How big a yard is reasonable to push mow?

[Jason Roehl]

Our long-term plan is to reduce the amount of grass we have by replacing it with things we can eat, or at least enjoy looking at. I suppose once our current lawn mower dies, a reel mower is not out of the question. One less engine to maintain. We have about 1/4-acre, the house is a bi-level with a ~1100 s.f. footprint and some trees, including a gulley on the one end of the property. It takes me about 20 minutes to mow with a push mower, the kids take a little longer, but there's only about 5 years of them mowing left available to me.

[Brian Elfert]

At least one person mentioned rocks instead of grass. Here in Minnesota, rocks don't work all that well. What typically happens is the rocks get full of dirt and weeds and grass starts growing in the rocks even with landscape fabric underneath. I have river rock at the bottom of both sides of my driveway five feet wide by 30 feet long. Dirt has washed in and weeds and grass have taken over the rocks. I end up mowing the rocks just like the lawn. I pulled up all the rocks and washed all the dirt out of them once. It was absolutely back breaking so never again. Rocks in Minnesota can take as much work as grass to keep them nice.

Rocks make a lot of sense in southwest US where there it is fairly dry and the rocks stay nice without a lot of work.

[Matt Meiser]

Jason, when you get there check out the Earthwise battery-powered mowers. That's what my brother bought and he loves it.

My Husqvarna dealer is also my John Deere and Stihl dealer. Stihl refuses to sell big box but John Deere sells those D-Series mowers in the big box stores and they get stuck servicing them, when its even possible to. They have a whole D-Series graveyard of a few year old tractors that are "totaled" because they need $1500 in repairs to the steering deck, trans, etc, etc. Then people (like a friend's mom) think John Deere is junk because John Deere does make that D-Series junk. I don't even get why they would want to compete in that market.

We put in lava rock when we first moved in and experienced the rock/dirt phenomenon. Plus the ice broke it down. Seems to work better in suburban settings with less dust and where its often slightly raised. But NO ONE around here does their yard in rock. And doing ground cover takes a lot of maintenance too.

[Mac McQuinn]

I have between a 1/3 to 1/2 acre, corner lot with 17 large trees, small island and some split rail fencing. I use a JD JX75 Self propelled mower and it takes me 1 hour and 40 minutes to cut/mulch, trim/edge and blow the driveway off. I bought this in 1999 and it's been a very good mower with basic maintenance. Has 5 or 6 speeds and will fly in high. I run it in the next gear down due to a bum ankle. Does an excellent job mulching.
Mac

[Brian Ashton]

I see what you mean (in further explanation) is not really what you said. Essentially you said that everyone who CAN afford a riding lawn mower SHOULD have one. In further responses you state essentially that if you WANT a riding lawn mower and CAN AFFORD a riding lawn mower then you SHOULD have one. I have never met anyone who could not afford a riding lawn mower. You can buy them often times for around a $100. I saw one the other day for $50. On the other hand, there is a lot involved in WANTING a riding lawn mower. You have to either want to spend a lot of time or money on maintenance. You have to have some REASON to WANT the mower. Some way to justify the expense. Most people buy one because they say it saves them time. Some people buy a very expensive one to impress the neighbors. There are a lot of reasons to want a riding lawn mower but there are a lot of people with enough money to have a rider and yet they still don't want one. There are many millionaires who have no yard to mow, and various other reasons not to want a rider. Push mowing the yard is good exercise, is not so hard on the environment, gives you a reason to exist, etc.

But then again if you have the money... pay a yard maintenance guy to do it instead.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I owned and loved my craftsman mower.... but, when all those plastic pieces broke, they cost more to replace than if I could use real metal replacement parts available from a local shop that repairs and sells things. I finally gave up on it and purchased one that the local shop can service. Sears sent all their stuff out of town, I would wait a couple of weeks, and then they would usually say "sorry, could not fix it, here is a new one under warranty"; Of course, that was a line trimmer, but, I went through so many of them that I now only purchase that sort of thing from someone that I know can repair it for me if it breaks. The irony is that they sold me better quality and I have not had to have it repaired

I figure that if you own a riding mower, you will probably also own a push mower for those small areas, so, try the push mower first and then see how you feel. If you are too tired or it took too long, then get a riding mower. Wait, this kind of advice probably means I need to turn in my man card. Buy the rider, even if you only have two square feet of lawn to mow!

