Posts Tagged ‘new mower’
Yes Mow
While I firmly agree with the philosophy of “No Mow May,” for our labyrinth, yesterday was Yes-Mow-April. Even though there was one area that remained surprisingly saturated to the point of being ill-advised, the rest was good and held up well to the inaugural cut of the season.
This is the first time we have been in a position where we could get ahead of the growth before it got out of control and that feels wonderful. The labyrinth is looking the best it has ever looked at this time of year and is just lacking the growth of new shoots and fresh leaves on all the plants to reach its most impressive appearance.
As long as I was doing some mowing, I couldn’t help pulling out my newest addition to our battery-powered landscape management tools, the zero-turn mower. I had already driven the mower around enough to realize it would take me some time to master the nuances of operating the independent drive wheels by separate levers but I had yet to actually cut any grass with it.
I should probably make a sign for the mower that says, “Student Driver.”
Navigation in close quarters, say, along the wall of the barn or beside a fence, is fraught with uncertainty. My hasty reactions to correct my heading tends to be wrong, leading to hapless attempts to counter the mistake with overcorrections that exacerbate the misdirection. Holding anything close to a straight path is a worthy victory for me. It will take time to figure out how the 360° rotation of the front wheels ends up contributing to my difficulty in maneuvering.
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There are some new skid marks in the turf where I struggled to turn around on a slope where the earth beneath the grass was soft and wet. That’s a cost I must bear for being too eager to cut before the ground is truly dry. This year I just seem uncharacteristically eager to get the first mowing done before the grass gets overly tall.
Future occasions will only get better as I gain experience and the ground becomes more firm. At the rate this spring weather is struggling to pull away from winter, firmer ground may not happen for many weeks. I may rely on the trusty push mower to do much of the cutting while the soil beneath the turf remains more like Jello® than normal dirt.
Or, I could simply adhere to the directives of “No Mow May.”
Naaaaah.
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Same Result
Last fall I bought a new yard tractor to mow grass. It’s a level up from the model we took on from the previous property owners, with a much sturdier mowing deck and improved steering. Now that I’ve had an opportunity to use it a couple of times, I’m able to judge its worth.
Performance is improved in all areas except one. Despite the inclusion of hose fittings to wash the underside of the deck with water, it collects grass and needs cleaning just the same as the previous one.
Since it was new, I decided to give the suggested water cleaning steps a chance, despite everything I’ve heard debunking the method. It just seems wrong to be getting the nooks and crannies of metal parts wet.
The results were as underwhelming as I’d expected.
Having mastered removing the deck for cleaning on the old mower, I figured it would be just as easy on this one, allowing me to turn it over to see the results directly.
In total neglect of checking any instructions, I boldly forged ahead to remove clips at the attachment points. Right away I realized, there was no handy lever to release tension on the belt. That didn’t stop me from getting it apart, but I knew it was going to complicate getting it all hooked up again after I was done.
Flipping the deck quickly revealed the gross limitations of the water method for cleaning. That might work if all you did was cut a short length of grass blades from a lush lawn. My reality involves a lot more weeds, small branches, dirt, and dust, combined with occasional areas of thick, too-long grass which packs on a complex brick of debris to the underside of the deck.
The sprayed water didn’t come close to being effective enough.
When it came time to reattach the deck, I made multiple futile attempts before finally wrestling all the clips in place at all the attachment points. All that remained was to get the belt over the pulley.
No matter what contortion of positions I tried, I didn’t have enough hands or leverage to muscle that belt in place. I knew there must be a logical procedure I wasn’t figuring out.
Yeah. This is the part where I went inside and consulted the manual again.
Surprise! There is a little square hole on the arm of the tensioning pulley intended for the post of a ratchet driver that would allow for enough leverage to get the belt over the engine pulley. Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that?
I also learned that I had removed two clips too many, which complicated the task unnecessarily.
So, cleaning the deck ends up being the same result as the old yard tractor, but properly informed, it will ultimately involve an easier process of removal and re-attachment.
Overall, I’m happy to report being very satisfied with the upgrade!
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Relative Something 