Archive for the ‘mowing’ Category

The agony and the ecstasy of Bluegrass

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

BluegrassI am not certain what it is that drives us to have green yards.  It must be something very powerful.   I mentioned in the spring 2006 post, "True leadership," that I mowed the yard for the first time on March 29 this year. 

The last mowing of the year, pictured to the right, was November 30, 2006.   That is eight months of mowing the yard.  I managed to get out of a few this year, but that is still a lot of trips around the yard.  When you figure the bluegrass in my yard starts growing in early March and will still grow some in December, there is not much down time even for grass.

There is absolutely nothing that feels as good on your bare feet as a lush bluegrass yard.  Yet  I have to admit there is something nice about Centipede  grass which is often seen in coastal Carolina. It stops growing and turns brown in October.   It might not feel as good on your feet, but you don't have to fertilize it in the fall, and it probably needs to be mowed about half as much as bluegrass.  Unfortunately it probably will not survive the Roanoke area winters.

Maybe we should get some of our land grant colleges working on a cool area grass that does not need to be mowed very often.  Just think how much time and fuel we would save. 

We could just give up on yards and let them go natural or turn them into vegetable gardens.  With the number of deer that wander through our yard (see Bitter tomato harvest), vegetables would never work here unless maybe we plant collards, brussels sprouts or something else inedible to man and beast.  The deer even cleaned out our pansies by the front step.

Fortunately the human memory tends to dull the things that are a pain so I am sure that by next March, I will be ready to mow once again.

Posted in Bluegrass, Centipede Grass, Gardening, mowing | Comments Off

The magic of good neighbors

Sunday, October 29th, 2006

Fishermen_1It's all in the neighborhood.  The shot to the right is of some early morning fishermen near the Highway 58 bridge close to Emerald Isle, NC.  They're in a pretty good neighborhood for finding fish.

I just seem to be in good neighborhoods for not having to mow my yard.  I've written about our crew of middle aged mowers on the hill before in "The First Mowing of the Year" and "The Last Mowing," but I haven't mentioned the good luck I've had recently in not having to mow our two yards.

In early September, with some partners we closed on a second home near Swansboro, NC.  That meant that I picked up a second yard which needed mowing not long after closing.  Since we didn't have a lawn mower in Swansboro yet, we arranged for a lawn service to mow the yard.  We were back in Roanoke when they were scheduled to do the first mowing. I was surprised to get a phone call from them.  They said something like, "Did you get someone else to mow your yard?" They had found the yard already mowed when they went out to mow it the first time.

I immediately called the real estate agent and asked if he knew who had mowed the yard.  He said they had been trying to figure out themselves how the yard got mowed.  We were down a couple of weeks later when I was sure that I would find the yard needing another mowing.  It looked like it had just been mowed.  It was then that I decided there must be a lawn fairy in the bushes.

The next morning I saw my new neighbor outside.  It didn't take him long to confess that he instead of a lawn fairy was mowing our yard.  Though he didn't say it, I think he was so glad to have the construction done next to him that mowing seemed like a small price to pay for having a neat yard next door.

You don't find many neighbors like our new neighbor.  He immediately offered to finish out the  mowing season for us since we didn't have a lawn mower at the house yet.  True to form he mowed it again before our next trip down.  Now the centipede lawns in our subdivision on the coast have gone dormant until next spring so I'm completely off the hook.

Of course the lawn in Roanoke is a different story.  I did contract to have it mowed a couple of times and managed to mow a couple of times between the rain storms the last time we were up on the mountain.  As I wrote in the "The mowing countdown," my Canadian psyche has a problem with December mowing which is often required in Roanoke.  Even in Roanoke things usually slow down in October and November, but this year the grass has grown like spring.  It's been a challenge for the middle aged mowers especially considering how much we've all been traveling.

This morning I got pictures in my email from my across the street neighbors of the new "Lawn Doctor" service that was mowing our  yard.  It wasn't exactly what you might think.  It was another neighbor mowing my yard.  Once again I'm off the hook for a while.

All I can say is that I really know how to pick neighbors.  I've lived in lots of spots, but none of them before Roanoke and Swansboro have ever had neighbors who would mow my yard.  As I've often said, neighbors make the neighborhood.

Posted in NC Crystal Coast, NC Crystal Coast, Neighborhood, Roanoke, Swansboro, mowing, neighbors | Comments Off