Manual lawn mowers: the ecological way to mow the lawn

Remember when the only person who used a push lawn mower was your grandpa or that kid down the block who mowed your yard for a couple bucks. Times are different now and the trend towards a greener lifestyle has brought the push mower, or “reel” mower back into fashion.

It’s a simple principle that mows the lawn, a spiral-shaped tube, or actual number of blades rotate on a mount according to how fast or slow you push the mower. Newer push mower designs far exceed the cutting power of mowers that are even a few decades old. Newer metal compounds allow for sharper blades that stay sharp longer.

The new push mowers are also quieter than their grandparents, but they still require a certain amount of effort to produce their results. While it might take him 45 minutes to mow his lawn with an electric lawnmower, he will probably take about 60 minutes with a push lawnmower. The work is equivalent to a light aerobic workout with the added benefit of making you feel good about yourself.

Reel mowers don’t cut tall grass like marsh grass very well and don’t do well with sticks or rocks, but then what mower does? But as long as you mow regularly, which means the grass never gets too long, the procedure will be relatively easy for lawns up to 4 or 5 thousand square feet, and up to about 7,000 if you have a helper.

For regularly cut lawns, a grass catcher is not needed. One of the advantages of the push mower is how it contributes to the health of the lawn by recycling the grass. Grass clippings left on the lawn add nitrogen to the lawn which acts as a natural fertilizer.

Your alternatives are petrol lawn mowers which, considering the pollution they exude, are really no alternative. The average gasoline-powered lawn mower produces about 10 times more hydrocarbons than the average car. This is not a very eco-friendly way of mowing the lawn.

There are also electric lawnmowers and apart from their use of electricity, they can be a pretty eco-friendly way of doing it. Of course, they suffer from cord length issues, but for a little more money you can get one of the new cordless electrics. Electricity really makes a difference when lawn size exceeds 6 or 7 thousand square feet.

In conclusion, if you mow your lawn regularly, enjoy some gentle exercise, and want to give something back to the planet, then a walk-behind lawn mower is the best option for easy and healthy mowing.