Had to pick between a gas lawn mower and a reel mower for my tiny yard

I moved into a house in Denver last spring with a postage stamp sized front lawn, maybe 300 square feet. My neighbor insisted I needed a gas mower because it's "real" and cuts faster, but I was looking at the reel mower thinking about emissions and noise. I ended up buying a $90 manual reel mower from a local hardware store, mostly because I felt guilty running a gas engine for 10 minutes each week. The first time I used it, I actually enjoyed the quiet and the exercise, plus my neighbor laughed at me. But after a few weeks, I noticed the reel mower struggled with thicker grass and would just push it down instead of cutting. Now I'm stuck hand trimming edges with shears because the mower can't get close to the fence. Has anyone else switched to a reel mower and found a trick for dealing with taller grass patches?

4 comments

4 Comments

marywilson29d ago

Read somewhere you can raise the reel height for long grass.

rowan96929d ago

Nah, @marywilson that just scalps the lawn and leaves it looking patchy.

finley_gonzalez4929d ago

oh man i feel you on the reel mower struggle. i got one for my tiny yard too thinking i was being all eco friendly and now im out there with scissors every weekend trying to clean up the edges. what helped me with the tall grass was going over it twice at different angles but honestly if it rains a lot the thing just gives up.

victor77929d ago

Ha yeah the two angle trick is solid! I heard someone say you gotta cut more often with reels, like every 4-5 days instead of once a week, so the grass never gets tall enough to fight back.