Well my lawn has a mix of clover, wild violets and various weeds, I use no chemicals or pesticides except a little lime once in 6 years. I have many patches of alternate volunteer shade plants. I do not weed the lawn and I do not use pesticides on it. I do seed the lawn as needed.
I slow compost 100% of my yard waste, branches, leaves and grass clippings. If I plant a large expanse of wild flowers, I will end up with a lot of poison ivy in it. It is nearly a plague in my area. I have a lot of it in my pine trees.
I will be planting more trees and eliminating more of my front yard, but I just lost two very large, very nice pines to bag worms. So, so far I am losing this battle.
My yard also acts as a small deer preserve, they sure like something that grows in it, I suspect the clover and violets. I have four that graze every night. My rabbit, squirrel, raccoon and ground hog population is doing quite well in addition. In fact the ground hogs are doing too well.
Jim {I might use a lawn tractor, but I also generate 75% of my power from solar panels on my roof, so I am doing my share to reduce emission and I am still trying to do more}
My neighbors have one of those robot mowers. It looks like a big yellow Roomba, only it mows instead of vacuums. It runs a lot because it takes a long time to cover the whole lawn, but it is very quiet. Just a little hum as it goes along. I actually like to watch it go, it makes me feel like we are living in [deep space voice] The World Of Tomorrow![/voice].
Thank you, funny thing, a mix of grass, clover, wild violets and many miscellaneous weed when grown in a favorable climate and favorable soil can look like a golf course when freshly mowed. I use grass seed that is grown for my area instead of Chem Lawn generic grass pumped up with chemicals. Judging by Saturday’s mowing, I might be doing too good of a job. That was brutal.
I also do not water my lawn except small repair patches.
You know, I came in and made a light-hearted comment and now you are pissing me off. Gas mowers are not as bad as you think, but I’m not going to debate this with you, because it’s not worth it. Also, getting our reel mower sharpened was a huge pain in the ass in my location. I am doing my best to reduce the overall grass part of the lawn, but the backyard is for running the dogs and needs to have grass. And since my entire neighborhood is on former orchard land, ground cover is a must so that children don’t dig in the lead and arsenic contaminated soils.
You may have noted that we don’t use our leaf blower, but in any case all of our garden implements, aside from the lawnmower, are electric or people-powered. And, as an added bonus, my electric company provides hydro-power and I pay extra to buy wind power, so yes, my energy is mostly clean and would be cleaner if I had my druthers. Not that I have to defend myself to you, anyway.
But to piss you off more–I pay for a lawn service to treat my lawn 5 times a year. That’s right, I, a professional environmental employee, pay someone to come spray chemicals on my lawn. Why? Because they have the equipment to do a more efficient and less harmful job. I am surrounded by weeds due to lazy neighbors, but would prefer that my lawn not be a thicket of thistle and morning glory, so I pay a professional lawn and garden service.
Hey, I’m just sayin’ that if you’re bitchin’ about using a non-motorized mower for a 20’x20’ yard, it comes off as rather wimpy. Do whatever you have to do to make your living space safe and comfy, but don’t forget about the consequences of your decisions.
It’s exactly this sort of retarded, defensive, testosterone-laden, don’t-tread-on-me dick measuring that is the root of half the fuckin’ pit threads here.
No one’s going to tell you when to mow you grass. No one is passing a law, or writing their congressman.
But, you see those pink and brown and yellow things walking around? They’re called people and their collective is called “society” and you fucking live in it.
So, if you take the time to look around once in a while, you might notice that your neighbors are mowing their lawns on ONE DAY and building tool sheds with power saws on ANOTHER DAY, but on ONE OTHER DAY, they all seem to be sitting around reading newspapers, having coffee, chatting and tending to their flowers.
But, go ahead and be that guy. You’re the big man. It’s ain’t illegal to mow my lawn on Sunday morning at 9:00 and that’s when I’m gonna fucking mow it. Ain’t no one telling Turek when he’s gonna mow his fucking lawn unless they want to come over and fucking do it themselves, god damn it. This is still America isn’t it!!
You know there is a compromise between a reel mower and a gas mower: an electric mower. Yeah, the cord’s kinda a pain but you get used to it and you can get 100’ cords that will cover most average suburban lawns. The mowers are a lot quieter than gas mowers, have zero emissions, and are just as powerful as gas mowers. (the electric string trimmer is still as loud as crap tho’ so I try to use it when somebody else on my block is already mowing)
Our yard is not conducive to an electric mower, which sucks because I wanted one. If I get my way, the next place will not have any grass to speak of–instead it will all be native plants except my garden. But that’s only possible because my next house will not be in the city. I will be very, very careful of covenants that may apply.
They most definietly are NOT as powerful as gas lawn mowers. My self propelled lawnmower is 6.5HP, I doubt there are electric lawnmowers out there with that kind of power.
sorry to be a pedant, but this isn’t true. The emissions just come out at the power plant where your electricity is generated, instead of out of your mower. Until everyone’s using passive solar for everything, there’s no such thing as free power.
Even a non-motorized push mower has emissions. They’re just lower by orders of magnitude.
The emissions from a power plant are usually much cleaner than those from a typical lawn mower. Additionally, one of the major concerns expressed in this Op was the noise pollution and electric mowers are much quieter.
I have to use a lawn tractor, I have no realistic option except to let most of my lawn go completely wild. I do however use solar panels for most of my electric needs.
Yeah, but at least they’re not in your immediate vicinity. I wonder what the difference in emissions is between what the gas mower’s engine puts out and the amount of power required for the electric mower (say with a coal power plant)? I would guess the power plant’s method of generating power would be much more efficient than the gas mower’s engine but I really don’t have a clue.
You’re right, I should’ve said “as powerful as many gas mowers”. I’m not gonna argue that if you have a really large yard, you’re probably gonna need a gas mower. But I always had a negative opinion of electric mowers until I borrowed a friend’s (when I finally gave up on the reel mower). It had no problem cutting grass and weeds that had grown up above my knees and impressed me enough that I purchased one from Amazon. Not having to store gas, breathe gas fumes, and the much quieter running are all big pluses in my book.
How would a non-motorized mower have any emmissions? True, there are the emissions involved with manufacture and transportation, but those will be less than a motorized mower.
“They most definietly are NOT as powerful as gas lawn mowers. My self propelled lawnmower is 6.5HP, I doubt there are electric lawnmowers out there with that kind of power.”
As a rule,electric motors are more efficient than gas engines,25% more sticks in my mind.
Well, pal, some people aren’t so fortunate as to be able to pick a time to do yard work which is convenient for their neighbors. Not everyone works M-F, 9-5, y’know. The other part of living in a society is putting up with things which don’t exactly fit in with your idea of how things ought to work because some people just can’t manage to get everything done that they need to do when YOU want them to.
The biggest problem I have with electric mowers is the cord. Mey neighbor’s lot is 50 x 100, and he mows with an electric. It’s not THAT much quieter than my 6.5HP Toro, but it is much quieter than the cheaper MTDs and Craftsmans out there. My lot is 100 x 150, and you’re not supposed to use extension cords longer than 50 or 75 feet with those mowers, so I can’t use them. And the rechargeable ones simply don’t have the power to cut the grass if it’s a little wet or long.
How would a non-motorized mower have any emmissions? True, there are the emissions involved with manufacture and transportation, but those will be less than a motorized mower.