We usually attack the lawn together, but last weekend my gf was working on another project and I told her I’d do the lawn. After I finished she mentioned she was surprised by how I did things. Her solo approach would be to do the riding mower, then the trim (push) mower, then the weedwhacker last.
I always thought the obviously correct method was to weedwhack first, then the riding mower, then the push mower last.
So, what say you?
(Note: we are not interested in suggestions of couples counseling, as this is a minor speed bump in an otherwise perfect relationship.)
Well, I would recommend you do individual counseling first, and then have a joint session at least once a… wait, you did NOT want suggestions on couples counseling, whoops
In seriousness, I’d do it the way your girlfriend does it - riding, push, then weedwhacker. You go from largest to smallest, so the easiest method gets most of the grass, then the next level down gets the stuff that the easier method couldn’t get, then the weedwhacker finishes off what’s left.
I have no idea what your logic is supposed to be for your method.
I do the weed whacking and edging first, then the mulching mower can pick up and incorporate those cuttings. If you know your yard then you know beforehand how far out from fences and corners you need to trim to get to where your mower can reach.
Another vote for biggest to smallest. That way you only have to weedeat the areas that absolutely can’t be caught with the mower. I’m a machinist and thats how machining is approached as well, rough it out with the bigger tools and then do the details.
There’s not a “right” way. My lawn isn’t huge, so I don’t have a riding mower. I use a push mower, a weedeater, and an edger, although I don’t have to do all three each time. I use the mower about every five or six days, the weedeater about every ten days, and the edger about every two weeks.
On the days in which I DO use all three tools, the order I do them in depends on the weather – specifically, the heat. Here in Alabama, it can be close to 100 in the summer, with humidity in the 70 to 80 percent range. On those days, I’ll run the weedeater and edger in the mornings, when it’s (relatively) cool. The grass is still wet with dew at that time, but it doesn’t matter for those tasks. Then I’ll use the lawnmower late in the afternoons, when the grass is dry. (Cutting wet grass is not only bad for the lawn, it’s doggone HARD.)
The nice thing about doing it this way is the mower (which mulches) is able to mulch the clippings from the edger and weedeater somewhat. Then I blow the clippings off the driveway and sidewalk at the end. Doing things in this order just makes the yard look neater overall, in my opinion.
We are in the country, and our main lawn area is around an acre with several flower beds, shrubbery, etc. Four hours ignores the once every three weeks that we trim around the pond and orchard.
That’s the way I did it too, although at first, I did it in reverse (mowed, then weed-whacked), so I knew where I could mow, and where I couldn’t. I have no idea how the lawn service guys do it nowadays; I’m at work when they come by.
It never took me more than an hour to both mow and weed-whack, and that’s on a 6000 sq ft yard (minus sidewalks and a driveway).
I don’t have that big of a lawn (no rider mower required), but I believe bigger to smaller is best. Sometimes there’s a week with on-and-off rain daily so mowing time can be limited, and if you get “most” of it right away before it starts raining, that’s a good thing.
Who weedwhacks first? Sheesh. Then you’re weedwhacking stuff the mower will take care of, wasting time and string, and the mower may miss stuff you thought it was going to get and since you’ve already put the weedwhacker away, that grass will be standing tall until the next week.
I’m just gonna go ahead and say it : only a total imbecile would think that weed-whacking first was the correct solution.
Well, my gf admits now that whacking first is the way to go, primarily because it allows an earlier start. At 9 am (earliest she thinks mowing is polite) the grass is still wet, but wet whacking is fine.
ETA: this definitely gives me hand in the relationship!
Husband weedwhacks first, then mows. I mow first, then weedwhack. Or rather, I get him to weedwhack because it’s all fairly new to me and I’m not quite comfortable yet judging distances with it.
However, it seems that all the lawn care has fallen to me lately. I’ll save that rant for the Pit, though
There are places the rider cannot reach. It’s a kubota diesel with a 54 inch cut. We have a push mower for those places and a small but steep hilly spot.
