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The nostalgic pleasures of push-power
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Gardening - The 1950s live again with a push mower

By Linda Fort
June 12, 2009

Mowing the lawn on Saturday morning was just about as exciting as it could get thanks to the purchase of a new mower.

Desperate repairs to my old electric rotary mower, using some insulation tape and techniques not recommended by the manufacturer, saw it go up in a flash and a puff of smoke last week.

I was about to buy a new version, then I remembered a conversation with my organic colleague James Ashford, who – with a messianic gleam in his eye – told me about his new push mower.

Mower 'bout that - cutting lawn with leg power

My own experience with push mowers was not promising.

We used to have three or four rusting in the shed – I was married to a lawn obsessive – and I could not make any of them work.

However, with the planet and my budget in mind, I ordered a push mower – for around £47.

When I unpacked the box, I thrilled at the gleaming green metal – the last three or four mowers I have possessed have all been plastic

I assembled it and carried it – light as a feather – into the garden and pushed.

Dear reader – I can’t express the bliss.

The cutters whizzed over the lawn with a charming clacking sound redolent of the 1950s – English summers, cricket commentaries, the Home Service and Alvar Liddell.

It cut the lawn – despite the wet grass – to perfection.

The front garden was slightly more challenging as there were some flower petals squashed over the surface which the electric mower would have sucked up easily, but I think a lowering of the blades next week should sort that out.

My only quibble is that the width of the wheels left a wide edge unmowed.

But that was as nothing compared to the sheer physical and sensuous pleasure of mowing without power.

I felt a little self-righteous as I made my energy free stripes up and down the lawn, but the real joy was in the nostalgic wallowing.

My dad had two mowers, petrol and push, and he always used the push mower on the lawns in the formal gardens around the house, leaving the petrol mower for the orchard. I hope my neighbours for hundreds of yards around enjoyed the experience as they contemplated getting out their droning mowers and whining strimmers.

The weekend weather suited me perfectly in that it stopped raining exactly when I had time to go into the garden and started up again when I had to do other things.

As a result, everything has been deadheaded and stray branches cut away to make the garden look pretty as a picture.

I was soaked to the skin lopping back bits of Solanum jasminoides to keep the garden path passable.

Every time I clipped a branch, the rest of the climber shook its raindrops down on me.

The rain has made the vegetable romp away and I have resown some beans which have been damaged by snails which have skidded over the wet soil to have a feed.

But even that will not rob me of the pleasure as I look forward to getting my new mower out again next weekend.

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I personally prefer hand push lawn mowers to electric hover mowers. I feel more pride in my lawn once it's done, knowing that I've achieved that with what I'd consider simpler and more traditional tools. With that said, its not for those who are afraid of a little exercise as it can be hard work. Ideally I prefer a mower with a 20" frame as it cuts down on the effort you have to put in and gives the best results on your lawn (in my experience).

maxman
24/06/2009 at 13:20

I live next to a chap who has a large lawn and uses the old push mower, the noise is deafing and takes him hours! no thanks, electric or petrol it only takes twenty minutes, over and done with.