Push mowers?

[Dragonfly]

Does anyone have one? I'd like to buy one but am not sure where to start!

[swimswamswum]

We looked at them but decided against it b/c we had too much lawn. If you have a small space, they are definitely an environmentally friendly, economical choice. We actually got an electric mower that we've been really happy with. It isn't as environmentally friendly as the push, but it is a whole lot better than a gas mower. (You just have to make sure you don't run over the cord ).

[Snowdrift]

We have a tiny lawn and thought that a push mower was ideal for us. Sadly, it just didn't do a very good job. The lawn always looked very messy.

I'm um, positively insistent on *not* going out of my way to keep my lawn really nice; I object to the whole lawn concept.

But when the trailer park was complaining that we needed to mow our lawn the day after we'd mowed it, we realized the push mower was just not gonna cut it. We ended up with an electric as well.

[mightymoo]

Same here - push mower just didn't cut well or evenly. If you want one, you can buy them at home depot, that is where we got ours - or look on craigslist or similar.

[mamaverdi]

I have a great pushmower, but honestly it depends on the kind of grass you have. And the quality of the mower you buy. We used to have a magnet somewhere around here...try googling and see what you get. Ours was red...

Anyway, St. Augustine it had a harder time cutting. You had to mow more often, but it never left our grass looking messy. But we had another kind of grass in Utah that cut very easily. I miss that grass.

We also occasionally use an electric mower and got wind energy for our electricity.

Ahhh...here's the magnet: www.reelmowersetc.com 888-384-1033

Don't know if the are still in business, but they were helpful and professional.

mv

[rsps]

We got ours at a garage sale for $10. It works fine. I only do the back yard myself, (and not that often) We and 3 neighbors all have the same guys come and do the front lawns, it's pretty cheap and then we're always presentable.
I also have an electric weed wacker/edger for trimming, and if I've let the yard go too long, I do the whole thing with it to get it down to a reasonable length.

[Dragonfly]

My lawn is a mess.

Really, it seems to be mostly wild onions and some weird crawling grass-like substance with a little bit of regular grass thrown in for good measure. We had a lawn service last year but can't afford it this year. And I just can't stomach the idea of walking behind a disgusting, pollution-spewing gas mower. Electric mowers are an option, but I'd really like to be more green.

I'm wondering if a push mower would even work on my lawn. Or if there's some eco-friendly way to get rid of the weeds and get some more pleasant grass growing. (I'd prefer not to have grass at all, but I rent so it's not an option.)

Thanks for all of the input so far!

[Petersmamma]

We started with a reel mower, but we have St. Augustine and it didn't work for us. Our neighbors bought one after we did (yeah!!) but they had the same problem. Our lawn looked REALLY messy, and it is a lot of exercise, which is great unless you have a back problem or aren't in good shape or are hindered in some way.

SO, then we traded for an electric mower, and the people we traded with said they liked the reel mower, so who knows?? Our electric mower is OLD and it doesn't do a great job, either.

SOOOOO, now we borrow a gas mower from one of our neighbors, which dh doesn't like since he's a guy, but I like b/c we don't have to get one ourselves and I figure who cares if our neighbors think they are big men who can loan out a lawn mower!

Anyway, that's just my .02!! I hate lawn mowing, and I HATE gas mowers, but they do the best job, unfortuantely!

[bu's mama]

I have a reel mower & really like it. Our yard is pretty small so it doesn't take awhile & I can have dd outside with me when I'm mowing the lawn. I agree with not liking the whole lawn concept, but I don't know what else to have for dd to run around on. I've started introducing a couple of ground covers to break up the green a bit.

The biggest problem with the reel mower is that it won't cut very well if the grass gets too long, so you'll probably have to pull out the onion grass (I just did this on Saturday ). You also need to keep the blades sharp.

This is the one I have, although Brill is suppose to be the best. I did buy from amazon, though I think I paid $80-90 a year or two ago. I would try freecylce...I'm sure someone has one sitting in their garage!

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

We have a push mower and I love it! You do have to sharpen them a bit more often than an electric or gas mower though. We have a fairly large yard to. You do have to keep on top of it though. If the grass is too long it won't cut as well.

[gmvh]

We have one and use it on a mostly weedy lumpy-from-voles lawn with great success! We got it from www.cleanairgardening.com and it's the Brill Luxus 38. We live on a standard small-ish city lot and can mow the back yard in ~30 minutes. I love it because I can mow early, late, or while my kids are outside with me. We do have to keep up on mowing because dealing with tall grass is much more difficult but I like that I can just pull it down from the porch and mow for a few minutes here and there without much hassle when my children are entertaining themselves nicely. It's a little pricey but has been well worth it for a good quality machine!

