Mowing in Comfort

Reasonable comfort anyway. Unfortunately my stamina and physical abilities have lessened over the past year or so. I may not have a very big garden by some standards, approximately 3,600 square feet with about two thirds grassed. It had reached the stage where I couldn't get it all cut in one session and needed some time to recover afterwards. Walking back and forth pushing, or even following a powered mower, I cover over a quarter of a mile.  I mentioned a while back I had been to a mower centre to have a look at ride on mowers. On a second visit I made my mind up that the smallest one they had would just go through my gates to the back garden.  It was delivered a few days ago and I gave it a quick try out.



Battery starting so no heaving on bits of rope. Forward and reverse accelerator pedals make manoeuvring easy. Comfy padded seat which is just as well as there is more than a bit of vibration. Hardest is steering. After years of driving cars with power assisted steering one forgets how much effort it can take. I did find operating the long lever which engages the cutter needed both hands to pull as it is stiff and has the be engaged slowly otherwise the engine is liable to stall.

Yesterday the weather was fine enough to gave it a full run and soon got used to the various levers for engaging the cutter (need to press two pedals at once to cut in reverse), choosing cut height, etc..  Best of all, myself feeling fresh and lively when I had finished.

Still need to use the strimmer or battery mower to finish off awkward corners but  the ride on breaks the back of the job.

It would possibly have been cheaper, even in the long run, to employ someone or rely on generous, helpful neighbours to cut the grass but I hate the thought of not being able to do things for myself when there is a solution to the problem.