[Jason Roehl]

Jason, when you get there check out the Earthwise battery-powered mowers. That's what my brother bought and he loves it.

I hear the battery-powered mowers are improving, but batteries don't last forever, so it would still be a maintenance item. No matter the power method, the blades have to be sharpened, so I may as well get something that ONLY needs that and no more. By then, hopefully we will only have a minimum of grassy area to mow.

[Gary Muto]

Consider all of the seasons.

I always had a riding mower and most of my homes had less than 1 acre. 8 years ago we moved into an urban neighborhood and I got rid of the rider. This year we bought a house on 2/3 of an acre that backs into some open area. I just mowed for the 1st time it took me over 3 hours. I was amazed but probably mowed 3/4 acre. Future mowings should be faster and probably bi-weekly.

Anyway, I started cosidering a riding mower and am really averse to the storage space required of all things. I started discussing it with my wife and I recalled what I really liked about my rider... the huge rear bagger. With all of the leaves in MI falling in Autumn, it was a huge time saver. In CO that is not the case so I will likely keep walking behind a SP Craftsman 22".

When I got rid of the tractor, i got a snowblower. it is easier to store and there is no changeover.

I think I would mow at least up to 1 acre with a walk behind.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Yep. And you still got off cheap.

Visited the folks a few weeks ago.

Dad told me pretty much the same thing when I was there.

Next month he will be 89.

[Roy Harding]

At least one person mentioned rocks instead of grass. Here in Minnesota, rocks don't work all that well. What typically happens is the rocks get full of dirt and weeds and grass starts growing in the rocks even with landscape fabric underneath. I have river rock at the bottom of both sides of my driveway five feet wide by 30 feet long. Dirt has washed in and weeds and grass have taken over the rocks. I end up mowing the rocks just like the lawn. I pulled up all the rocks and washed all the dirt out of them once. It was absolutely back breaking so never again. Rocks in Minnesota can take as much work as grass to keep them nice.

Rocks make a lot of sense in southwest US where there it is fairly dry and the rocks stay nice without a lot of work.

That was me that mentioned rocks. We've only had ours in for one season now - and I'm beginning to see what you mention. We live in "The Great Bear Rain Forest", where moss grow on the asphalt shingles on the roof - I'm beginning to think I made a mistake.

We'll see what happens, but I suspect you're correct - rocks are a mistake in this climate. (DAMN!!)

[Bill McNiel]

Interesting, I just came in from mowing our lawn, a little over 3,000 SF. I have a John Deere riding mower (42") that I bought for my wife when I was working in the Islands (basically the conversation went like this "if you want the lawn mowed while you are away then either hire someone or buy a rider"). I also mow the areas along the comon driveway and two neighbor's lawns just because it looks better and it only takes another 15 minutes or so. We've had the JD for 8-9 yrs and have never any maintaince issues other than oil change and blades, it isn't the BORG type.

[Garth Almgren]

We've got over 30,000 sqft of lawn on our acre, several trees, and a JD D100 42" rider. It takes me about an hour and 15 minutes to do the whole lawn, and I can't imagine using a push mower. I'm sure it would take me at least twice as long because of the much narrower deck.

My previous house, I had less than 100 sqft and mowed the lawn in about 3 minutes with a reel mower.

[Matt Meiser]

I hear the battery-powered mowers are improving, but batteries don't last forever, so it would still be a maintenance item. No matter the power method, the blades have to be sharpened, so I may as well get something that ONLY needs that and no more. By then, hopefully we will only have a minimum of grassy area to mow.

Yeah, they told him figure 5 years--based on that they'd been selling them 5 years and the first batch were just coming in for new batteries.

[Mark P. Miller]

That was me that mentioned rocks. We've only had ours in for one season now - and I'm beginning to see what you mention. We live in "The Great Bear Rain Forest", where moss grow on the asphalt shingles on the roof - I'm beginning to think I made a mistake.

We'll see what happens, but I suspect you're correct - rocks are a mistake in this climate. (DAMN!!)

I agree. I can say from experience that rocks and gravel are miserable in wet climates. Unless you're willing to just spray everything down with roundup all the time, rocks and gravel take a LOT more time to maintain relative to a grass lawn. Gravel much more so than larger rocks, but still...it's amazing to see what's able to grow even with limited substrates.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Matt & Jason I've got just what you need....

Compromise between push and ride & low overhead