Simply..cutting....

1/5/2016

Cutting herbs, cutting grass and cutting down on work in the garden....

I like these multi blade scissors for cutting herbs. The parsley is destined for a tasty kedgeree.

I am working on how to cut down time mowing grass and am experimenting with 'differential mowing' ie cutting different areas at different heights. I have begun by mowing only the edges and the outline of the meadow (which will be allowed to grow uncut till autumn). The other areas will be cut every third week or so, but the edges of the lawn will be cut every week, very short, and the edging shears will be used frequently. My theory being that this will make the garden look well cared for and not neglected which would be the result if I let all the grass grow longer.

Watch this space and check out this post , and this post

There are a lot of posts under Simply Grow if you have time to browse....

11 Comments

Mary

1/5/2016 05:37:43 pm

Haven't seen those scissors before but they look like they would make short work of herb cutting. And less mess, too. As for the differential mowing, I can see that you have had lovely results in the past. Look forward to seeing it in June again this year.

Freda

2/5/2016 01:37:34 am

They are quick and easy and easy to clean too. June seems a long way away!

elaine link

1/5/2016 11:21:48 pm

My father would have called those herb scissors 'very natty'. I cut my herbs in a small basket type of affair blades inside that are turned by a handle - very efficient. We don't have an enormous amount of lawn so this idea wouldn't work for us, but I do like the idea - I bet it will look very effective.

Freda

2/5/2016 01:38:19 am

They are 'natty' - I wonder who thought it up!

Lucille

2/5/2016 12:23:38 am

Yes I'm going to try this again but incorporating your very sensible suggestion of keeping the edges short. Last year the meadow grass grew too long and flopped all over the border. It was also very difficult to cut at the end of the season.What do you use for that? I had to lift the fallen stalks and cut with shears which was tiring and time consuming. The lawnmower would just have mashed it.

Freda

2/5/2016 01:42:15 am

I will cut me edges twice as wide (look skimpy in the photograph - photography is very useful!). We used a strimmer at the end of the season - you could borrow one if you only use it once a year. Good luck!

Lucille

2/5/2016 04:57:20 am

Yes I should have mentioned that we did borrow a strimmer but the grass was so lush and dense that when it flopped the strimmer couldn't get through it either! I think I will have to cut it much earlier in the season. That way it might not leave such a yellow patch either.

Linda

2/5/2016 01:20:16 am

We've tried having a 'meadow' area in the past. Like Lucille found, it was difficult to manage. In full view of the house it was untidy, having flopped with wind and rain, and proved difficult to cut at the end of the season. We were eventually left with an anaemic looking patch until some fresh grass grew through - and that takes longer in the autumn than in the spring.
What could make mowing easier is a different type of mower. I struggle to control ours, as wide a cut as my husband could find, and petrol power driven. The grass box is emptied into the compost bin, which then needs turning - all heavy-duty work.
My neighbour, who admittedly has much less grass to cut, uses a Flymo. Electric, so needs a lead, but no clippings to deal with, and very light to handle,

Freda

2/5/2016 04:41:50 am

I do agree that the patch left is 'anaemic looking' for a while. We have used a Flymo Easi-glide 300 which is very lightweight and manageable and does an acceptable job, though it has its drawbacks (sends cuttings flying onto the beds) but they have not invented the perfect lawnmower yet! Being lightweight myself it is the heavy duty work I have to find alternatives for....

Sarah link

2/5/2016 12:01:02 pm

Those scissors look such a good idea, it can be so fiddly cutting up herbs. I love the plan you have for the lawn. We used to only cut a few pathways in the bottom half of our old garden at this time of year. After a while we used to get fed up with it looking unruly. Sarah x

Freda

2/5/2016 01:21:33 pm

I think the earliest we cut ours down was late July when it had got flattened by wind and rain, and of course the grass greened up quicker...you do what suits. (The scissors came from Sarah Raven.)

Simply..cutting....

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