Thyme lawn

Mowers can make or break you if you are not 100% fit. I'm going to guess its a push type and not self propelled.

 

Here's a thought that occurs to me.

Up on the moors, the Heather thrives. Nobody mows it except the sheep, but they don't really do a good job. They eat everything else instead.

To make life easy for the rich toffs who like to kill things for fun, but who don't like wading knee deep in Heather, landowners/managers simply burn the hear her down once a year. They burn it right down so that bare earth is exposed (this is encouraged by the national park, whose role it is to protect and area of Outstanding unNatural Beauty). Within weeks, everything grows back all fresh and soft and short. Well, by everything I mean everything except any tree seedlings that the sheep had missed. And I guess any bumblebee colonies in the burn area probably don't come back. But the Heather comes back.

I wonder if, with the right soul type, perhaps a Heather lawn might work?

 

Heather needs an acid soil and it's not burnt every year, it's usually on a ten year cycle, burning it in patches. The idea is it encourages more Grouse by creating a mosaic of different age groups of heather, some for cover and some with new growth for feeding. It looks nice in the Glens, but it would look a bit of a mess in your garden.

 

Nope, it's self-propelled! The problem is me and my wonky back and joints (back mostly). And uneven ground doesn't help, which has been caused by the current lawn growing out of control at least twice every year since I moved here 10 years ago.

I'm not keen on heather - as you say, too scruffy and I'm not a fan anyhoo. I'm pondering going partway back to my original idea of low-growing weeds/wildflowers and wondering if a mainly lawn daisy setup would work? Lawn daisies, microclover if I can get hold of some seed, plantains, that sort of thing - stuff that tends to stay low and compact with foot traffic and the occasional mow. Or entirely daisies would be lovely but I suspect they wouldn't be robust enough for a monoculture.

 

You can get clover lawns but it's keeping grass at bay and preparing the site well.
I'm guessing it's a job you hate doing and the Mountfield makes it hard work as they are not the greatest mower out there.
How about finding a local gardener or odd job man, worth getting a few quotes even if you don't go for that option. If you are not bothered about the lawn you can find some that are cheaper than the more professional gardener/maintenance companies.
To be honest, unless you want to rip it up and put on the old fake grass or landscape the lot which is going to be expensive, lawns are just one of the jobs you have to do.
Good luck on finding a way round it, do get some quotes and then take it from there.

 

Clover is an interesting plant. Like all legumes, it fixes nitrogen, which means it captures atmospheric nitrogen and stores it in root nodules. It doesn't itself need nitrogen from the soil but it does increase the available soil nitrogen for other plants. This has the effect of encouraging grass growth and grass seed will find its way in whatever you do. I have noticed that when grass is lacking in nitrogen, clover tends to move in of its own accord, grass growth speeds up (because of nitrogen fixing), then after a few years the clover dies out in some areas and moves to other less nitrogen rich areas. I am just wondering if your clover lawn would last due to the soil becoming too rich.......just my thoughts.

 

I don't hate it per se, it just flipping hurts! The mower doesn't help, certainly - it's the second Mountfield I've had, much better than the previous although that was literally falling apart so hard work to move round corners and so on. I've no issue with preparing the ground etc - as I've said, I can get help for one-off big jobs, it's the ongoing mowing I can't get help with so I'm trying to reduce it.

Is there a make of mower you could recommend? Just something a bit beefier and easier to move would make a massive difference - I'll still need to redo the lawn whatever I do, it's just beyond repair now so needs starting again (and the one area needs removing to be the allottment) but an easier job would really help.

Alternately; does anyone have any knowledge or experience of zoysia grass?

ETA thanks redwing, I hadn't thought of that side of it. Interesting points.

 

I'm just going to add a 'thank you' to noisette47 as well, for the words of encouragement, even though you sent me a rude private message for 'blanking you' because I forgot to respond. Thanks anyway, all input on this is very much appreciated and it's good to hear from someone who's tried a similar idea and had success with it.

 

Is this something the whole world needs to know, or could any misunderstanding be resolved privately?

 

I've several mowers, Viking, Hayter, John Deere and Etesia. If there was one mower I like above the rest it would be the Etesia 46 Pro as it handles long grass, damp grass, self propelled and is a true work horse but they are expensive and it's the smallest of the Etesia commercial range.
Theres nothing like a mower that clogs up and can't fill the bag when the grass is damp, it's a pet hate of mine and damn annoying.
Not sure if that's a cure for your problem though but as you asked I thought I should mention them.

 

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. It's clogging up that makes it all so much harder but with my mower it happens when the grass is dry, too - that's why I have to mow twice a week, or it just becomes far too much for me.

 

Why not use a robot mower to cut the grass? Although expensive, the price has dropped over recent years, and certainly save your energy. Things are probably different here, but some companies even send out a team to put the "limiters" in your lawn free of charge.

 

Oh, that would be bliss. Far too expensive though. And, dog poo Too many horror stories!

But, I have found a couple of the brands Liz mentioned on ebay for a decent price so I'm investigating that a bit more. And looking at possible alternatives - there are some auction houses locally doing asset management and there was an auction recently of an entire garden centre, it started after I made this thread so I might be able to pick something up cheap that way. I couldn't buy anything this time, but it's something to keep an eye on.