How would you mow this bank?

How would you mow this bank?

Author
Discussion

Japveesix

4,477 posts

167 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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SmithCorona said:
Agreed. Cannot undertand the desire for a perfectly mown lawn - all my land is a wild mess at the moment, intentionally and the amount of insects, flowers, birds and other animals is fantastic.

This really should be encouraged in private properties as it is in fields.
Agreed entirely. Our garden gets a little bit wilder every year. We keep enough lawn (grass full of flowers anyway) to sit on and my son to play on but he prefers the bushes, ponds, mown paths and what not anyway. Paths to follow and places to hide are far more exciting for toddlers than an immaculate green stripey lawn.

We get a huge amount of wildlife because of it. Constant birds that always amaze anyone who visits, hedgehogs wandering about last night, various newts and slow worms, frigs and toads, foxes and badgers etc. And that's all in a modest semi-urban ex-council garden.

Some of the 2 acre+ gardens on PH could be full on nature sanctuaries if they were managed for the benefit of wildlife.

Edited by Japveesix on Monday 16th May 09:10

rustyuk

4,568 posts

210 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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Our house is built into the side of an old slate quarry so to say the lawn is slopped would be an understatement. The top of the garden is higher than the roof of the house.

Mowing the hill is a back breaker so I removed the turf and we are replacing it with creeping thyme.

DS129

137 posts

70 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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Definitely make it into a wild flower bank

NDA

21,494 posts

224 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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I have an almost identical bank which I mow with a small, self propelled petrol rotary mower. It works perfectly.

If you didn't want to spend on another mower, try a bigger and better strimmer - and do it with more skill! smile

You can get a nice finish with a strimmer if you persevere - remove the cut grass afterwards of course.

AndyC_123

1,115 posts

153 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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Japveesix said:
hedgehogs .......... and badgers
In my experience, that won't last long unfortunately

Lanby

1,106 posts

213 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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We have a very similar but longer bank and over the years I've used various machines:
petrol rotary mowers - too heavy and cumbersome to manoeuvre
electric rotary mower - cable is a pain
electric hover mower - blummin hard work as they never hover / cut / collect the grass properly
various petrol and electric grass trimmers - wherever you stand to trim - top, bottom or side-on, they are just awkward to use comfortably

It does help getting sample machines from the manufacturers but I find the easiest to use is a cheap lightweight non power drive battery mower like Qualcast, McGregor, etc - as long as you can get a replacement blade, battery and charger it shouldn't need anything else.

The plan is to create a pathway along the stream edge and plant wild flowers once I get round to sorting this area of the garden.








Edited by Lanby on Monday 16th May 17:53

Snow and Rocks

1,800 posts

26 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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For those advocating wild flowers it's worth remembering that there's more to it than just leaving the grass uncut. It might look good for a year or two if you've been mowing it previously but it soon just becomes an overgrown mess if left completely alone.

I do have some areas of dedicated "wildflower" and quite a bit of actual wilderness but as i posted earlier alongside our track i went for a sort of hybrid approach.

I planted lots of spring bulbs and now leave it alone until mid summer, when it's strimmed back hard with all the clippings removed. I then leave it to grow until late autumn when it gets strimmed hard back again.

This keeps the effort down but keeps things looking relatively tidy along with lots of colour in spring and early summer. Removing the strimmings is slowly reducing the grass growth allowing other plants to compete.

SmithCorona

581 posts

28 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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I think that's good advice - and a similar approach to what we are taking. Though, there is quite a bit of "wild growth" or at least that is my excuse!

ewanjp

361 posts

36 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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For a similar issue I got a bosch manual push along off fb market place for a tenner. Weighs nothing. Was sold as broken but it just needed to be set up as per the manual.

NDA

21,494 posts

224 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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Lanby said:
We have a very similar but longer bank and over the years I've used various machines:
petrol rotary mowers - too heavy and cumbersome to manoeuvre
electric rotary mower - cable is a pain
electric hover mower - blummin hard work as they never hover / cut / collect the grass properly
various petrol and electric grass trimmers - wherever you stand to trim - top, bottom or side-on, they are just awkward to use comfortably

It does help getting sample machines from the manufacturers but I find the easiest to use is a cheap lightweight non power drive battery mower like Qualcast, McGregor, etc - as long as you can get a replacement blade, battery and charger it shouldn't need anything else.

The plan is to create a pathway along gate stream edge and plant wild flowers once I get round to sorting this area of the garden.


That is lovely - but very tricky! Not sure I'd want to mow or strim that too often. smile

bill swizz

83 posts

186 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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I have a couple of slightly steeper banks. One is in the middle of the lawn separating two levels. This is cut with the robot mower - Husqvarna, but I can't remember which model. It has absolutely no problems with it. The bank at the edge is left as wild flowers, but is a separate zone for the robot mower so gets cut once or twice a year when we manually switch this zone on in the settings.
You do need to cut the wildflower zone at least once a year as other wise tree seedlings will start and you'll soon find it is a wild hedge, though that may be good too.

https://robolever.com/best-robotic-lawn-mowers-for...


gfreeman

1,729 posts

249 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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I had a house once with a 12' bank on two sides.

