Ok, I know, it’s a crazy subject, and I started writing this for October’s Tribune, but then the Da Vinci Machines Exhibition was so exciting, I had to write about that. I thought my effort was wasted as by November, mowing would no longer be an issue. But hey, who’s to know...
Why have grass as a topic? Because we have wild grass (weeds), not a lawn, grass grows particularly fast at this time of year. In fact, last weekend the yard looked wonderful, and today I realised it needed doing all over again. This has been going on for two months. Can you believe it?
During this time we had to replace our old push mower (it’s now being used in Peter’s small yard), and the ride-on mower died for the last time. It had been resuscitated many times over the years by Yass Outdoor Power.
Good rules for lawn mowing
I enjoyed reading the metaphysics of lawn mowing blog on the smartset link. He had some fun advice. From his dad, he got these rules
1. To maximize efficiency and, thus, save energy, plot the yard into squares and mow inward from the outer edge.
2. To prevent the engine from overworking and, thus, save gas (petrol), always position the discharge chute away from the square.
3. To extend the life of the mower and, thus, save money, always service the machine according to the manufacturer’s specifications.
4. Have a cold beer afterwards.
I liked his rules as they sounded a lot like my father’s, but my father would have drunk a root beer instead of a beer. However, the scary part was that this guy (a teacher) likes mowing the grass! It made sense when he went on the talk about grass cutting as transformative because you can see the results immediately. I must admit I do like this part of the job.
Perfect Height?
I really don’t know but the dummy site says never to cut off more than 1/3 of the grass height at one go as it is really hard for the plant to keep growing if it loses more than this at one go. So, this means you may have to cut very high and then a few days later recut.
Lawnmower museum
Has anyone visited the this museum? The music on the site was quite something. According to this site, “The lawnmower was invented by Edwin Beard Budding in 1830. He was working in a woollen mill in Stroud, Gloucester, where he designed a machine originally to trim the knap off the cloth, destined for Guardsmen's uniforms. His revolutionary idea was to use it to cut grass! At the time people thought he was a lunatic and a madman to use such a contraption, so he tested the machine at night so no one could see him.” I guess it beat using sheep or goats!
Eco friendly
Petrol lawnmowers are said to be more polluting than cars due to the inefficiency of small engines; and according to a 2001 Swedish study, as reported in the Science Daily “The air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline-powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride.”
So we could go robotic solar where we have no work to do and it will charge electrically. This has to be better for the environment and it’s certainly quieter’ however cost may be high.
Solar Husqvarna has a solar powered lawn mower that may be just the thing: quiet, non-polluting, and looks cute. However, I haven’t asked the price...yet!
That’s a machine
I just read about the casmobot robotic commercial mower. Now that is a machine! Casmobot is Computer Assisted Slope Mowing Robot. Interestingly, the Casmobot is being semi manually controlled by a Nintendo Wiimote. From games to work; sounds good to me.
Sayings
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. “- The Gospel According To Zen
Grass is the cheapest plant to install
and the most expensive to maintain.
-Pat Howell
Oh well, guess we’re lucky to have a green spring!
Links
http://www.thesmartset.com/article/article08051002.aspx
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/mowing-your-lawn-the-right-way.html
http://www.gardendigest.com/grass.htm
http://www.robomow.com.au/robomow/features/
http://www.fieldrobot.dk/index.php/casmobot
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010529234907.htm
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