{"id":1825,"date":"2004-05-28T08:26:39","date_gmt":"2004-05-28T13:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2017-02-13T00:39:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T00:39:17","slug":"a-reel-mower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/garden-essays\/a-reel-mower\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reel Mower"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a combination Mother Day’s\/birthday present, I got a reel mower, which arrived yesterday. After a bit of research<\/a>, including going to look at some at Breed and Home Depot, I decided on American Lawnmower’s 1815-18<\/a>. It is supposed to work best on our coarse St. Augustine grass and it has the highest blade level. (As summer progresses I mow higher and higher, so that the leaves of grass shade its roots.) We purchased the mower on sale at amazon.com<\/a>. When the UPS man delivered it, he was so excited. “Look what I brought you. Man! I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid. I can see what you’re going to be doing this holiday weekend.”
\n
\nThe only assembly required was to attach the handle, which we did in about ten minutes. Then I was out cutting a swathe through my sward in the twilight. The reel mower is lighter than my old gas-powered mulching mower, and it has larger wheels. So pushing it is not only easy, it’s actually easier. I feel very smug indeed.<\/p>\n

ADVANTAGES
\n* no need to buy gas or motor oil
\n* quiet (I can listen to the iPod<\/a> when I mow)
\n* no gas fumes (healthier for me and everyone)
\n* cuts grass with a neat swipe which reduces brown edges
\n* doesn’t throw rocks; I’m not afraid of hitting something that’s going to puncture me as I mow
\n* easier to start (just push)<\/p>\n

DISADVANTAGES
\n* doesn’t mulch
\nI relied on my old mower to mulch leaves on the spot. Not only did this save me the trouble of raking them, but it fed the grass and improved the soil.
\n* can’t handle woody-stemmed weeds in my “wild” garden
\n* can’t set the blade as high as on my mulching mower.<\/p>\n

Update: 2007-11-06<\/h3>\n

After three years I decide that I really need a mulching feature on my mower and buy an electric mower<\/a> to replace it. I give my reel mower to a neighbor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, I really preferred a lawnmower to cut flowers. I’m just that kinda girl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[163,221,284,285,403],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5086,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}