Lawn/Grass Mowing log

(previously logged days of mowing from GLC Forum)

May 30 2006, Mowed the back lawn as it was dry, strimmed the edges and got twatted in the left knee by something (I've got a nice red spot there, it looks like a sting but it's hard to tell. I'll just whack some savlon and a plaster on it)

Aug 7 2006, Today I mowed the front & back lawns. blimey that was good exercise. Got the shears out & gave the hedges & trees a good chopping back too. That'll be the last bit of gardening for the year I reckon. It wasn't hot outside but I was soaking wet with sweat when I'd finished both lawns. Our green waste bin is full for tomorrow anyway.
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Apr 13 2007, Today I mowed our front lawn in 35 mins (only that quick cuz I cheated & left off the grass box).

Oct 8 2007, I mowed our front lawn. I meant to do it Friday but I really could not be bothered. It wasn't very long, just scruffy looking.
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May 6 2008 mowed back lawn

Jul 4 2008, Finishing mowing the lawn. I started mowing it last week but had to stop as the motor on the mower burned out & almost caught fire! I went & bought a dirt cheap strimmer from Argos & finished the job. And now I've got carpel tunnel syndrome in my wrists.

Sep 5 2008, Mowed the back garden the day before it rained for the rest of the week - ace timing!
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Mar 21 2009, Mowed the front lawn with new mower, very quick & easy once I worked out how to set the blade height.

Apr 29 2009, Mowed the front lawn in 35 mins whilst listening to some XTC on the mp3 player (makes the time go quicker and mowing much more fun).

May 6 2009, Started mowing the back garden under a rather grey sky after having left it 2 days to dry out. managed about 1/3 of it before it clogged the mower, emptied grass box & cleaned under mower then sky started going VERY dark threatening rain. Managed to mow half before deciding it was tempting fate too much & it was deffo going to cane it down so I packed everything away and got indoors pronto.

07 May 2009 finished mowing back lawn

30th May 09 Mowed the front lawn today in just over 35 mins, trimmed hedge by path and shredded stuff from the back hedge. Kept me busy and active for a few hours ;-)

20th Jul  2009 Strimmed front grass today just to make it look tidy as a few ppl had knocked the door offering to cut it, frankly it was still far too bloody wet to even strim but I did anyway. Knackered my wrists and I had wickedly shaky hands for hours afterwards.

6th Sep  2009 Mowed front lawn today, it was pretty thick and fairly damp which made things very heavy going. had to stop and clear blades and empty grass box 6 times in total but managed to get both sides done with bad weather looming above. had been meaning to do it for 3 weeks but it was either too wet or too bright.
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Wed 5th May 2010 Mowed front lawn today for the 1st time this year, it was dry apart from the roots but it really needed doing as it was thick & getting messy. Next door had mowed his on the previous weekend when it was sopping wet. I also strimmed the edges & trimmed the pine tree on the front & the bushes by the entry right down.

Mon 17th May 2010 Mowed back lawn today as I'd been considering it for a few days & it'd had stayed dry so I figured I'd get it done before it rains again. Couldn't be arsed to strim quite frankly.

Tue 12th Oct 2010 Mowed front lawn as it had been dry(ish), fairly heavy going as it was thick, a tad damp still & the ground was VERY bumpy. Despite doing a thorough FOD plod I still hit 4 pieces of wood left over from the removal of our old wooden fence. I had to stop mowing about 1.5 feet away from the fence due to stones, debris & cement. I ended up having to strim those bits, took me about 40 mins in total to do everything from start to finish. Almost mowed over a tiny frog too. This will probably be the last mowing of this year.
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Wed 27th Apr 2011 Mowed front lawn (as promised). It took 25 mins and didn't have to empty grass box once.

Mon 27th Jun 2011 Mowed front lawn in 33 mins mainly due to severe heat/humidity and crazy anthills. had mower all set to do back garden when the weather decided to grow a sense of humour and started with intermittant showers. never run so fast to carry in mower and (still plugged & switched on) extension cord. Since last mowing SOMETHING in the shed had urinated in the grass box, assuming mice. also noted someone had tried to set fire to front lawn in various places. these were not sun dried areas of grass.

