Don't fear the reaper
My new reel mower for the lawnette
Remember these? Nah, I don’t either. My dad always used a gasoline-powered mower, and so did I until I got rid of all my grass about three years ago. But having just reintroduced a tiny lawn—it’s so small that I look at it as another plant specimen in my garden, rather than just “background green”—I found myself in need of a mower.
So I went to Home Depot looking for one of those old-fashioned, people-powered, push mowers. The guy on the floor chuckled and said they didn’t carry those, but then he had to eat his words because way up high on a shelf, all alone, sat a single reel mower. It came in a fairly small box and required a little assembly, and voila! my new mower was ready to go. Three minutes later, the lawn was cut, and I didn’t have to fill up a gas tank or yank any strings or endure the roar of a motor.
I won’t take this old-fashioned business any further—I’m not getting out there with a scythe, for instance—but I’m pleased with the reel mower.
The high temperature yesterday was 91 degrees, two degrees shy of the record. Last night a cold front blew through, dropping an inch of rain and lowering temperatures by thirty degrees. This morning it’s gusty, cloudy, and cool, and the high is supposed to be only 65 degrees. Halleluiah, fall is back!
I thought about getting out in the garden to do some trimming, but it’s too windy for my taste. I’ll wait until tomorrow to work in the garden, but I’m definitely planning to get outside today just to enjoy the change in the weather.
Here are a few photos from the last couple of days, when it felt more summery.
Close-up of a pine muhly grass
One of the last big clusters remaining on the American beautyberry bush. The mockingbirds have been busy, but they’ve missed this branch so far.
Here’s a combination I’ve been enjoying, both visually and gastronomically: basil, purple oxalis, and blue mistflower.
Late-season morning glories smother the fence, echoing the electric blue of the Salvia guaranitica below. This combination was pure luck, as the morning glory was planted by my neighbor on her side of the fence. It’s a little hard to see in this photo, but the blues are a perfect match.
We had one of those mowers when I was a kid. My parents got it for my younger brother because they didn’t want him using a “real” lawn mower. They had to go to a little, independent hardware store to get it, if I recall correctly. (Come to think of it, I think that was actually BEFORE Home Depot took over the world.)
I didn’t know you were old enough to remember a time before Home Depot took over the world, R. 😉 —Pam
You have a cool new toy, Pam! We looked at reel mowers at Sears a couple of months ago when I was considering a change to clickety sounds instead of engine noise. But instead of a ‘lawnette’, our front and back grass grows under pecans and ashes, would require raking before every mowing – no thanks! It works better for me to overlap rows, letting the rotary crunch up leaves, twigs and nuts so they eventually break down.
Somehow I don’t see you pushing your mower in a long dress like the image on Indiana Carol’s blog!
My beautyberries were eaten, but the Salvia guaranitica abides here, too. What a happy combination yours make with the morning glories! What does it look like on the neighbor’s side? You seem to have all the flowers in your garden!
Annie
We used to have a mulching mower, and it did a good job. Sounds like the way to go when you have pecan trees.
How about Gabrielle from Desperate Housewives mowing in her formal gown? Nope, that’s not me either. I don’t even have a formal gown. 😉
I do seem to have all the morning glories, don’t I? I haven’t been over to the neighbor’s yard in a while, so I don’t know how it looks from her side. Maybe she gets all my Carolina jasmine in the spring though. —Pam
I was wondering how you were going to trim the lawnette when it needs a haircut… Reel mowers were the only kind anyone had when I was growing up (in the late pleistocene), and I have fond memories of the sound, though not of pushing one uphill on a very hot day. American Beautyberry has an amazing range — I had a lovely one in my garden in Connecticut, so I’m a little surprised to see it obviously thriving under such different climate and soil conditions in Austin.
Thanks for visiting, Renee. I visited you too and saw that your basil has already gone bye-bye. That’s too bad, but at least you’re enjoying great pumpkin weather, right? —Pam
Congrats on the new mower! They are quite popular in Vermont, which makes me smile on Saturday mornings when most folks would be cranking the gasers up.
Remember that kind of mower, I wrote a paper about using outdated technology for an anthropology class in college in 1977. The push mower that had been handed down through generations of my family was my subject. That was the kind of mower as the eldest son that I used to mow a St. Augustine suburban quarter acre lawn covered in pine needles and pinecones. Seeing them still elicits a twinge of angst.
I’m sure it will work fine for the lawnette, but for me after years of practice I can make a smoother, flatter and neater cut with a string trimmer on tiny patches of grass.
I wish I’d known you were in the market for a reel mower. I got mine for Mother’s Day a few years back and I really like it except that with all my trees I use my mower more to mulch leaves than mow grass. And it is difficult to mow St Augustine grass with a reel mower because the blades of grass lie flat in all different directions. So I’m trading in my reel mower for an electric one.
Hmm, I’ll be sure to advertise my intended garden purchases ahead of time in the future, just in case . . . 🙂 —Pam