How would you mow this bank?
Discussion
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.This really should be encouraged in private properties as it is in fields.
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
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!
You can get a nice finish with a strimmer if you persevere - remove the cut grass afterwards of course.
If you didn't want to spend on another mower, try a bigger and better strimmer - and do it with more skill!
You can get a nice finish with a strimmer if you persevere - remove the cut grass afterwards of course.
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.
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
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.
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.
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. 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.
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...
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...
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?
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 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. 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. 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 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. 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
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.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.
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.
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