Sunday, April 26, 2015

The First Mow of the Season



Ahhh. I finished the First Mowing of our yard the day before yesterday, and it's a satisfying feeling. I feel like we're not truly in the gardening season until the grass has greened up and I've mowed it to be all neat and trim and tidy. I had mowed the little yard inside our picket fence (where the grass greens up earlier) twice already, the first time on the day before Easter, but this was the first time I mowed everything.

Some people might view the first mow as meaning only that I'll again have a weekly chore for the next six months (barring a serious drought), but I still look forward to it each spring. It's so lovely to have green, green grass after looking at the drab non-colors of winter for four months, and if mowing is the price of a trim, tidy, emerald-green lawn, that's okay with me.

The mowing's really not so bad, even though it does take some time, probably an hour and a half to mow the almost two acres of grass that I regularly mow. I have a fast, efficient Zero Turn Radius (ZTR) mower with a 51" deck, so it could be worse. But I have managed to reduce the time I spend mowing by doing the orchard and the grass areas along our driveway only once a month or so -- and last year I let the driveway go all summer and it didn't look too bad, parts of it flowering with what I think was hairy vetch during much of the season.

I use the time on the mower to think about things, both garden-related and other things in life. I find it to be like any other mindless and not physically demanding job that you are experienced in doing -- it can be comforting and familiar. On a beautiful sunny day, it can actually be a pleasurable task.

And I love the way it renders my gardens orderly and presentable. I think of mowing like vacuuming, but outside: I always try to do it before people come over to visit, so that our property will look its best, just as I try to to tidy up the inside of our house before we have guests.

I know that my views are politically incorrect in this age of environmental guilt -- each of us can actually Save the Entire Earth by giving up our lawn! But I live in Iowa, where there's usually enough rain to keep a lawn green without effort, and a freshly-mowed lawn gives me so much pleasure that I have no intention of giving it up, even if I have reduced the areas I keep mowed (simply because I don't enjoy mowing those difficult areas).

Here are a few shots of my yard and gardens, after the First Mow:

The Big Yard, as viewed across the Pond Gardens.

The Back Yard, behind my house. The North Border is at right and the Yellow Garden can been seen at left.

The Yellow Garden and West Island, as seen from the North Island. There's a lot less area to mow in this part of the yard too, after I made these island beds last year.


The Front Yard, with the tulip display still blooming in the Mint Circle. The White Garden tulips can be seen in the center. The grass was obviously pretty long here, as you can see from the clippings.


The Kitchen Garden and Chicken Shed & Run.



The little front yard inside the picket fence. As I mentioned, this grass, which I installed as healthy new sod several years ago and which my husband fertilizes, greens up several weeks earlier than the rest of our yard, so this has been mowed three times now. I dig the weeds out of this small patch by hand (I've already gotten that dandelion you see at the forefront of the photo!).

I hope that you are enjoying the greening up and tidying up of spring where you live as well. Thanks for reading! -Beth

21 comments:

  1. More ways Iowa and California are different: You mean to tell me that once the snow melts the grass grows again without having to reseed it? Here the grass (Bermuda?) goes brown in the winter and looks truly ugly. You can overseed it with a different annual kind, rye, I think, and water it well. But it's not the same grass as the summer grass and it doesn't last. So in SoCal at least you have two grasses, a summer grass and a winter grass. But in Iowa you have the same grass all seasons, is that right? (Personally I've never had a lawn. Live on a steep hill.)

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    1. Hi Jane, Yes, it's easy to have a lawn here -- many people do nothing more than mow it, although some people who want a little nicer lawn will fertilize it and perhaps treat with crabgrass preventer and weed killer to knock out dandelions, etc. in spring and fall. The grass goes dormant in winter here like in California, but there's nothing to do about it except wait for spring, when it will start growing again (sometimes if the summer is hot and very dry, it will turn brown until it rains again), but nobody reseeds unless a patch of it dies out for some reason, like perhaps not enough light under trees. Environmentalists are probably correct that places like California lawns aren't the most practical ground cover in terms of using resources. But here in Iowa it's the easiest thing to cover your yard with -- which makes us raise our eyebrows when west coast environmentalists freak out about lawns and tell us to replace them with gravel or something (which we'd then have to spray with round-up constantly to kill the grass that would keep wanting to grow there...). Local solutions are undoubtedly best. Thanks for reading, and for your interesting information about lawns in California -- who knew? :-) -Beth

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    2. Hi, again, you said it: west coast environmentalists freak out about lawns. Media again. Disgusting. I need to say I think your lawn is beautiful and right for you and I need to thank Linda for reminding me how good new mown grass smells. I'd forgotten.

