Well you just know it had to happen. Another gardening season and another lawnmower incident. At least this time it didn't involve flames! And I have to admit I am very thankful to have a nandina! How does a nandina fit in with the story? Let me recount the tale for you as I experienced it.
It was a beautiful spring evening sandwiched in between a week of rain and a forecast of storms to come. It was the only opportunity to mow a lawn that was growing high enough to hide small children and animals. I set out after dinner with the small trim mower along with every neighbor within eyesight for neighborhood mowing day. (That is an unofficial holiday that occurs immediately after multiple days of rain and just before more rain) If you remember last year's incident involved my little trim mower. The high grass gave me quite a bit of material for mulching around many of our shrubs, trees, and ornamental grasses. The grass was high, very high. I trimmed around everything then went to get the riding mower.
Everything went great. I began thinking of post ideas, new lawnmower designs, and all sorts of other things while listening to my MP3 player. It's always a quiet introspective time to think about life, gardening, blogging, and whatever else pops in my head. I even remarked once to myself that it has been a while since I had a humorous post to pass along. Then I began speculating about making a post entitled "Nothing Funny Happened Today" but nixed the idea as silly. I went up and down the yard mowing the grass as high as I could. It left grass clumps everywhere but the lawnmower was on the highest setting so what else could I do? I kept going content to mow the lawn as best as I could. Then I started on the slope. We have a large sloping area on the western portion of the yard that is probably the worst area in the yard to mow. You either mow it straight up, or straight down. You just can't go sideways or else you will risk the "Lawnmower logroll of death!" Alright perhaps that's over dramatic but thinking this way helps to keep me from doing stupid things ... sometimes. As I said I was mowing the slope. I went up and turned then all of a sudden the mower was caught. Apparently I ran over a spot that trapped one rear wheel off the ground which is how the mower is pushed. No rear traction, no forward momentum. "No big deal I thought." I went through my mental checklist: Turn off the blade, check. Move to Neutral, check. Turn off the mower, check. Get off the mower, check. Evaluate the problem, check.
I began loking for a solution. I started in the back and tried to pull the mower in reverse to no avail. The mower was too caught to move backward and my feet were sinking in the soft clay mud, that just wasn't working. So I reexamined the mower. I glanced down toward the house. At this point the hillside is higher than the roof line of the garage but I figured I could move the mower just enough to get on it then ride the brake down to the driveway. So I began to nudge it. It didn't move much so I pushed harder. It moved more so I pushed a little harder and it jumped over the ridge holding it in place! Victory right?
Nope! The mower quickly began gaining momentum. I was holding the steering wheel trying to slow it down but I couldn't and the mower went careening toward the front of the garage! I ran alongside desparately trying to figure out how to slow this bladed bullet down. The mower whooshed down toward the driveway, but I was still with it. It's good to know I'm faster than a careening mower, although I never thought to test that before today. Possibly the one smart thing I decided not to do was to get on board.
The mower crossed the driveway and began it's descent toward our house. I mentally cringed thinking of the damage it would do should it hit the wall, or even a window. Then I had no choice, I stopped and let the mower go. Then I watched as it plowed through the front sidewalk garden crossed over the sidewalk and into the main front garden. Only one thing saved the mower and the house from any damage, my nandina. The bush that I complain about being so common. The shrub that continually spouts new seedlings and runners that I have to pull out. The nandina that saved my siding. My riding mower hit the nandina directly. This was no glancing blow, this was a full, head on, no punches pulled collision. The most amazing thing was that neither the nandina or the mower took any significant damage. The mower hit the nandina on the lower part of the stems. There are probably 8-10 semi-flexible stems that have grown up over time. It was that flexibilty that saved both the mower and the house from damage since the stems could absorb the impact. The nandina received a few bark scrapes but nothing that should damage it in the long term. The mower lost a cotter pin that held the mowing deck in place. Fortunately my neighbor who was out mowing was nearby to lend a hand removing the mower from the front garden.
So today I've learned an important lesson: nandinas really do have a place in the gardens in front of houses. Never let anyone tell you differently. If they try to convince you that nandinas are too commonplace and can become a pest with their seedlings don't listen to them. Think of the careening lawnmower and protect your garage with nandinas! You may even want to go get a few more to protect your family home, you just never know when a lawnmower will come careening toward your house. I sure didn't!
