Clover Lawn

Our first summer in this house this front walk was surrounded by a nasty perennial grass that I didn't like the look of at all. Now it has been taken over by clover.

I don't understand why I see so many people online trying to find out where to buy clover seed. Yeah, I get that people don't want to raise grass: apply chemical pesticides and herbicides, water all the time, contribute to fertilizer run-off that is poisoning the bay (insert local water body of your choice), etc. But clover is a weed. If you stop babying your grass and clover doesn't grow there on its own (if for instance you get violets, or moss, or plantains - all things that grow with wild abandon in other parts of my yard), I tend to think planting clover is no better than planting grass - just another attempt at monoculturing an inappropriately sited plant that's going to need special care to survive.

But yes, it is pretty.

Reel Mowers

For anyone who isn't familiar with reel mowers, they are the old-fashioned kind of mower with no motor. When you push, it causes the wheels to turn, and that turns the reel. The reel is basically a set of horizontal blades with the ends welded to a pair of circles. When the reel turns it brings the horizontal blades in contact with a fixed blade underneath the reel, one at a time. As the blades come around they grab grass and when they meet the bottom blade the grass gets cut just like in a scissors.
I love my reel mower! It's quiet, doesn't smell bad, it's easy to push and/or lift, I never worry that it will accidentally cut off any part of my body, pull me down a hill, run over me, or throw hard objects at passerby. It never runs out of gas or oil, and it was a lot cheaper to buy than a gas or electric mower would have been. And I can sharpen it at home, myself, (with a paint brush!) rather than hauling it out to a shop.

There are some down sides. Reel mowers are just no good at cutting very tall grass or weeds. And they get jammed up by the tiniest twigs hiding in your lawn. They don't suck up low-profile weeds like plantains, and they're not very good at mulching clippings or leaves.

I can live with those things. Can you?