Tag Archives: No Mow May

I guess it is time to start Lawn Order posts again.  Strange that I never made that a category or at least a tag; it is one of my favorite puns, right up there with, “I fought the lawn, and the lawn won” (I know you sang it; I did).  Full disclosure:  I am going to illustrate this with pictures from my Media Library, because it is really not worth taking pictures of what I accomplished.  Did I win out over the lawn, you are perhaps asking?  I am going to say I did.  At least I acquitted myself well in this skirmish, with some help.

The grass was more grown in.

There was a lot more and longer grass in my front and back yards than in this picture, because I had not mowed yet this year.  Eric Gage of WKTV Weather said it was No Mow May.  At first I thought he said, “No Mo’ May” and we were skipping right to June, but he meant we should let things grow for the sake of pollinators.  I suppose this is all very well for people who are able to start their power mowers.  For those of us who use a non-power mower as a back-up, waiting till almost halfway through the month was not a good plan.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I hauled out the power mower and tried to start it to no avail.  I took the non-power job and tried that.  Oh dear.  I am not a young woman, and I never was a very strong woman.  I gave it up.  I tried again today, this time bringing a little more determination to the endeavor.  Again, there was no starting the power mower.  I took a deep breath and went to work with the other one.  Let me tell you, determination will only get you so far.  I almost gave up three or four times but encouraged myself by what I had accomplished so far.  In point of fact, it did not really look that good: more grass was flattened than cut, but sometimes I have to take what I can get.

Then I heard the blessed sound of somebody else’s power mower.  It was a neighbor across the street who had once offered his help in shoveling snow.  I pulled my mower across the street and asked his help.  A couple of tries and success!  I was on my way!  I got the front done!  I got the back done!  I’m afraid I mowed down some flowers, but you’ll have that. I can always plant new ones if the others don’t come back.

Preview of Coming Attractions.

I did not mow down any daisies.  They are not blooming yet in any case.  After shutting the mower off, I came back out front with some clippers to take care of some really ugly things that keep growing there (I’ll take a picture if they grow back).  My neighbor was sweeping cut grass from his sidewalk.  He asked if it had worked.  I called back that I had finished and thanked him fervently.

“Glad to help out!” he said.

I tried to sweep my cuttings too, but by then I was so tired and sweaty, I did not do a very good job.  I came in and took a second shower and dressed in my second cute outfit of the day (or do I flatter myself). I felt utterly incapable of making a blog post, but I said to myself, “Well, just try.”  I think that worked out almost as well as the lawn, but again, perhaps I flatter myself.