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  2. That's a lot of turf! I can see how/why you'd think about other things while mowing. The lawns always look best at this time of the year it seems.

    Interesting comment from Jane above about SoCal having two different grasses annually.

    A late spring here in zone 5 Toronto, tulips and daffodils only starting to bloom.

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    1. Hi Paul, Yes, lawns are very different in varying parts of the continent, aren't they. But then again, so are gardens: the things that will grow in them and the timing of planting, etc., and that's what makes travel to see other gardens so much more interesting, doesn't it? I'm glad your Toronto tulips and daffs are blooming now after the long winter. Enjoy the spring blooms! -Beth

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  3. I love the smell of new mown grass. The second mowing or our little patch of lawn in the UK garden has been done!

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    1. I agree, Linda: the smell of cut grass can be wonderful on a warm sunny day. I'm glad you're enjoying your spring ritual too. Thanks! -Beth

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  4. So nice when everything starts turning green! You do have a whole lot of lawn, so I do hope that is a riding lawn mower you have! My husband is allergic to grass, and I like garden beds a lot more than lawn, so I'm on rather a mission to get rid of a lot of the grass we have. I don't mind mowing, though. Like you, I think it's rather a nice task outside. I'd rather be outside mowing than doing any chore indoors :)

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    1. Hi Indie, Yes, I do indeed have a riding mower -- a very fast ZTR one! Good grief, I don't think a person could push mow 2 acres (perhaps it would take all week and you'd have start again by the time you'd finished...). I only use the push mower inside the picket fence. I do understand the desire to replace lawn with flower beds, which are much more fun and interesting -- I've done quite a bit of that, as shown in the 3rd and 4th photos. But beds look best when set off by the calm of a grass plot, even if it's just a little one, I think. And this is a nice time to be outside doing anything, including mowing. Thanks for reading! -Beth

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  5. Hi Beth, Your yard, gardens, and home are just beautiful! We welcome spring in Iowa, such a lovely time! :)

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    1. Hi Beth, This is indeed a lovely time in Iowa, and we're enjoying such a beautiful spring this year. Thanks for visiting! -Beth

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  6. You have a large surface area for mowing the lawn. Your grass is dense and beautifully green. White house looks lovely with her. Regards.

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  7. Oh freshly mowed spring grass..nothing is as pretty. You have a lovely place. Love all the room you have to grow your gardens! Just beautiful!

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    1. Thanks so much, Sonia. I'm glad you stopped by! -Beth

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  8. I love new spring grass, too. I love how thick and soft it is. You have so much space!! Wow!

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    1. Thanks, Casa. The grass always looks nice this time of year, where you live too I'm sure. Thanks for reading! -Beth

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  9. What a way to start off the season! I’m sure it must’ve been a lot of work, but at least you can get that satisfying feeling of having a well-groomed yard. And those closely-cropped grass have made the tulips stand out more, like an island of colors in a sea of green. Anyway, thanks for sharing this with us. Cheers!

    Mike Mcmillen @ Dependable Lawn Care LLC

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    1. Hi Mike, I'm sure you know all the ways to make lawns look great -- I just mow. But it makes me feel better when everything is neat and tidy. Thanks for reading! -Beth

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  10. I learned a valuable lesson last year. I thought leaving some gas in the tank would be a good idea, but between the junk in the tank and the water, the lines froze and it cost me to have the engine cleaned and tuned-up. Empty the tank and you will be in much better shape when the first cut of the year comes.

    Kristina Cobb @ Dennys Lawn

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