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In reply to the discussion: They are genetically engineering the American Chestnut... [View all]HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)The gas mower has a 22" deck and I've got a 18" electric as backup. The gas one is awesome. It's got an electric starter motor (battery) for the B&S 7.5hp, rear wheel drive (large rear wheels), one-handle height adjustment, rear bagger (I don't use), and four speeds (two speed grips, two settings each). The electric has the flip-over handle so you don't have to turn it around and fuck with the power cord when you hit the border. It's also a twin-blade housing. As for the push mower, it's in storage right now, but it still works fine. I just have to sharpen the blades.
We've also got a SCREAMING old tool I've never seen before, but it works too. I found it in somebody's trash many years ago and "liberated" it. It has a wooden handle with handlebars. The tool part is a wheel (about the size of a training wheel) that spins a push mower type wheel about 5" long and also has a knife blade on the underside. It edges at the same time as it trims the grass just to the side of the walkway. Brilliant invention and it works really well. I'm amazed that nobody has come up with an electric version.
The other edger we have (manual) is a foot-pedal at the end of a handle with a curved blade along the bottom. Line it up, step down, move on - and made in the USA! I forget the company name, but it's the same one that made our dandylion puller - think of a small tomato cage that squeezes in like a tree extractor. Again, just step down and pull. It gets almost all of the root every time. We only use it in garden beds, but it works like a charm.
I'd love to say we still use just the push mower, but even with a 22" gas mower the yard takes over an hour (and is often rather thick). We used almost all of the time in New Hampshire because the "soil" was just rock and sand. What little grass there was grew tall, but not thick. Actually, it didn't even look like a "lawn". On the plus side, it was covered in snow for half of the year so mowing wasn't necessary. It's almost mid October and we have to mow again here. (groan)