[Past_VNE]

We have a reel mower and it's great for us! It does a smooth, nice job and I have no complaints.

I don't know what sort of grass we have, but it's a typical northeastern variety.

[lilyka]

I liked it but it did sort of pick and chooe which blades to cut and which to just roll over. it also got jammed a lot with sticks etc. We use the regular one now because I covet the clippings for mulch for my garden .

It is better for your grass to use the push mower because it gives it a cleaner cut.

[Proudmomoftwinsplusone]

I love having a push mower. The soft whirring noise is almost relaxing. When I used a regular lawn mower, I would get all sweaty pushing it around, and I hated how noisy it was too. Now I don't have to worry about gas, or emptying a bag of clippings. Of course, our lawn isn't too even, but that's ok with me.

[Dragonfly]

Originally Posted by gmvh

We have one and use it on a mostly weedy lumpy-from-voles lawn with great success! We got it from www.cleanairgardening.com and it's the Brill Luxus 38.

This is great news! That's the one I was looking at.

So, yank the onions, rake up the weird crawly stuff, and it should be okay. Think I'll borrow my mum's electric mower to get it down to a manageable level first.

Thanks everyone!

[annethcz]

Another thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to make sure you cut the grass often. The longer it gets, the harder it is to cut.

We have one, but barely use it. It's a craftsman (from Sears). We found that we had to mow about twice a week in order to keep the lawn managable. Any less than twice a week, and the mower would clog with grass. And if you have sticks, leaves, bumps in the lawn, or tree roots, stop before you hit them. It's a PITA to have to stop and pull crap out of the reel.

[Twocoolboys]

Originally Posted by Proudmomoftwins

I love having a push mower. The soft whirring noise is almost relaxing. When I used a regular lawn mower, I would get all sweaty pushing it around, and I hated how noisy it was too. Now I don't have to worry about gas, or emptying a bag of clippings. Of course, our lawn isn't too even, but that's ok with me.

:

[BrendaW]

I love, love, love mine! LOVE!!

With a regular mower, it's an ordeal to get the grass cut - the kids have to be safely out of the way, you have to wear old, protective clothing, the gas, the noise so you can't hear anything, especially your children, and it seems hotter and downright unpleasant. Not something I'd be able to do without another adult to watch the kids. Um, not often that that happens!

With the reel mower, I can pull it out anytime, even with the kids running around, a baby strapped to my back, no worries about safety or not being able to hear them. In fact, if they run up and want to try to push it, no biggie. They aren't going to get wacked in the eye by flying debris or burned by a hot engine or cut by blades. I can get some mowing done while we're playing outside together rather than waiting for another adult to get home so I can "tackle" the lawn.

We have a mixture of St Augustine, centipede, and weeds, in central Florida. The tall weeds it won't get, and I have to either run them over repeatedly or pull them up or give my kids little scissors to cut them down. But we live in a neighborhood with a neighborhood association and everything, and my lawn looks as well-mowed as anyone else's.

I wouldn't suggest it for anything over 1/2 acre, though. I think I got mine from cleanairgardening, too. We've used it for about 2.5 years now.

[frog]

I hated my reel mower. Hated it.

Now, I have an electric that I adore--it's a little like vaccuming the yard, what with the cord and all, but it does a beautiful job and I don't have to mow nearly as often (much to my neighbors' horror, no doubt).

[littlest birds]

I love my reel mower although we have both a reel mower and a gas mower, BUT my reel mower is out of commission as it needs a replacement part so I have not been using this season so far.

I like the cleanliness and simplicity of it, the sound, the ability to carry it around easily and use it around young children so safely. Ours does better job quality-wise than the gas mower if we do it often but it will never work on the heavy fescue we have around our garden. I usually reseed with clover for a number of reasons, and it cuts that softer plant so easily and prettily. With the reel mower in our tiny front yard, I actually go over everything twice (once each direction) and it makes the most beautifully-textured tidy lawn!.

When we first had the reel mower, we thought it did not work very well, but a year or so later we suddenly discovered that you can adjust it so that the rotating blades strike exactly right against the stationary bar and then the cut is perfect. It had not been set right before. So we went from having an awkward tool that didn't quite work to one that worked wonderfully.

Ours is a Husqvarna BTW