Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Giving up on push reel

After 8 years in my house I'm giving up on my push reel mower. I'm just not strong enough and still have to be careful with my computer-induced tendonitous. It just wasn't a good match. I put off mowing plus like the grass long and then it gets to be too much for the reel mower. So I'd end up weed-wacking the whole thing. Only my front yard. The dogs did in the back yard, but there are patches of jungle back there. I'll post a picture! Anyone have suggestions for gas powered mowers?

9 comments:

Irene said...

Maybe you could try an electric one, since your yard isn't huge?

Anonymous said...

We have an electric one and we like it a lot - it's a lot less noisy and you don't have to deal with the gas and oil. They could be lighter than a gas one too.

Beth said...

Ok blogger hates me tonight. Try three. I have a Toro recycler 22 in from Home Depot that I like. I've used it 3 times in the new house and it's easy to use. It's a 4 cycle and it was recommended by consumer reports.

Jennifer said...

We also bought an electric mower for our yard. It's nice and lightweight and dealing with the cord (our is corded, I don't know if they even make a battery powered one) isn't that big of a hassle. We love it - no gas to deal with and its quieter.

salsis said...

What brands are your electric ones? I'm wondering if I can deal with just weed wacking it, since I just do the front yard. I should time myself. Though my forearm gets tired from holding the weedwacker. Though the back could use a good mowing. Do mosquitoes breed in tall grass?

Jenny said...

Hi SalSis,
I cannot offer any advice on non-push reel mowers but can offer this: mosquitoes do not breed in tall grass. They do appear to enjoy hanging out in tall grasses when not feeding, but they lay their eggs in small pools of stagnant water (bird baths, in puddles, planters with accumulated rainwater, etc).

salsis said...

Thanks Jenny - I didn't know if water accumulates enough in tall grass. I discovered another reason to mow it - the dogs got soaked running through it yesterday!

Jenny said...

SalSis,
Maybe the small moist soil areas that accumulate in dense grass might be places where some mosquitoes could lay their eggs, and then the adults can hang out in the moist vegetation? I don't know for sure that mosquitoes could lay eggs in water on the vegetation, but those buggers are pretty amazing, so it is possible.
(I've got a small muddy puddle at the base of our fire escape that I think recently became home for mosquito larvae.)

Anonymous said...

Ours is by Neuton and is battery operated - one thing with ours is that you have to continuously grip the handle (it works as safety measure), but there could be other models that don't work like that.