Guest Post: Green Your Lawn Mower!
By Jenn | September 25, 2008
Hey Tiny Choosers– today we’re featuring a special guest post by Angela Rickard of Brisbane, Australia, on a topic near and dear to her heart: manual push lawn mowers!
Good day readers, it’s your international correspondent Angela guest posting today. If you haven’t experienced the joys of modern reel lawn mowers, you’ll want to read on. As most of you probably already know, the gas-powered lawn mower and the environment are not friends. In fact, since gas-powered lawn mowers don’t have pollution-control devices, they pollute multiple times more per hour than other gas-powered motors.
Reel mowers have many benefits other than environmental, one major one being the cost. Reel mowers are cheaper to purchase, and cheaper (free!) to run, since they don’t require gasoline or maintenance. Also, the reel mower doesn’t need to be started up, it takes up less space, and you will never have to run to the gas station to refill it. Additionally, it is safer and it doesn’t come with the noise and smell associated with a gas mower.
Beyond those reasons, the reel mower gives the satisfaction of seeing grass fly into the air, hearing the sound of the blade cutting, and the smell of fresh grass. For those of you who don’t like to leave the grass clippings on the lawn, most models come with an optional grass catcher. As for the actual cutting motion of the reel mower, consider this: would you rather have your hair cut by Ken Paves or the Flowbee? That is, the reel mower acts as a pair of scissors, while gas-powered mowers have a rotary blade that essentially tears each blade of grass.
Modern reel mowers are fine-tuned machines, if you mow on a weekly basis, it is not noticeably harder to than using a gas mower without push assist. In some cases, it is slightly more laborious than a gas mower with push assist, but the benefits outweigh the extra labor. (Plus, it can’t hurt to burn a few extra calories, right?)
Overall reasons why a reel mower is superior:
- less expensive to buy and run
- more pleasurable to use
- takes up less space
- requires little maintenance
- better for the environment
The reel mower is not for everyone, you shouldn’t get one if you:
- like the smell of gasoline
- relish throwing your money down a gasoline toilet
- enjoy listening to deafening noise
- don’t want to risk burning extra calories
In all seriousness, there are situations where an electric mower would be a better choice for an environmentally friendly lawn. For example, if you have an enormous and/or very hilly lawn, or your lawn is filled with very thick, clumpy grass, it will be difficult to cut with a reel mower.
If you’re not convinced, borrow one from a friend and try it out. Or, if you’re trying to convince a friend or family member to jump on the bandwagon, take your mower to their house and let them have a try. Just keep in mind that if the lawn in question is overgrown, using the reel mower for the first time will be a challenge. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go outside to see if my lawn is long enough to mow again.
Do you have experience with, or thoughts on, reel mowers?
[Image by TinkerBellMeow via Creative Commons]
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Hey Angela– I have fond memories of my dad’s old push mower… I remember my dad and brothers sweating up a storm pushing that thing around, and the one time I had tried it I couldn’t even move the thing (must have been a wee one, and was definitely a weakling). But now, if I had a lawn, I’d LOVE to get a push mower! Fun + exercise + no pollution!
Plus, isn’t it healthy for the lawn to leave the clippings on it? And that’s way more green (hah) than collecting the clippings in a sealed plastic bag which then goes to the dump…
That’s right, leaving grass clippings on your lawn reintroduces Nitrogen into the soil, which is very healthy for your grass.
We just bought one a few weeks ago, a 38″ Brill. We have replaced most of our grass with perennials, but keep a few patches for the dogs. This new mower does an excellent job, the blades are very sharp and cut the grass evenly. It did an admirable job on wet grass as well.
The Brill is excellent and needs more commercials for it. It is an excellent relle mower with electric blades which means no gasoline but not as much work as the traditional reel mower. I recommend people considering a change visit http://www.lawnmowersworld.com for some good reviews.
I’ve had a reel mower for 5 years and love it.
My one question is about blade sharpening — what method do you recommend? I know to some degree they are self-sharpening. However, every other method I’ve seen (beside take it to a professional) seems dangerous.
Some of you may not know that until VERY recently, there was no even potential legislation on the books in the U.S. regulating air emissions from lawnmowers (which are estimated to be 4 times the air emissions from passenger vehicles per hour). Even now, emission reductions will only occur in 2011, and it will take a long time for many of the existing fuel-powered mowers to change over to this new technology.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2096/69/
Although I have yet to sharpen my reel mower, there are sharpening kits available. With these kits, you apply sharpening compound to the blades, and attach a crank to your mower, which will allow you to turn it backwards. The backwards motion in combination with the sharpening compound will make the blades as sharp as the day you purchased your mower.
I smiled as I read your post and am pleased that you were invited to comment on the many benefits of a reel mower! You created a delightful review of the subject with so many reasons to enjoy mowing our lawns, with more vigor included! Your commentary on using the more original mower makes such wonderful sense! Thank you! I so hope that you’re invited to be a guest post writer again on any green or sustainable subject again! I’ll enjoy!!
That’s my niece sharing her very important Earth thoughts! I am very proud of her convictions.
It’s important to remind us that we need to take care of this planet. And there is nothing wrong with doing things the old way.
Growing up we always used a push mower until we got a bigger yard.
I imagine another benefit of the old push mower is the exercise one gets when using it.
Keep up the message!
I am very excited to hear about these mowers! I am in the process of buying a house, and I got all jazzed up with the thought of mowing my lawn and getting a work out!
Here’s a tough question: The homes we have been looking at are from 1-3 acres of land, with 3-4 bedrooms. Plenty of room for a future family, growing my own veggie garden, and chickens! The land in the area we are looking is mostly covered in wild flowers and wild grasses (costal northern California). To prevent fire danger, we’ll have to mow it. Do you reccomend a push mower for this circumstance? What other alternatives do I have?
We are considering Alpacas…or goats….
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I would love to use one, but no stores sell them around here.