How to Take Care of a Grass Lawn Without a Mower
Maintaining your grass lawn without a mower can be easy and pleasurable. You can enjoy the outdoors in your yard without the roaring of an engine or added expense of fuel and machine upkeep. Try these green alternatives and spare the earth and your family the noise and air pollution of modern mowers. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Mother Nature as an Ally
-
1
Reduce your labor in maintaining your lawn without a mower by planning to cut the grass and pull any weeds in it during the third and fourth quarters of the moon phase. Timing your grass cutting in this way will naturally retard the growth of your lawn. You will need to buy the current-year edition of the "Celestial Guide" and or the "Farmer's Almanac," as both of these books chart the moon's phases in easy-to-read form and also contain a wealth of gardening tips.
-
2
Use a hand scythe, which will become your best friend in keeping the grass down without a mower. This ancient, simple tool has been employed for centuries and basically consists of a 3- to 4-foot handle with about a 12-inch serrated blade positioned parallel to the ground. The use of the tool can be likened to a golfer's swing, and it is used in the same sweeping motion as a golfer uses to hit the ball. The long blade grazes and cuts the top grass layers. Use the scythe to gradually manicure your lawn by hand and get a little exercise in the process! Who knows--it may even improve your golf game.
-
-
3
Employ a hand edger to cut a nice line around the border of your lawn after getting the grass to the proper level with the scythe. This tool consists of a 3- to 4-foot handle with a blade at the end of it like a circular star that rolls like a can opener, cutting and defining the territory of your lawn.
-
4
Buy, rent or borrow a pet goat for another way to partner up with nature in the maintenance of your lawn without a mower. A tethered goat will eat everything in sight and can be used to take down your lawn one section at a time. The goat will be happy to trim your lawn for you--so much so that you'll need to move it every couple of hours or so or it will eat your lawn to the ground. Goats also love flowers, vegetables and shrubs, so be sure you only have it tethered where you want it to eat, because it won't differentiate between what's "OK" to eat and what isn't.
-
5
Plant something else besides grass on your lawn for another alternative. Reduce the need to clip the lawn by simply having less of it. How about trying a vegetable or flower garden instead? The choice is yours. You must decide how you would rather spend your time: cutting and trimming the lawn by hand, caring for a goat who'll do it for you or harvesting edible vegetables or plants of beauty instead.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Always cut and weed during the third and fourth quarters of the moon.
Goats are friendly creatures who will love eating your grass, but they do eliminate a lot, so be prepared. They also love to "butt" things, so never stand or bend over in front of one and be careful if kids are around. A goat will chew up everything in sight, so keep it tethered away from what you don't want eaten! Otherwise, they are friendly household pets and respond to the good treatment given them.
