Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Mowed lawn back to back weeks and BOTH times I had to empty the bag multiple times. I hope it's not a sign of things to come during the summer. I'm gonna run out of places to put grass clippings. It's an actual hill of grass clippings lol. Just decided to dump it all around garden. If it leads to better crop this year, then I'm for sure doing this every spring.

On plus side, I like how my new mower comes with a bag. My old one just blew the grass out from the side, so when it gets too big or wet, it leads to big clumps that forced me to stop so often to clean.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Do you have weeds in your yard? Why don't you just mulch the grass as you mow?

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Do you have weeds in your yard? Why don't you just mulch the grass as you mow?

I don't have any weeds. I just don't like how it looks with the entire surface basically just covered in grass. I also haven't figured out my mowers mulcher lol. It's a 3 in 1. I've only really figured out 2 of those 3 parts so far.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I don't have any weeds. I just don't like how it looks with the entire surface basically just covered in grass. I also haven't figured out my mowers mulcher lol. It's a 3 in 1. I've only really figured out 2 of those 3 parts so far.

You should be able to mulch it by simply removing the bag. There should already be a cover/plastic plate covering the hole on the side of the deck. With the bag removed the blades should keep cutting up the grass until the falls.

You could just blow the grass out the side of the deck, but then you have to rake.

If there is noticeable amounts of uncut grass laying on the top then you either need to mow more frequently or cut it shorter because it's getting too long to mulch properly.

The only reason why I bag my grass is because of the weeds and bagging helps prevent them from spreading even more.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

If there is noticeable amounts of uncut grass laying on the top then you either need to mow more frequently or cut it shorter because it's getting too long to mulch properly.

Mine has 7 settings. I have it on 3, but 2 is too short (and it burns easier in warmer months). I still cut it every week which is way more than the average person on my block (of all who actually do it themselves). It seems to grow so fast at times.

The mower came with 2 compartments. One to make the grass shoot out from the side of the mower, and another is like a cover for the bag(so if it's attached to the mower, no grass will go into the bag). So I'll try with nothing on the side and this piece in it as well, and see if that'd work.

[kehlis]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

You want to keep the piece on the side on to mulch, you need the grass to all stay contained in the mower.

If you put the piece on the back and just let it go out of the side you will have a lot of raking to do in addition to the problem you already have.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

You want to keep the piece on the side on to mulch, you need the grass to all stay contained in the mower.

If you put the piece on the back and just let it go out of the side you will have a lot of raking to do in addition to the problem you already have.

The piece on the side is what makes the mower shoot out the grass. If I have nothing on the side, and piece on the back, that'll contain everything within the mower.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

The piece on the side is what makes the mower shoot out the grass. If I have nothing on the side, and piece on the back, that'll contain everything within the mower.

Think this through logically.

You need to keep the cut grass in the deck with the blades so it will get cut up several times making the pieces of grass smaller. Ideally these small pieces of grass will mulch up and settle down around the roots of the grass creating "mulch" and helping to fertilize your grass.

If you have an open hole on the side of the deck it will shoot out the side of the mower. Some mowers come with a chute attachment, but most should have a flap already there. Some mowers don't even have a hole there at all.

[kehlis]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

The piece on the side is what makes the mower shoot out the grass. If I have nothing on the side, and piece on the back, that'll contain everything within the mower.

Right, mulching is keeping both chutes closed so the clippings stay within and continue to get chopped by the blades until they fall to the ground.

If you open the side chute, you’ll be throwing the same length of grass into your yard that you are currently into the bag.

You would then needs to rake up the many resulting piles before disposing.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Think this through logically.

You need to keep the cut grass in the deck with the blades so it will get cut up several times making the pieces of grass smaller. Ideally these small pieces of grass will mulch up and settle down around the roots of the grass creating "mulch" and helping to fertilize your grass.

If you have an open hole on the side of the deck it will shoot out the side of the mower. Some mowers come with a chute attachment, but most should have a flap already there. Some mowers don't even have a hole there at all.

The piece on the side is what makes the hole open.

[kehlis]

Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

The piece on the side is what makes the hole open.

The point is for it to not be open.

Not really sure how many ways this can be explained.


Edit: I think I see what you are saying. Are you saying if you don’t have an attachment on the side, no grass will come out?

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

The point is for it to not be open.

Not really sure how many ways this can be explained.


Edit: I think I see what you are saying. Are you saying if you don’t have an attachment on the side, no grass will come out?

Exactly.

On the left side you see the flap. The piece underneath is the part which makes grass shoot out from the side.

