On the occasion of the completion of the 25th mowing of my lawn this season, I ask you to consider embracing mowing for a happier life.I suspect there are some who look down on those of us who will admit that we enjoy mowing the lawn. They are probably shaking their heads right now and getting ready to hit the "delete" key on this post.
Perhaps they think we are some kind of faux gardeners, those of us who enjoy mowing. That we are not yet enlightened on the joys of either hiring a mowing crew to mow for us or completely obliterating our lawns so we never have to mow again.
They think we don't get "it".
But I'm still standing by, and on, my lawn. I think it is a wonderful backdrop to the rest of the garden, a place to look to rest your eyes, a sea of green that is calming and cooling.
I embrace mowing.
It's good exercise! I could walk on a treadmill, ride a stationary bike or even jog around the block while a mowing crew mowed my lawn. But where would I be when I was done? Right where I started but with less money in my pocket.
It's good think time! I've mowed my lawn so many times that I could probably mow it with my eyes closed, so while I'm mowing, I'm thinking about a lot of things, and not just about reducing the size of my lawn. I'm solving problems, making lists, and writing entire blog posts, like this one, in my head.
It's a money saver! If you are going to have a lawn, it is cheaper to mow it yourself than to pay a mowing crew, at least around here. All that money I save can be used to buy plants for the garden.
It's relaxing! Or it can be if you embrace it and just get out there and enjoy the exercise and fresh air.
And I'm thankful every time I mow the lawn that I still have the stamina, knees, and strength to mow my own lawn, and I hope I can do so for many more decades.
But even I, with an avatar featuring a woman in a long white dress mowing a lawn, would like to dig up some of her lawn (not all of it) and add another planting bed.
I've wanted to do this for awhile, but had some other areas of the garden that needed more attention, so I worked on those garden beds first.
But now that those beds are more or less straightened out, it is time to dig a new planting bed along this fence.
This bed will be approximately 64 feet long and since it will curve around those trees to include them in the bed, it's width will vary from five feet to maybe 15 feet, so it is a lot to dig up.
But since we've gotten so much rain this year, it is too wet to dig right now, so I have time to decide how to do it.
In the meantime, I'm going to continue to embrace mowing and celebrate the 25th mowing of my lawn this year at May Dreams Gardens.
Comments
What fun you will have choosing the plants for this bed. I can't wait to watch this space evolve into a flower bed.
Your lawn is the perfect foil for your plants. I don't like to mow though no matter what you say. I am lucky in that my DB has taken over the mowing duties since he retired.
Good luck with your new bed; it's so much fun to plan one from scratch.
I, too, love what little lawn I have left. I haven't done much mowing over the summer. I'm looking forward to fall when it starts raining and the grass starts growing again.
I use a John Deere riding lawnmower, and I love. It's kind of zen like.~~Dee
I can envision the new bed and what I see in my mind's eye is absolutely lovely! I look forward to your pictures of the work in progress.
As you know, I'm already on record as liking my mowing time to ponder and think....but my grass is mainly watered by whatever 'leaks' over from adjacent borders and beds. We've had so little rain that there's not much to mow.
Now that we've met in person it's fun to picture the real Carol in that outfit with her mower!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I'm thinking of getting a human powered reel mower, I wonder if I will like mowing as much with it?
Use your extra time to put in a mowing strip while creating that new bed. A brick mowing strip makes mowing so much easier & it looks tidy too.
Too bad all the early heat and drought we've had here has pretty much killed what grass we had.-)
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
As far as the new garden goes...what a wonderful blank palette you will have! I love fences as backdrops. My hubby usually does all the bull work for me (what a sweetie) and he desods it all with what he calls the "persauder"...a flat pick type thing (not sure of the technical name). I can't wait to see what you do with this area. How fun to plan.