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Many of today's new homeowners are looking for environmentally friendly solutions to yard maintenance. Reel lawnmowers are not a new idea, but they are gaining in popularity. Environmentally conscious homeowners are giving up their self-propelled, petroleum powered mowers for the old fashioned, muscle powered versions in record numbers.
Reel lawnmowers differ from typical lawnmowers in several important ways. Invented in 1830 by Edwin Budding, the manual push mower allowed even the middle class to maintain a lawn easily. Mr. Budding's lawnmower didn't have an engine and was self-propelled the old fashioned way, you propelled it yourself. The design is fairly simple; several blades are mounted on a circular frame. The blades spin around, perpendicular to the ground, cutting the grass as they pass. Early models were made of steel and were quite heavy and difficult to push. Today's lighter plastics and metals make the newer reel mowers much easier to use than their predecessors.
Reel mowers are attractive to environmentally conscious homeowners for several reasons. First, they don't use gasoline and oil, so they have no harmful emissions. Accidents are less frequent with reel lawnmowers as well. Once the user stops pushing them, the blades stop spinning. Engine powered lawnmowers cause millions of accidents annually, but accidents caused by reel mowers are far less frequent, and usually much less severe.
Reel mowers are typically less expensive to purchase and maintain than engine mowers, making them attractive to the budget conscious consumer. Upkeep consists of a little lubricant and occasional blade sharpening. Initial purchase prices are a fraction of the souped up rotary mowers on the market today. Manual push mowers are great for exercise as well, with many users substituting a good lawn mowing session for one of their weekly jogs.
Another benefit of using a reel mower is noise reduction. Except for the occasional grunt of the user, these mowers are virtually silent. Grass cutting at midnight and early in the morning without disturbing the neighbors is a possibility with reel mowers.
Of course, there are disadvantages to these manual mowers. Their operation requires a lot more effort than gas or electric powered mowers, and they aren't as easy to maneuver. Reel mowers don't typically collect your cuttings and can't cut twigs and sticks. In fact, sticks tend to jam the reel mechanisms. Manual mowers don't cut tall grass or shred leaves as well as engine powered mowers, so more frequent lawn maintenance and raking is required.
A reel lawnmower might not be the best choice for a 5 acre plot. But for today's urban homeowner with a small yard, the benefits and cost savings of manual lawnmowers make it a green choice for lawn maintenance.
When the average person thinks of grass, they think of the short, green stuff that covers our lawns. But there's a vast variety of grasses out there that you can use as "ornamental" grasses, to give your lawn a unique look.
Grass comes in all sizes. There are ground-hugging grasses, there are shrub-sized clumps. There are upright tufts of grasses, there are "mop-top mounds" of grasses, there are "arching fountains" of grasses.
"True grasses" include lawn grasses, cereal grains, and a few "showy" pieces such as bamboo. Yes, bamboo is a grass. However, even though they're not true grasses, cattails, rushes and sedges are also termed "ornamental" grasses.
Stem Stylings
True grasses all have narrow leaves, and their cylindrical stems are hollow. Cattails have those distinctive brown, cigar-shaped flowering structures, and solid stems. Rushes have solid stems. They also don't have the nodes that grasses have. Sedges don't have nodes. They have solid stems - and the stems are triangular but cylindrical.
When you're planning your ornamental grass garden, you must know how the grass grows. Some grasses are clump-forming - they stay where they've been planted. Creeping grasses, also called runners or spreaders, do exactly that...they grow over the ground.
For your beds and borders, you'll want to use clumping grasses. Your creeping grasses will be splendid on any slopes.
Growth Cycles
Various grass species have different growth cycles, just like flowers. Annual grasses die after one growing season, while perennials will come back year after year.
Now when you get to your perennial grasses, there are two basic types of those: cool-season and warm-season. Cool-season grasses start growing in the late winter or early spring. Examples of these are fescue grasses and golden wool millet. Warm season grasses include evergreen miscanthus, pampas grass and fountain grass.
Ornamental Grass Colors
Ornamental grasses run the gamut from bright red and cold to copper, bronze, steel blue and silver. Some stay the same color all the time (when healthy), others change color according to the season - so it's quite a delight to plant these and be able to track the seasons as their hues change.
Shady Sides
If you've had a problem growing grasses in your landscape because there's shade everywhere, don't despair - simply choose those types of grasses that do well in shade! However, there's another contingent you have to deal with - is the soil in that shade evenly moist, or is it dry. The grasses might like the shade but the wrong soil will not do them any good, so make sure you have the right kind of soil for the grasses you choose.
Grasses that flourish in the shade include oat grass and sea oats, crinkled hair grass, snowy woodrush, and golden wood millet.