[JMD]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Learn something every day. I never realized the way to get the mower to mulch. I always open the flap on the side , I figured if I left it closed there would be to much grass trapped under the mower causing it to stall , so I just let it fly out the side hole. Oh and I never rake, F-that I've got better things to do. I used to use the bag on the back of the mower but it's a hassle as it has to be emptied way to often.

Im not a big fan of yard work , I don't hate it , I do it because it needs to be done. Takes me about an hour to mow my lawn , gas push mower , I took the self propelled things off the front because it was to slow. Going to try the mulching this week now that I understand how it's done.

This year my outside duties include:
1. Take down the deck along the side of the pool. - Done
2. Take down the pool 18'x33' above ground oval. - Done
3. Re-shingle one side of house.
4. Paint exterior of house
5. Build on the ground deck over concrete patio at rear entrance of house.
6. Re screen all the screen in the gazebo
7. Build retaining wall at the end of driveway to hold back the erosion so shed does not end up in driveway in a year or so.
8. The rear section of my house has no foundation and skunks have dug under there and made a home so I need to dig down at least a foot deep on both sides of the house. Use a camera from my security system to see if any skunks are under there , if so set traps until they are all out, then seal up both sides of the house using 3/4 plywood buried at least one foot into the ground. Before burying the wood I will prime and paint it with an industrial oil base primer and paint so it won't rot.
9. Take down old fence around property, 52 sections of stockade fence. Then burn it.
10. Install new fencing , yes I do not like people and don't want them in my yard. Especially now that my neighborhood is full of heroin addict junkies.

3 , 8, and 2 . are the most important but I hope to get them all done. I work for myself so i may take a week or two off and treat this like a job and hit it 8 to 10 hours a day and get it done.

[Majingir]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

Learn something every day. I never realized the way to get the mower to mulch. I always open the flap on the side , I figured if I left it closed there would be to much grass trapped under the mower causing it to stall , so I just let it fly out the side hole. Oh and I never rake, F-that I've got better things to do. I used to use the bag on the back of the mower but it's a hassle as it has to be emptied way to often.



Im not a big fan of yard work , I don't hate it , I do it because it needs to be done. Takes me about an hour to mow my lawn , gas push mower , I took the self propelled things off the front because it was to slow. Going to try the mulching this week now that I understand how it's done.

I never knew about mulching either. I tried it myself last week and it was way better than just leaving stuff in the bag. Grass cut up all fine so it's not like you're leaving lots on the grass.

[AUChase]

Re: Anyone else enjoy doing yard work?

I've spent so much time cleaning, trimming, cutting, etc. since we bought our house in January. We got a really good deal on the house based on the size, yard, etc, but the previous owners were a trashy bunch.

I spoke to a lady next door and she told me the ex-husband was still in the picture and he used to stay up all hours of the night and she could hear glass shattering and loud noises and it makes sense. I think the guy was either an alcoholic or a dope head. He owned his own plumbing company and used the shed and lean-to for work space. When I say I've picked up every thing imaginable in my yard I'm dead serious. I've picked up glass, cast iron pipe, pipe fittings, pvc pipe, pieces of drain snake, rebar, old shingles, an old toilet, broken windows, electrical cord, sand paper, screws, nuts, bolts, metal fan parts... and that's not even all of it.

This guy would intentionally take a tractor and box and scrape part of the back yard. There's a drive-thru gate on one side of our front yard that goes to the back and it had no grass in the area leading to the backyard.

It's taken a while, but I'm finally getting things squared away and our back yard looking decent. I've been planting grass seed since Spring started and getting a lot of my grass back in the backyard. I'm about to cut down a few pine trees too because I hate ****ing pine straw. I also borrowed a pole saw from my dad and I've been trimming trees and clearing weeds on the fence that surrounds our back yard.

These people also had a burn pile in the back yard and my wife and I are in the process of cleaning that area up and turning it into a nice wood pit area for sitting and relaxing. It really has been a lot of work and I've slowed down a lot as the temperature keeps rising outside. Hopefully by next year we will be good to go on everything. I've had a few neighbors come over just to meet us because they wanted to say thanks for cleaning the place up and they are glad they have decent neighbors again.

I guess this is the price you pay for getting a great deal on a house. I don't mean to be negative because I do love the house, layout of the yard, the storm shelter, etc.. it's great for us. It just turned into a bigger project than I ever imagined. When we bought the house the lady said, "Your kids are going to love the yard."... yeah lady it's great when your 2yo picks up a big piece of glass and says "daddy.. look what I found."