Green mowing devices are better for you and the environment—and they leave a nicer looking lawn, too.
May 15, 2008
Cut the fumes and turn to green mowing devices
Sheldon Ridout worked in landscaping for six years before he saw the light: gas-powered lawn mowers were making him crazy.
Ridout was tired of going home smelling of gas fumes and with his ears ringing from the deafening noise. That noise had also earned him scowls and complaints from neighbours: some had thrown bottles thrown at him, while one man had set off firecrackers at his feet.
Not that he could really blame them. “You fire it [the mower] up at eight in the morning, and people aren’t going to be happy to see you.”
Ridout converted to hand-pushed reel mowers and other green lawn-care equipment eight years ago when he started his own landscaping company in Vancouver, the Silent Gardener (www3.telus.net/public/sridout/). He says reel mowers are much lighter than powered devices and easier to push, and they do the job faster because clippings can be left where they fall. They leave a nicer looking lawn, too, and there’s a distinct lack of noise.
“It’s just more pleasant not to be working inside a wall of sound,” he says on his cellphone from a landscaping site.
Simple steps to a greener lawn
› Don’t trim your lawn too short.
Two or three inches is best, to avoid damaging grass roots. Aim to remove just the top third of the blade.
› Shorter clippings can be left on the lawn to decompose and put nutrients back into the soil. Clippings can also be used as a layer in your compost or as mulch to prevent weeds in your garden, as long as the grass hasn’t gone to seed.
› Reel mowers are less effective on long grass, so cut regularly—once a week or two.
› Mow your grass when it’s dry so your mower won’t rust. Clean off blades after use and oil lightly.
› A sharp blade is your friend. Be sure to sharpen once or twice a year.
› If you’re considering going hard-core with a scythe, look for a lighter European-style blade and a handle (or snath) custom-fitted to your height. Online retailers also usually offer instructional materials—handy, as scythes can be tricky for newbies to use and maintain properly.
Ridout is part of a growing movement of homeowners and rebel landscapers turning to green mowing tools to shave their grass—a backlash against the pollution belched out by gas-powered mowers, which spew out as much smog-forming emissions as 40 new cars when in use, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.
With 2.7 million Canadians mowing their lawns each summer weekend, Statistics Canada says gas-powered lawn devices release 80,000 tonnes of pollutants in Canada annually, using 151 million litres of gas.
The green-mowing trend has even fuelled a comeback for the scythe, the thousand-year-old implement favoured by the Grim Reaper and rebelling peasants.
At Maine-based ScytheSupply.com, owner Carol Bryan says business has grown 15 to 20 percent annually, and 30 percent of her clients are women or couples.
Bryan’s models aren’t the heavy, old-school scythes your grandfather might have wielded. They have ergonomic handles custom-fit for users and ultra-light blades, and weigh around two kilograms—half the weight of conventional models.
“We get what I call the ice-cream-cone factor. People see someone with one, and they want to get one too,” she says.
Although scythes remain in short supply at most retailers—they’re generally available only at some rural hardware outlets or online—major retailers are noticing greater demand for ecologically friendly mowing equipment. The Home Depot Canada has its “Mow Down Pollution” program, which in April offered customers who turned in a gas mower a credit of up to $100 toward a new electric or reel mower. The program has seen growing numbers of switchovers each year, with 18,000 mowers turned in since 2001.
Ridout complements his fleet of reel mowers with a long, scythelike bladed stick he uses to lop off overgrown grass. He said demand for his green approach is exploding, with his company’s sales shooting up 20 to 30 percent in each of the past eight years.
One factor in this trend is that reel mowers tend to leave lusher, healthier grass, which requires less weeding, watering, and fertilizing. That’s largely because of the way they slice grass like scissors, instead of lopping and tearing it as rotary gas-powered machines do—making reel mowers the implement of choice at most golf courses, according to Ridout.
“It [the reel mower] does a way better cutting job,” agreed Roberto Gaudet, owner of Vancouver’s Living Canvas Organic Gardening and Lawn Care (www.mylivingcanvas.com/). “Not everybody in the landscaping industry keeps their tools sharpened. If the [mower] blade is not super sharp, it’s going to pull and tear, which isn’t as healthy for the plant.”
The result can be yellow tips forming at the ends of grass blades and a greater susceptibility to disease.
Gaudet uses a couple of other nifty devices, including a one-wheeled reel mower useful for trimming around flower beds and a bladed, scythelike tool similar to Ridout’s. He said green mowing takes a little longer than using a gas mower, but ultimately it saves time, because the lawn comes out healthier and needs less maintenance.
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