Our New Lawnmower is Reel Cool!

Our last house had a giant yard......our current house has a small patch of 'grass' in front.  I use the term grass loosely- the landscaping has been neglected for so long it's mostly leaves and weeds.

We used a riding mower to cut the yard before...but that was going to be a bit much for our little patch of lawn.  Our intention was to go get an electric mower that I could easily start.  After looking at our options, and realizing that we would need a 200 foot power cord from the outlet in the garage to the front yard, we took the plunge and decided to try a reel mower.  Lowe's has a 90 day return policy, so we thought, "why not?"

Well, so far, so good! On the pro side: it's really quiet and lightweight.  It uses no gas or electricity, so it's very eco-friendly.  The model we chose has an adjustable blade height, so that's a plus, too. The cons are: it uses no gas or electricity..you have to PUSH it! You really do need to add some elbow grease.  It doesn't do well over the bumpy tree roots- we have to go back over some areas with the [gas powered] weed-eater. On our first time out with it, two separate neighbors asked if we wanted to borrow their lawnmower!

The verdict is: I think we are going to keep it.. for now.  We'll have to see how it works with the thicker grass this summer.  I think if we can remember to walk it around every couple of days, and not let the grass get out of control, we will be fine. Who knows? Maybe I'll look into some drought resistant landscaping options and render our 'reel cool' lawn mower obsolete!