The Metaphysics of Cutting Grass | Hacker News Reader

The Metaphysics of Cutting Grass

thesmartset.com

20 pointsrobg9 comments

Some years ago, I was mowing completely the lawn with a petrol-based lawnmower but I found the following negative points to do so:

- Lawnmowers (petrol or even electronic) are very noisy (by so reducing your "metaphysics"/brain activities while mowing) - Cutting the grass too regularly is not helping the biodiversity and killing the wildlife (a very short grass is not attractive especially you are missing the wild flowers) - The petrol-based lawnmower needs to be properly operated and take sometime of setup/maintenance

Usually, why are we completely cutting the grass? Because it's a social activity and a social perception that is nice to have very short grass in a garden.

So I gave up and only cut some paths in my garden using a simple cylinder mower (not noisy, clean and slow enough to not kill all the wild life). The rest is kept as high grass. What a difference... you can see the wild life, the flowers and the wind nicely moving the flowers and the grass. The large section are cut manually once a year (usually end of August) with a scythe.

What I learn and benefit for doing so? I'm now able to enjoy a mixed grass with small paths, wild flowers and next to my kitchen garden bringing biodiversity and helping my vegetables to grow with auxiliaries animals.

The best part is the social interaction I got by doing so. Usually a lot of visitors, at a first look, ask me why my grass is not cut and I have large islands with high grass and just small paths. But after a walk in the garden? They like it and are wondering why they are completely cutting their grass.

For the metaphysics of cutting grass, it's even better. You can enjoy even more your garden and meditate in front of the wild life activities or the wind blowing the flowers.

Ah, "Hacker" news.

Three days ago, Zed Shaw told us how to take a poo. Yesterday, walking. Today, mowing the lawn. Where will it go next?

I would enjoy mowing the lawn more if I didn't hate emptying the bag of cuttings. I always wind up trying to mow that last little bit when the bag is full so I don't have to empty it twice, but then the bag gets really heavy, and it becomes markedly unenjoyable.

Alas, I may not find his Zen in lawns :(

So don't bag the cuttings. Just discharge them onto the lawn, they vanish in a couple of days, and return nutrients to the soil.

Edit: or use a mulching mower, then you don't even really see the cuttings, though they struggle if you let the grass get very tall between cuttings.

I like the idea, but in my experience that simply results in a lot of brown dead grass on top of your lawn. If there's enough of it, it even kills the live grass.

I do not find his Zen in lawns either, but for different reasons. For me, it's the layout of the terrain. I'm so worried about bumping into trees, bushes, gardens, and stumps that I can't afford to "zone out" for very long. Plus the electrical chord must be kept at a safe distance from the mower. To him, mowing the lawn is akin to taking a shower. For me, it's more like a struggle.

Ah, the cuttings bag. That's the best part: it goes on my garden (eventually). Of course, it's better when I can have the kids do the cutting :-) This leaves more time for the zen of gardening for me. YMMV.

Grass is not even healthy for you, the other stuff that grows is. And let's not talk about all the chemicals that you need to put to support that grass.

Mowing with goats:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mowing-with-goats.htm...

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