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Showing posts with label mowing techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mowing techniques. Show all posts
Thoughts While Pruning the Lawn
I was pruning the lawn on Tuesday night (aka mowing) and as usual I spent that time contemplating my yard and garden. It's a nice time to relax and observe places in your yard that you may not go to frequently for various reasons. Think about it, when you are riding around on your lawnmower you end up seeing almost every possible vantage point of your yard. You see the lawn for all its wonderful weeds and wildflowers (the two are sometimes synonymous). You see around your garden beds, whether they are they vegetable or flowering. You observe the work that needs done in those beds and have time to consider you massive to-do list. You tour around the trees and watch the birds flit about. If you don't need a riding mower you may even see more, that is if your not huffing and puffing due to the strenuous exercise. It is good exercise, I promise!
I use two mowers, one a riding mower and the other a push mower. I usually start with the push mower and depending on what I need to do I do one of two things. I either leave the bagger attachment to the mower or I don't. I hope you weren't looking for some monumental groundbreaking mowing strategy! Still, there is a little strategy involved. When I want to collect the grass clippings I attach the bagger, when I don't need clippings I leave the bagger off and let the mower mulch. Shocking logic right? Now what do I do with the clippings? The easy answer is to add them to the compost bin. It's a great way build up that compost quickly. Another possible answer would be to put them as a base layer in my semi-lasagna garden beds. I did this for my raised bed vegetable garden over the last two mowings and filled about 2 inches of each bed with clippings. Before the clippings I put thick layers of newspaper down over the existing grass and then covered it with the grass clippings. They will have time over the next several days to dry out and begin to smother the original grass beneath the beds. I hope to fill them with actual soil this weekend. I'll layer more newspapers over the grass clippings and cover that with dirt. The term lasagna garden seems a bit off for this since I am only doing a few layers (newspaper, grass clippings, newspaper compost, and topsoil), perhaps another name like a pizza garden would be better, or a stromboli/calzone? Mmmm, I think I must be hungry.
The other thing I do with the clippings is cover barren spots in my turf. I figure that these spots aren't covered with luscious green growing grass because the soil just isn't very good. By adding grass clippings as humus they decompose which improves the soil and maybe, just maybe something will grow. It worked well for me last year. I large swath of grassless area in the front yard is now completely covered as a result of the cover of clippings and a fall overseeding of fescue. Our soil in that area is pretty much clay and any organic material that enters it will improve it!
While pruning the grass I attempted to scout the slope of our yard. I began going up the hill with the push mower. I left the bag detached since I did not want to collect weed seeds. I found that the weeds fell fairly easily despite the difficulties with the slope. It is very steep for someone with a little push mower. Once I had carved out a small path and could see the land better I realized that I could get the riding lawnmower up the hill and turn around. Toward the middle of this area the grade of the slope lessens enough to make turning around safe. I only cut a small amount down from the hill since I had the rest of my yard to do, but this scouting encourages me that this territory will not be unassailable.
While looking at my yard from every possible vantage point I realized that I need to go back over my to-do list. Sadly many of those things have remained unfinished, but since spring and better weather are here it's time to get going again in the garden!
I use two mowers, one a riding mower and the other a push mower. I usually start with the push mower and depending on what I need to do I do one of two things. I either leave the bagger attachment to the mower or I don't. I hope you weren't looking for some monumental groundbreaking mowing strategy! Still, there is a little strategy involved. When I want to collect the grass clippings I attach the bagger, when I don't need clippings I leave the bagger off and let the mower mulch. Shocking logic right? Now what do I do with the clippings? The easy answer is to add them to the compost bin. It's a great way build up that compost quickly. Another possible answer would be to put them as a base layer in my semi-lasagna garden beds. I did this for my raised bed vegetable garden over the last two mowings and filled about 2 inches of each bed with clippings. Before the clippings I put thick layers of newspaper down over the existing grass and then covered it with the grass clippings. They will have time over the next several days to dry out and begin to smother the original grass beneath the beds. I hope to fill them with actual soil this weekend. I'll layer more newspapers over the grass clippings and cover that with dirt. The term lasagna garden seems a bit off for this since I am only doing a few layers (newspaper, grass clippings, newspaper compost, and topsoil), perhaps another name like a pizza garden would be better, or a stromboli/calzone? Mmmm, I think I must be hungry.
