push-power mower

[Annpan]

Hey, not sure where to put this... but maybe someone with a clue would stumble over it here.

My new house has a huge unkept garden really looking forward to getting stuck in to it . However there is ALOT of grass at the moment, and it is unwieldy and looks like it hasn't been cut for a year or 2. It is on a hill (not steep, but defo. a hill) and it is about 150 - 200 yards away from the house (at the furthest point) so electric mower is not really possible, unless you had a cable that long which is just silly.

Sooooo... do you think that a pushy mower would work on it? I am petrified of the petrol driven ones, they are unwieldy dirty and noisey, not to mention not very eco-tastic I have enthusiasim, elbow grease and a bit of weight that could do with being shifted so not really bothered about effort.

OH wants a goat I don't mind as long as hes going to milk it (which I know he won't) and get it through the house into the garden

[9ball]

You could try a scythe
I don't have any personal experience, but read that article yesterday on downsizer.

Tom

[baldowrie]

push mowers are really only any good for small lawns. Have you thought about a rechargeable electric one? Petrol would be best though.

[baldowrie]

here's an example, there are other makes.

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PI ... rer=Kelkoo

[Jarmara]

you could try some sheep instead of goats. Perhaps if you let someone graze there animals on your land for free they might let you have some meat in return or some other barter

[Annpan]

you could try some sheep instead of goats. Perhaps if you let someone graze there animals on your land for free they might let you have some meat in return or some other barter

Its not that big a garden... so no, although I will be getting chooks, so they might be able to keep it down a bit. There is a field of sheep at the back, maybe I'll just let one in for a few days a month. Any one fancy helping me chase a sheep out of my garden

push mowers are really only any good for small lawns. Have you thought about a rechargeable electric one?

Yeah I saw the rechargeable ones, I was considering storage space and affordability along with running costs, so rechargeable is probably behind petrol on that front at the moment

[Muddypause]

I think you'd be wasting your time with a rechargeable mower. They're really only for lightweight work; from what you describe, it sounds like you need something fairly heavy duty. I think even a big plug-in mower would have its work cut out. A push-along is for 'lawns' - y'know; short, manicured grass with an even surface; cut twice a week; for playing croquet and eating cucumber sandwiches on.

A scythe sounds good, maybe cheap, and a lot of hard work. A medium sized perol strimmer might work well if the undergrowth is dense. A rotary mower if it's just a case of getting the grass under control. If it was me, I'd use it as an excuse to get hold of an old Allen Scythe.

Don't forget that you can hire mowers and strimmers from your local hire shop, and for a day's hire you'll be able to get something far more heavy duty than you could ever justify buying.

[Jack]

Gidday

150 to 200 yards away, now I would suggest you should forget about trying a scyth and definately no to consider a push mower as that is a serious sized bit of land for that sort of thing.

I would suggest getting someone in with a small tractor or something because it will only be a one off. Otherwise, get some animals and if oit had not been cut for that long cattle would be best.

If you are only going to be gardening it you will only need to tramp it down.

Don't buy stock just for that amount of grass as it will not last so you would end up totally overstocked.

[Annpan]

Thanks all

Got quite exited about the Allen Sythe, but I can't really justify it. Not really keen on a rechargable one so thats ruled out, push power now sounds a bit of a no go for me (croquet and cucmber sandwiches on the lawn at 3... nah!) Tom linked to a sythe page...hmmm, looks good. - until he started going on about spiritual benifits, man, I just wanna cut my grass

OH is super keen on a pushpower mower though but looks like we might get a sythe - instead or aswell... I don't know, you know what men are like when they want a new toy

[9ball]

That Allen Scythe looks fun, like a gigantic hair clipper. Really no excuse for me to get one, although it would be excellent for leaving a goatie beard of wild flowers or maybe a mohican of hay...

[Dendrobium]

How about rabbits? Make a big frame and cover with chicken wire, and move it around every few days, they'll snip it down to a close crop, plus leaving lots of pellets you can add to your compost!

[red]

yeh I was going to suggest rabbits - we used to keep them in a sort of ark - and move them every day to a new bit of grass. now and then let them out for a proper run around.

[paradox]

How about rabbits? Make a big frame and cover with chicken wire, and move it around every few days, they'll snip it down to a close crop, plus leaving lots of pellets you can add to your compost!

Brilliant idea but remember rabitts tunel very fast

[Wombat]

Or a chook tractor.

If your rabbit hutch has a chook wire bottom the rabbits will be able to eat the grass but not tunnel out, too!

I have been using a push mower on our lawn for years and once you get over about 2 inches it is VERY tough going.

I like the scythe idea myself!

Nev

[Annpan]

Update:

Next door neighbour had cut the grass a few weeks before we moved in (with a mini tractor thingy) So it was a bit better than we had expected.

Got a push mower and borrowed a strimmer and have tackled the bits near the house (2 small lawn bits) considering the grass was 1 foot tall it did not too bad. hard work but now that it is down we should be able to keep it under control. As for the rest of the garden, well alot of it is going to be for veg, fruit trees and a poly-tunnel eventually so we are going to get a rechargeable strimmer for the bits we need to keep down and tramp down the rest.

The push mower may well be a bit more hard work to start with but a huge plus side is that it takes up very little room in our small shed and you can carry it with one hand straight to the grass and get going . No pluging in, making sure you don't run over the wire or checking oil or petrol. After you have finnished you just need to brush off any grass and give a spray with WD40 occasionally. Really very low maintanance and I would suggest to anyone who has a small amount of grass to get one