My Lawnmower Confession

By rogersgar169

For one dollar per address, I would manicure the neighborhood into a fine green carpet, every blade perfectly in its place. An old push mower at first gave way to a bright red gas-powered rotary mower. Eventually, I worked up to the Rolex of mowers at the time, a McLane front-throw, self propelled, 7-blade, 21 inch beauty. Briggs and Stratton, 3.5 horsepower with a fire-hydrant yellow finish. It was the envy of the lawn mowing neighborhood.

But maybe I dislike mowing lawns because I now see the insanity of the process. Fertilize and water incessantly to make the millions of tiny green blades grow quick, tall and straight. Once they do, push the fancy metal machine over them and slice them off, back to where they were before the water and fertilizer. Feed, water and slice. Feed, water and slice. Repeat each week indefinitely. Hmmm.

Now this just doesn’t seem like gardening to me.

Perhaps my disdain for lawn mowing stems from its impact on the planet. One hour of lawn mowing might produce as much air pollution as driving a car from here to San Francisco. In an urban area, like Orange County, lawn-and-garden equipment accounts for as much as 30% percent of all the ozone-forming emissions. I don’t think Al Gore mows lawns.

Turfgrass is thirsty. Lawn watering is by far the largest use of domestic water in California. More fertilizer, weed sprays and fungicides are used on lawns than any other part of the garden. Once the water goes on, every other day usually, many of these chemicals end up in our bays and oceans.

Mowing a lawn just isn’t gardening to me anymore. Now I see gardening as tending to plants. Plants that are creatively arranged, coming in and out of bloom or leaf, changing with the seasons. Gardening involves creativity, a subtle observation of natures ways and an understanding of the interplay of soil, light, air and water. I’d rather plant, prune, pot, mulch, weed or rake; I’d rather do anything in a garden than mow a lawn. Lawn mowing isn’t for me.

I must now confess. Last week I bought a lawn mower. Yes, I won a lawn mower. Oh my.

It’s the first time I’ve owned or pushed a lawn mower in about fifteen years. Not surprisingly, I still knew exactly how to do it. Start at the perimeter, and then zigzag in long straight rows from one side to the other. Memories of Grace Street and a dollar a home.

You see, I moved to a new home and a new garden about six months ago. It has a lawn; actually three lawns. Pretty pitiful examples of the lawns, but by definition I think that’s what you would call them. I don’t like lawns and I didn’t want any lawns, but there they were. I plan on removing the grass and converting the spaces to more creative uses, a California meadow, a succulent garden, a Mediterranean bulb area, a protea garden and an edible garden. But I have much work to do before then, soil work, irrigation work and hardscape work. In the meantime, I have three green carpets to manage.

Goodwill provided just what I wanted, and at only $39; an electric, self mulching model. I justified my actions in this way: at least I wasn’t using an unregulated hydrocarbon-producing, ozone-depleting, gas-powered machine. With the self-mulching feature at least I wasn’t creating more green waste. Buying it at Goodwill at least kept a small scrap of metal from the junk pile. I rationalized the purchase.

When I’m done with the lawnmower, in a few months I hope, I’ll bring it back to Goodwill for the next person to use. Maybe a father will buy it for his twelve year old son, willing to mow neighborhood lawns for a dollar apiece.of their gardens.

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