The other thing I do with the clippings is cover barren spots in my turf. I figure that these spots aren't covered with luscious green growing grass because the soil just isn't very good. By adding grass clippings as humus they decompose which improves the soil and maybe, just maybe something will grow. It worked well for me last year. I large swath of grassless area in the front yard is now completely covered as a result of the cover of clippings and a fall overseeding of fescue. Our soil in that area is pretty much clay and any organic material that enters it will improve it!
While pruning the grass I attempted to scout the slope of our yard. I began going up the hill with the push mower. I left the bag detached since I did not want to collect weed seeds. I found that the weeds fell fairly easily despite the difficulties with the slope. It is very steep for someone with a little push mower. Once I had carved out a small path and could see the land better I realized that I could get the riding lawnmower up the hill and turn around. Toward the middle of this area the grade of the slope lessens enough to make turning around safe. I only cut a small amount down from the hill since I had the rest of my yard to do, but this scouting encourages me that this territory will not be unassailable.
While looking at my yard from every possible vantage point I realized that I need to go back over my to-do list. Sadly many of those things have remained unfinished, but since spring and better weather are here it's time to get going again in the garden!
Back in the Saddle Again (The First Spring Mowing)
I knew that inevitably the day would come. The day when I would climb back in the saddle and coast across our sea of green. I was looking forward to it. I was prepared, my steed was ready, and the weather was grand. Even though the sea of grass was unexpectedly choppy and the trip was rough our goal was accomplished.The first mowing of the season.
Amazingly the push mower started on the first pull. I skimmed the edges of the house and garden beds with the push mower first, which made mowing with the riding mower much easier. By using the push mower in advance of the riding mower I can create a buffer zone to give me more room for mistakes. I don't want to run over anything important! It became apparent after starting that I may have waited too long for this initial mowing. The clumps of fescue were tight and tall which made the spaces in between the clumps more difficult to traverse. The mower would climb over the tall clumps fine but would inevitably drop on the other side of the mounds of grass. It made for a very bumpy ride! In the fall I over-seeded Kentucky 31 fescue which worked great but the grass still needs more time to mature to fill in the rest of the yard. In the picture above you can see the clumps of grass. (You can also see part of the load of gravel the builder of our community left behind. I need to get out there and rake more of it up.)
Leaves of Grass
I left the bagger attachment on my push mower and collected grass clippings for use in the garden. I piled them up to dry out some first. In a few days I'll use them for another purpose. I could have put them in the compost bin but I have another thought in mind! More on that later.
Pruning Your Lawn
Regular mowing is important to an organic yard. I haven't spread any type of fertilizer on the yard and I don't plan on it. I don't think it needs it and I don't want to use anything synthetic. What I do plan on is regular mowing. Mowing your lawn regularly does two important things. It introduces grass clippings to the soil which break down and improve the soil for the roots of the grass and it encourages the grass to grow thicker and more evenly. Think of what happens when you prune a plant, more shoots appear to make a thicker and fuller plant. That's what mowing your lawn does. It also allows the small leaves of grass to get good light to grow, otherwise the stronger more established grasses will block out the sun. I do plan on using a spreader on the yard to spread some sifted compost this spring. The compost and grass clippings should help build a better soil. That's what you always want to do in every garden: build a better soil!
Try Not to Water
I think it's important to understand what your grass needs to grow well. Fescue, which is mostly what we have (among a variety of weeds), is a cool season grass. It can't take the heat like Bermuda grass and centipede grasses can and goes dormant in extreme temperatures. The only watering I did for the grass in my yard was when I planted new seed in the fall. I watered deeply. Deep watering allows the grass roots to get a good start since they stretch down for the water and don't remain just under the top layer of the soil. Unless you are planting new seed then try not to water.
By cutting back on mowing you can avoid watering. In the summer when it is hot, and Tennessee can get very hot, I'll cut the mowing back to about once every 10 days and I'll keep the cut high. I would put the mower on the highest possible setting! By cutting back on the mowing and letting it stay taller you are allowing the grass to retain it's moisture and produce better roots. Many people (and especially lawn services) scalp their yards in the summer and then the homeowners have to redo the yard which is a waste of time and money. We should all understand what we have and treat it the way it wants to be treated!