Hi all,

We purchased a 'self-propelled' 6.5 horsepower with large back wheels and it has made an incredible difference with respect to tired DC hands after moving the lawn (lawn is not big enough for a lawn-tractor). The only thing we didn't do (and should have) was purchase a self-propelled lawn mower that has a VARIABLE speed; our mower moves *very* quickly, almost too quickly but we love it non-the-less. :-)

Hope this tid-bit of info helps someone else.

Frances

Me Too Charile. I pay $49, and it is well worth it to me. My husband keeps saying " We can do this ourselves" Yea, he means I can do it. Well , I can't. I have over an acre to do. Even with the lawn tractor, it is a pain. I have to say, and to him too, I am not going to do this anymore. It was only $45 until the gas prices shot up. Hey, my health and happiness is more important . It is so nice, to see every Wed. afternoon, to see the lawn all mowed. And I, am doing other important things. My hand, can't take anymore abuse either. I try to keep it from anymore stress than is neccessary.
Patty

We had our lawn cut professionally two weeks ago, it cost $70 and took two men with a tractor, gas whipper snipper, and small push mower 1 hour 15 min to cut (my mother in law got sick for three weeks then passed away, this meant we hadn't tended to our lawn).

Our lawn is under a half acre (irregular shape) but we have a hedge along our fence made of 35 Skyrocket Junipers that are not mature so the grass still grows in between them, plus we have an additional 13 Skyrocket junipers scatered along the other two sides of the fence, two Lillac bushes, three maples, two purple sandcherries, 5 dogwoods, one bridal wreath bus, and then there is the rock garden, and secret garden that you have to pass through an arbour to get too...oh and yah then there is whipper snipping along that too....yeesh...a lot of cutting around things.

So we've divide the work into two...one of us whipper snips and uses a small electric push mower between the trees, and the other uses the self-propelled mower to cut the front lawn and the main section of the back.

It makes the job much more manageable. When everything is mature the grass beneath the trees will cease to grow but for now...we cut, and cut and cut.

So why on earth did we put some many trees in our yard? It is an irregular city pie-shaped lot that backs onto five other yards so we used the bushes and trees to square up the lot and provide pivacy. The 'Secret Garden' was made with the Dogwoods by dividing the tip of the pie shape from the rest of the yard, and then we put a Crimson King Maple smack in the center for shade with an arbour as the entrance...the Skyrockets are along the fence to provide privacy (eventually). It was fun designing it all, but a lot of work while it matures.

Frances