total lack of reference to manual push mowers! I realize that these are very old-fashioned and not so widely used any more, but dont they at least deserve a footnote? Please excuse my limited knowledge of terminology, but I'm talking about the manual mowers that ride on two wheels, and have a set of curved, scyth-like blades that spin around each other when you push the thing forward (and when you pull it backward). To my mind, these manual mowers have several important advantages. First and foremost, they are more friendly to the enviroment, as they use no fuel or resources other than muscle exertion. Relatedly, if you use one regularly, you can get yourself some really ripped-looking (meaning fit and muscluar) arms and abs. Also, they are very easy to manouvre (sp?) - key if you have ever tried mowing around a rock garden. There is no danger of electrocution. They are also very quiet compared to any other mower, making you more popular with the neighbors. And they're cheap! Come on, give 'em a chance!

You've just mentioned 'em! This is what the threads are for - to embellish and breathe life into an entry. The threads keep the entry alive - they are like tendrils - they breathe more oxygen back into the text! Anything else you know about manual lawn mowers will be warmly received!

Many thanks to you.

I was just about to post the very same thing, ExpatChick - I have fond memories of pushing a manual mower around as a kid - and they're great as long as the blades are kept sharp!

...but I obviously need to spend more time in the Peer Review - it would have been nice to have the definitions/differences section starting by separating manual mowers from those with engines

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That doesn't exclude manual mowers does it?

Anyway A1035325 Lawnmowers (Work In Progress) is there for anyone who wants to chip it.

DMT

... or chip in, even.

I'm shocked that the article makes the assumption that one wouldn't want to leave the cuttings on the lawn! It's a terrible waste not to recycle all the nutrients in the cuttings back into the lawn itself. The author differentiates between explulsion and bag type mowers but completely ignores mulching mowers altogether. Now while the article seems to be specifically aimed at aesthetically striping one's lawn and I can see how big piles of cuttings might detract from that, with a good mulching mower that shouldn't be much of a problem. I personally use an expulsion type riding mower. Since I don't stripe my lawn, I then go back over the piles to cut them up smaller and spread them out. I spiral into my lawn to concentrate the cuttings and recut them several times and then go back over the cuttings to spread them out again. The amount of waste that is put into land fills from grass cuttings is becoming quite a problem that is completely unnecessary. When the cuttings do get too thick to leave on the lawn, a compost heap is the ideal solution (which thankfully the author did mention.)

One note: In the text about striping it mentions doing a second pass in the "opposite" direction. The footnote makes it clearer, but I would have called it "perpendicular" rather than "opposite".

perpendicularly opposite perhaps?

Crosswise even.

Manual mowers? Only good for one thing, and that's character building (or at least my father always told me so). Who would want to use muscle power instead of electricity, especially when if you leave the lawn for over a week its a jungle, and I'd pay good money to drink beer and watch someone attempt to mow that jungle manually.

"Why in my day we didn't have any of these fancy-schmancy power mowers. If you wanted to mow the lawn, you went to the barn and you got the scythe. Great big rusty blade you'd have to sharpen every third swing. And every other week you'd cut off yer leg. We were a bunch of peg-legged scythe swingers AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY!"

(with apologies to Dana Carvey.)

Even more shocking is the omission of the automatic mower, also known as a goat. Besides than obvious advantage of not having to actually do any mowing yourself, there is the added benefit of a steady supply of goat's milk. And a sufficiently ornery goat can be quite useful in driving off pesky door-to-door salesmen by butting them ferociously should they be intrepid enough to enter your yard!

Erm... yeah. Is missing info my fault as well ?

In reference to leaving freshly mown clippings on the lawn, I always thought this "burnt" the grass, like leaving leaves over the lawn. If you have ever thrust your hands into a pile of leaves and grass clippings (as I used to do as a youngster when my dad was doing his garden bit) it is actually really hot, all that organic breakdown process. Thus, if you want your lawn to remain green you shouldn't leave too much of this matter on it. Although I'm not sure if this applies all over the world, it certainly dried out our Sydney-based lawn. Perhaps the constant drizzle of misty rain in England/Ireland takes care of this on the other side of the world. Apply logic as necessary in different parts of US/Europe...

Anything other than a pushmower for most city lawns is, well, silly. Noise pollution in city neighborhoods is lessened and you don't have to go to a club for exercise.