Our New Poulan Pro Lawn Mower

We’re kind of broke, what with sinking so much into the house, so we have to retrench and economize. We fired the lawn guy and bought a mower, and we mowed our own lawn for the first time in 8 years since we moved to New York. We have about an acre and a half or more in “grass”, where by grass we mean grasslike vegetation mixed with assorted species of indigenous wild plants. The yard is uneven and features areas where rocks jut up from the subsurface and other areas that are marshy. It took longer to mow than I expected, especially since we bought a self propelled push mower instead of a tractor. I didn’t think a tractor would be safe or that we could use it in a lot of areas. I hope that part of the difficulty is that mowing was overdue and that the length of the grass made it more difficult than it will be when we mow on a regular schedule.

There are some good things about mowing our own grass. We can be on the lookout for wildlife and avoid killing any animals with the mower better than the lawn guy did. We can choose to leave parts of the yard to grow as meadow, something we were never able to get across to the lawn guy that we wanted to do. He constantly mowed down my wildflower plantings. We can make sure to mow just in advance of entertaining guests. Mowing is exercise. I have always liked to mow ever since I was a wee bairn. It was one of the chores I minded least. We should save about $1500 bucks net of the cost of the mower.

We’re not fanatics about the lawn being a monoculture. Frankly, we don’t care what species of plants comprise the lawn as long as poison ivy or poison oak is not among them. Dandelions? No problem. They are attractive when they bloom, and the greens are edible (I hear). We don’t water the lawn except for new areas that have just been planted, and we rely on natural selection to cause the lawn to be comprised of plants that can hack the climate without any human intervention. We don’t fertilize it or use herbicides or insecticides. We just mow it, and we think it looks fine. If it weren’t for wanting space to play ball with Jasper, we might let a goodly portion turn to meadow.

In general, we are not out to control the garden, even the perennial beds. We let things follow their own course and try to maintain a natural look. It’s not that we’re lazy. We put a lot of work into the garden. We just like the “cup garden” concept.