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Sunday 24 March 2013

Gardening emails

I've received a few emails about my Gardening Notes post and it comes as no surprise that all of you raise a similar concern - how do I snow mow?

My lawn is currently under nine inches of snow, but this is the time of year I always give it a first cut. However I'm not sure which mower to use. I have a Flymo and a traditional Bosch cylinder mower for leaving a perfect striped effect which for some reason the neighbours find so amusing. What do you suggest?
Mr B F of Buxton  

Snow on the lawn is certainly a common problem in certain areas of the country. It is a consequence of global warming as we all know, but that doesn't resolve the ticklish issue of correct mowing, does it?

This afternoon I tried my Flymo on our lawn, which like that of Mr B F in Buxton was covered in nine inches of snow.



The effect was really quite surprising - an almost total whiteout as you may gather from the picture taken by my wife when my Flymo snowstorm was nearing its height. Luckily she always makes sure she has the camera ready whenever I try one of my "experiments".

Unfortunately I couldn't see a thing and managed to lose the trusty old Flymo into the bargain. In fact to begin with I had a problem locating the house.

Luckily mine is one of Flymo's excellent range of mains electric machines with a bright orange cable. When the snowstorm settled I was able to follow the mains lead and recover the mower at one end and the house at the other.

No harm done in the end! I've no idea where the grass got to - if indeed I managed to cut any.

Strictly speaking I ought to have given the old cylinder mower a try at this stage, but I was a little tired, dishevelled and even somewhat disorientated.

My wife tried to make me a cup of tea but she was sitting on the kitchen floor laughing so immoderately at some private joke that I had to "brew up" myself.

3 comments:

banned said...

On the subject of Buxton. Sally 'mad cow' Traffic has been tearing her hair out all week on Radio 2 about how various roads in and out of the formerly fashionable town and nearby Asbourne have been closed due to snow and what an unprecedented tragedy it all is.

Well let me tell you Salls, I grew up in those parts and being snowed in in March is just NORMAL and who wants to go to bloody Derby anyway?

Demetrius said...

If you called in the local gritters and covered the lawn with a thick layer of salt this might well help both immediate and future problems relating to mowing.

A K Haart said...

banned - I agree - hardly unprecedented for those areas. Not even unusual if we go back a few decades.

Demetrius - good idea! No more weeding either.