I purchased a small Toro electric mower this spring and wondered if my lawn was too much for it. I love its quiet ways, no worries about waking up the neighbors if I want to do an early morning mow. But, let’s face it, my lawn is not a genteel expanse of grasses. “Hey lady, is that Bugleweed (Ajuga) in your lawn?” Why yes, how perceptive of you to have noticed! I have both purple-leaved and green and n the spring it makes a lovely carpet of blue flowers that the pollinators love. I mow around the thickest spots until the bees abandon them.
My initial impression of the mower was that it did’t have enough power to pull the grass upright before cutting it but that has not proved to be a problem. Somehow it gets cut. It’s been doing it’s job all summer and there are no gouged and empty spots like the mowing company left from turning their big equipment in small places.
But this article is about another experiment. I’m not going to rake the lawn this year. I am going to try to mow the leaves in. Although I’d heard it suggested before, a friend sent me this link to a Fine Gardening article that talks about Michigan State researchers who mowed an 18 inch! layer of leaves into test plots.
As you can see above, I don’t have much to lose. So, this is the year I try it with my much lighter layers of leaves. The season is slow in coming with many trees still green, but you can see my tiny eggbeater of a mower does make a dent in what’s there now.
Some bonus shots. The nasturtium are still going strong in the food beds; they keep me company as I clean, fork, and add compost. They will melt after our first bad frost.
And this only blossom on rose “Teasing Georgia” was hanging about at eye level to cheer on my efforts.