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May 20, 2008
I have a lawn mower. A powerful, stinky, loud, gas burning lawnmower. It was purchased many years ago when I bought my first house and I needed it to cut the lawn I had suddenly obtained back in 2000. You might be wondering what does this has to do with a path in Native Suburbia, where there is no lawn.
Now that Benia and I have created Native Suburbia in our yard, the lawn mower is only used once a year. Due to the close proximity of other houses, we have been hesitant to burn our native plants. In fact, I doubt such activity would ever be approved by the village of Bartlett. So in the Spring I have been using the lawn mower to mulch everything. This year, just as I was finishing the yard, I broke the pull string used to start the lawn mower. This made me consider alternatives to fixing it. Using it once a year may not seem too bad compared to the many times I drive my car, but the gas lawn mower is a powerful symbol of the the lawn lifestyle that I have rejected.
Things are getting a little more complex as I have determined that the mower may provide a solution to another problem we are having. Anyone that has seen the pictures of Native Suburbia knows that there is a flagstone path through the entire yard. The gaps between the stones are begging to be filled in. As the plants in our yard continue to multiply and thrive, we get many volunteers to occupy those gaps. Unfortunately, these volunteers would like to grow to be several feet tall, which is not conducive to path walking. In the past, we have been hand pulling anything tall that grows between the stones. This is a time consuming and back breaking chore. It also leaves bare dirt in between the stones except for the wood sorrel that pops up in some places. So getting back to the mower, I am back to considering a mechanized solution to keeping the path in a walkable condition.
I considered a cordless electric string trimmer. Of course the primary benefit would be a powered tool without the gas engine. It's portability would allow me to trim the path without dragging a cord all over my tall prairie plants. On the downside, it would leave tiny bits of nylon cord all over the yard. I may not be able to see them, but I would know that I was putting them there. I wondered if there was a more permanent solution to the trimming string. I wonder what would happen if I used a thin diameter, braided steel cable in place of the nylon string. If both ends were bound tightly it seems like it would last forever against mere plant material. It might be a little more dangerous, but even the nylon string could cause injury. So I would just be a little more careful and stay away from fences with this new mecha-trimmer.
I also considered a cordless electric lawn mower. This would be more powerful than the string trimmer, but also a lot heavier. It has metal blades that will last a very long time. It may still be able to serve the function of mulching my yard in the Spring in addition to maintaining the path during the summer. I just do not know if it will have enough power. I did a ton of review reading online and people either love these things or hate them. It is difficult to know how their experiences would relate to my needs. I also imagine that it would be faster and easier to clear a path by making a single pass over the path with this mower. The stones only make the path about 18" -24" wide anyway. I imagine the string trimmer would require a bunch of waving about to accomplish the job.
So I am still not sure what to do, but I have "weeded" the path once this year already and I would like to avoid a second time now that my back is healed up.
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