My wife and I have bought a new house, and are currently in the middle of the sale of our townhouse. Moving from a townhouse to a free standing structure with no HOA, or strata corp, cutting the grass is now up to me.

So. Our new yard isn't big enough to warrant a gas mower. Any gas in it would go bad before the end of the season. I really don't like electric mowers, what with having to drag around a cord. Done that. Real pain in the neck. What I'm getting at is, and my mind is pretty much made up anyway, what do you guys think of those manual push mowers? The kind your grandparents used. My mother still has my grandpa's push mower.

I know they are a lot of work. I know you have to keep on top of the lawn with it or you'll be hopelessly fighting it the whole way. But my wife also wants the best lawn in the neighbourhood. (New subdivision) And honestly, for a lawn that's probably smaller in square footage than our first apartment, only to get smaller with the installation of an interlocking brick patio, why would I need a powered mower?

I'm sure one of our neighbours will have a riding lawn mower. The property behind us is supposed to be huge. But then, there are properties smaller than ours who will probably have powered mowers too.

Basically, I'm looking at this as an opportunity for exercise. Push mower and a rake. No leaf blower. So what do you guys think?

Is it cheaper to get a push mower or a gas mower?

 

Have you ever used a push type mower? I did as a kid and boy was it work!
Just how much yard do you have to mow? What if it 'gets' away from you....meaning that for some reason you can't mow it and it gets pretty deep?

I say buy a cheap power with a proven Briggs engine and use it. That way you can get the yard done quicker and have time to take a walk or exercise to stay in shape.

 

If you don't decide on a push mower (great idea).

Look into those old "state of the art" Hover mowers.

They can be hung on a hook of your garage wall.

EDIT: Push Mowers can often be found at garage sales & Flea Markets for cheap

 

Hover mower:

http://www.hovermower.com/

Rake what? You can get a push mower with a grass catcher.

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/reelmowers.html

 

 

If your yard is that small, I'd get a cheapie 18" gas mower.
Those push mowers are bad enough, but in the heat of July and August, you'll throw it thru your windshield. :-)

Just buy a 1 gallon gas can, it should be OK for a cutting season, unless you keep it in the sun.

 

It sounds like you're the perfect candidate for a reel mower (what you call a push mower). I bought one at a garage sale a few years ago and it works nicely. I honestly don't don't consider it much more work than a powered mower. On our hilly lot though, anythings a workout (fine by me).

It's not even all that bad if you happen to let it grow for a while. We did last year and I automatically broke out the old gas mower. Well, it wouldn't start so I decided to try the reel. It worked just fine. If it gets higher than the reel forget about it, but it doesn't sound like that will be a problem for you.

 

I would still buy a cheap gas mower. The cheap ones dont have self propelling functions, so you can get that old school feel. If the grass gets a bit out of hand, you wont be hosed completely.

 

I thought the same way as you bigrigfixer when I bought my house. I bought the manual edger and a reel mower. Our gardner (ME) did not see the benefits after the 3rd time. bought a gas one but when it craps out will get one of the rechargable ones.

My father-in-law bought one of those rechargable mowers from Home Depot. Charges up in a few hours, has more then enough power to mow the lawn and no gas or cord to mess with. and pretty quiet.

I can't seem to make the stinkin link work so go to homedepot.com and put part number CMM1000 into the search. it will pop up the Black and Decker 19 In 24volt cordless mulching mower.

 

you can cut the grass whenever you want with a reel mower(sunday morning for example)

 

Ive seen gas mowers at walmart for 99 bucks, or buy a used one for cheaper

 

How big is it exactly? If its THAT small, just weedwack it! If its too big to weedwack, then its big enough to warrant a push mower (18-21inch gas mower.. i'd get self propelled, but thats up to you..)

 

Well, it can't be more than a thousand square feet. Idunno. After figuring out how small my new yard will be, I might not be against an electric mower. See, the last time I cut grass with an electric mower was when I was about 12, we had a 120x60' lot, 90% grass. But with a front lawn of 10 by 10, and a back lawn of 20 by 40, you can understand why I won't need a gas mower. Then again, I can buy a cheap piece of crap gas mower for about 150 that spits grass out the side without the bag.

Still not sure which way I'm gonna go, but if I do get a gas mower, it's gotta be a rear bagger.

Even with the reel mowers, there's a difference in size. 14" vs 18" means fewer passes, but more effort. Or more passes with less effort. Or a battery powered one guaranteed to do a 3000 square foot lawn on a full charge, but it costs as much as a gas mower. Then, there's the golf green mower starting at 1200. That's the one I want, but heck, that's half way to a good used Crown Vic.

I'll probably end up getting a used one at a garage sale or something for less than 50 bucks. Wait and see I guess. From what I understand, you can't cut fresh sod for a couple months anyway. So, we move in at the end of August, by the end of October, mowing season is over anyway. Unless you guys know better. I ain't no horticulturist, or even a gardener for that matter.

 

You can cut it when you can tug on it pretty good and it doesn't move easily. Miracle Gro will also speed up the growth on the new sod and no worries about burning it.

 

Big, here's a few thoughts to consider:

*Since your grass area is ultra small, consider borrowing or even renting a gas mower a few times to see how it works out. Yes, WalFart has cheepie gas mowers and they are even cheaper without the bag but why put $ into something that you're not yet fully committed to. Remember, these tools, trimmers, mowers, etc take up space so thus if you don't have a shed you have to look at this stuff in your garage. And you have to walk (climb) around it.

*A push reel mower makes sense and I would do it too, if you don't have terrain that makes the job miserable. As noted, they have bags. They are pretty compact and I'd expect that it can be hung from your garage wall.

*I"m not a greenie to say the least, but an electric rechargeable, no cords and that BS, might work out. They have mulchers so you can bypass the bag. The ones I've seen are push type. But, and IMO, mulchers suck because they result in excessive thatch build up. This results in your sprinker system heads going deeper over time (turf level will rise) and the need to power rake more often. If your grass is very tall when you mow, the remains from a mulcher result in a brown look to your grass for a few days; this goes away as the grass grows and hides the remains. The greenies will argue that the grass clippings decompose and fertilize the lawn and you're not filling up the landfill. I guess you get to decide on this. Personally, I have had thatch problems so I'd pay someone to cut it and remove the clippings before I bought a mulcher.

*You mentioned gas consumption. I mow 9,300 sq feet when I mow my place. My 5HP Briggs, along with a weed whacker and blower use about 1qt of gas per cutting. Overall, my grass is very thick and the mower is working hard.