The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
#31
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
I have a garden blower/sucker shredder; blow 'em into a big pile, flick the switch and shred them into the large attached basket, then dump that straight in the compost bin.
#32
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Me too, which is good for leaves, but through the season I am mainly blowing mulched grass back onto the yard.
#34
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Guess it depends on the city/town you live in. All my life we have been renters and never had an electric stove. The house we purchased is electric and I absolutely hated it. Since gas lines were already installed on the property (our grill is hooked up to the main gas line), we converted to a gas stove and I'm a far happier.
#35
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 0
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Electric is preferred in BC, most rentals don't even have gas lines since everything is electric.
Last edited by scrubbedexpat091; May 16th 2018 at 8:14 pm.
#36
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
The only lawn we have here that needs mowing is the 1/2 acre enclosed garden and our smallish front lawn. The rest of the acreage is taken care of by livestock, we started leasing our extra land to our neighbour for his cows and are now in the process of getting our own herd of mini Highland cows.
We do have a ride on mower but lately its used for yard cleanup more than mowing, I prefer my walk behind mower as it gives a nicer finish. Cuttings either go on the compost pile or over the fence to the cows, ducks and chickens.
We do have a ride on mower but lately its used for yard cleanup more than mowing, I prefer my walk behind mower as it gives a nicer finish. Cuttings either go on the compost pile or over the fence to the cows, ducks and chickens.
#37
Peace onion
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: Denver
Posts: 5,686
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
We have ducks and chickens; Silkies, Polish, Pekin, White Crested, Cayhuga. We had mini goats when wife lived in People's Republic of Boulder.
#38
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
I have more gardening gadgets than I've ever possessed in the past - fairly hefty ride-on mower, 20" chainsaw and two 14", two gas brush cutters (weed whackers) and one lightweight cordless electric brush cutter that is about as much use as a fart in a colinder, my little 18v Makita blower, that is part of my work tooling, gets abused for clearing the driveway (and blowing out the truck when I get fed up with inch deep aluminium swarf clogging up the floor...)
#39
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,577
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
If you have more than a half acre I recommend s zero turn. When we moved to our new location I bought a Hustler zero turn with a 18-20 hp Kohler engine. They take some getting used to but once mastered cutting the 1 acre yard is a breeze and the wife has learned how to use it and does the grass cutting now in about 30 minutes.
#40
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
For some reason, my Multi-quote function doesn't work. I just spent 20 minutes trying to multi-quote several posts that mention how much the posters adore their leaf blowers.
Anyway, you know who you are, leaf blower lovers, and I have to sadly shake my head at the fact that you all have gone over to the dark side. (Interestingly, most seem to be men, if one can be sure of such a thing on a forum like this...)
Anyway, you know who you are, leaf blower lovers, and I have to sadly shake my head at the fact that you all have gone over to the dark side. (Interestingly, most seem to be men, if one can be sure of such a thing on a forum like this...)
#41
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Many years ago we had a Flymo discussion and it was discovered, deep in the bowels of the Internet, some statements by Flymo UK that "American grass is different" and was far more difficult to cut than UK grass. Flymo units sent to the USA did not perform well.
Here it is, from an email from Flymo to an expat:
Here it is, from an email from Flymo to an expat:
The type of lawn grass in the USA differs greatly from that of the lawn grass in the UK, consequently an electric hover doesn’t perform in the same way or give the same quality of cut. This knowledge was gained from contact with a consumer who had bought a Flymo hover lawnmower with a 240v motor in the UK, and then took it to the USA. He did have a 3 phase outlet which supplied 240v, he tried the machine a few times but found it would not cut as well as he had seen in the UK. He contacted us and luckily we had an experimental 120v motor which we sent to him. After fitting the new motor he found the machine would still not perform as it had in this country.
#42
I have a comma problem
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Many years ago we had a Flymo discussion and it was discovered, deep in the bowels of the Internet, some statements by Flymo UK that "American grass is different" and was far more difficult to cut than UK grass. Flymo units sent to the USA did not perform well.
Here it is, from an email from Flymo to an expat:
Here it is, from an email from Flymo to an expat:
Maybe we should all just get goats, let them eat the grass so we can sit and get shitfaced on the deck instead of having to faff with lawnmowers at all
#43
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Different climates need different grasses. Grass in Britain tends to stay green all year, but in some parts of the US it looks dead for most of the summer (and in others it just dies) and goes green again when it cools back down. My lawn is slowly being taken over by some wild grasses that grow much faster and less consistent than the rest.
#44
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2015
Location: Near Lynchburg Tennessee, home of Jack Daniels
Posts: 1,379
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
#45
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2015
Location: Panama City, FL
Posts: 2,033
Re: The American Way of Doing Things - Lawnmowers
Different climates need different grasses. Grass in Britain tends to stay green all year, but in some parts of the US it looks dead for most of the summer (and in others it just dies) and goes green again when it cools back down. My lawn is slowly being taken over by some wild grasses that grow much faster and less consistent than the rest.
We bought a John Deere ride-on mower about 12 years ago. It's been very reliable. I put a new carburetor on it last year as the old one was gummed up after winter. A new one was easier than trying to clean the old one.