A trick shown to me by a landscape gardener was what worked for me. I had an old petrol flymo hover rigged up with a rope. Dangerous if you slip over and down the bank but that was half the fun.

You just stand at the top and pull it up and down - with a bit of practice I could swing the thing like a pendulum - and all done in no time.

Not sure how the toy electric flymo would fare though - might need to junk the grassbox, play with the handle angle and bypass the switch?

NDA

21,494 posts

224 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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gfreeman said:
A trick shown to me by a landscape gardener was what worked for me. I had an old petrol flymo hover rigged up with a rope. Dangerous if you slip over and down the bank but that was half the fun.
It's how my brother lost his toes on one foot. True.

Captain Raymond Holt

12,230 posts

193 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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NDA said:
gfreeman said:
A trick shown to me by a landscape gardener was what worked for me. I had an old petrol flymo hover rigged up with a rope. Dangerous if you slip over and down the bank but that was half the fun.
It's how my brother lost his toes on one foot. True.
I used to live down the road from a guy who had a bloody big bank, 15-20 foot and he mowed it that way. At the bottom of the bank was the top of a wall with a 5foot drop off, to the pavement…. eek

gfreeman

1,729 posts

249 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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NDA said:
gfreeman said:
A trick shown to me by a landscape gardener was what worked for me. I had an old petrol flymo hover rigged up with a rope. Dangerous if you slip over and down the bank but that was half the fun.
It's how my brother lost his toes on one foot. True.
Ouch!
Steel toecaps essential. I also had chainsaw trousers and thick gloves. Should really use a harness as well but it then goes from dead easy to a right faff

gfreeman

1,729 posts

249 months

Monday 16th May 2022
quotequote all
Captain Raymond Holt said:
I used to live down the road from a guy who had a bloody big bank, 15-20 foot and he mowed it that way. At the bottom of the bank was the top of a wall with a 5foot drop off, to the pavement…. eek
Jeez!

Did he have the toes missing from one foot?

NDA

21,494 posts

224 months

Monday 16th May 2022
quotequote all
gfreeman said:
NDA said:
gfreeman said:
A trick shown to me by a landscape gardener was what worked for me. I had an old petrol flymo hover rigged up with a rope. Dangerous if you slip over and down the bank but that was half the fun.
It's how my brother lost his toes on one foot. True.
Ouch!
Steel toecaps essential. I also had chainsaw trousers and thick gloves. Should really use a harness as well but it then goes from dead easy to a right faff
Yep. But this was in the 1970's when we didn't really think about health and safety in the same way. The flymo was on a rope and was tugged up the bank a bit too enthusiastically landing on top of his supermarket issue rubber wellingtons.

mcelliott

8,626 posts

180 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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Snow and Rocks said:
For those advocating wild flowers it's worth remembering that there's more to it than just leaving the grass uncut. It might look good for a year or two if you've been mowing it previously but it soon just becomes an overgrown mess if left completely alone.

I do have some areas of dedicated "wildflower" and quite a bit of actual wilderness but as i posted earlier alongside our track i went for a sort of hybrid approach.

I planted lots of spring bulbs and now leave it alone until mid summer, when it's strimmed back hard with all the clippings removed. I then leave it to grow until late autumn when it gets strimmed hard back again.

This keeps the effort down but keeps things looking relatively tidy along with lots of colour in spring and early summer. Removing the strimmings is slowly reducing the grass growth allowing other plants to compete.
Even long grass's can be home to a myriad of insect life, and stuff like Dandelion,Buttercup,and Clover will quite happily grow in an untended bank.

ATG

20,488 posts

271 months

Monday 16th May 2022
quotequote all
Make like the Grim Reaper and use a scythe. As no one ever said, "Strimmer for show, scythe for a pro". Pretty easy to learn how to use them, a damn sight faster than a strimmer and can handle much more than a strimmer can. Woody stuff, you want a brush cutter, but for stuff like nettles, brambles and tall mature grass, a scythe slices through them at a hell of a rate, yet can also give a really clean low cut to fine grass. No fuel, no batteries, no trailing cables. You just need a sharpening stone in your pocket to hone the blade every now and then. If I'm trimming round the edges of raised beds or whatever, then out comes the strimmer. But to knock back tall grass and nettles or work on awkward slopes, scythe.

jagnet

4,095 posts

201 months

Monday 16th May 2022
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ATG said:
But to knock back tall grass and nettles or work on awkward slopes, scythe.
yes Love my scythe:



Plenty of steep banks, awkward slopes, etc here. Scythe every time.

Nice to see someone else appreciating the benefits of one beer