Thurs 30th Jun 2011 strimmed small area of back garden adjacent to path at mums request to allow her to use the washing line and not get covered in grass seeds. Took about 10-15 mins (wasn't wearing watch) not including the time it took to re-thread the strimmer (twice).

Tue 26th Jul 2011 mowed main areas of back lawn completely in about 20 mins. it wasn't that thick, it barely even filled the grass box considering how long it looked. this was the 1st time its been mowed since may of last year. hopefully with the weather i won't have to mow the back again this year.

Thurs 29th Sept 2011 mowed all of front lawn and pulled a few things up in the verge in 42 mins. Emptied grass box once after mowing main area, this will be the fronts last cut this year hopefully.
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Tues 22nd May 2012 mowed front lawn for the first time this year in 33 mins due to anthills which caused many stoppages to mower also had to empty grass box about 6 times due to same (lots of earth jamming mower) and semi-wet grass.  Also mowed back lawn in 20 mins.  Next door is now mowing his (for at least the 3rd time this year already!)

Tues 10th July 2012 mowed largest half of front lawn in 15 mins (even with 3 stops to clear mud from blades due to ant hills).  Decided against mowing the smaller section as the sky was going VERY dark and it had already been spitting earlier.  I'll try to strim the rest the next time I get a couple of dry days.  Emptied grass twice, it wasn't thick, just long and messy.

Thur 26th Jul 2012 strimmed other smaller half of lawn in 2 mins, also strimmed most of the edgs of the big lawn and used the shears on the big stingers to cut them down that was done in 12 mins. garden now looks a LOT better.
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Sun 26th May 2013 front grass was cut today (not by me). Really it was way too wet. Back was mowed also.

Mon Jul 1st 2013 cut front grass (mostly with strimmer until it broke after almost 5yrs of service to the day!) and the rest with the mower, took about an hour. Also helped in the back where we (me and Mick) spent an hour cutting crap down.

(Roughly Wed 17th Jul 2013, didn't note exact date at the time) - Mick cut front and back grass with his mower. Helped by cutting more crap down in back garden.

Mon 30th Sept 2013 Cut front grass both sides. Took an hour (45 mins to mow due to dampish grass & anthills clogging blades literally every five or so minutes) including some time to cut down bushes and nettles. Definite last mow of this year, won't bother doing the back, it's not that long.
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Mon 5th May 2014 Mowed most of the front lawn. Did all the big bit and about a third of the little bit before it started spitting so I unplugged and got the hell out of there. Had to stop every 2 mins or so to clear the blades (as it was still so damp!) so it took 42 mins in total. Emptied grass box at least 4 or 5 times. (New next door neighbour mowed his yesterday, that was the 2nd time he'd mowed it in a week. He mowed his back lawn yesterday too.)

EDIT:- Went back out in the  same afternoon and finished the rest of the front. Part of the actual mower cable appears to be fraying.

Mon 19th May 2014 Back lawn mostly mowed, big bit done. Other bit 80%. 1hr 22 mins. Mowed to the point of heat exhaustion. And that included the 1 break for a pint of water in about 4 seconds.

Thur Jun 12th 2014  mowed all of front lawn in 31 mins. No need to empty grass box, engineered a fix so as to not need it at all without overheating mower. Propped grass door open with a stick! Will do same on back lawn possibly tomorrow if it's dry rest of today & overnight. managed to slice a bit of my palm open while trying to dig up the anthills. OUCH.

Wed 25th June 2014  Mowed back lawn in about 10 or so mins (forgot to put watch on!) spent another 20 mins cutting brambles. Highly doubt back lawn will get touched again this yr.

Thurs Jul 10th 2014 Finally got to mow all of front lawn now scaffolding has come down at long last, took 31 mins to do both sides fully.

Fri Aug 8th 2014 Mowed front lawn after several days of on and off rain, it was very dry so easy to mow. 22 mins to do both sides of the front garden with my "stick" mod on the mower so I didn't have to empty it.
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Wed 22nd April 2015 mowed all of front lawn in 20 mins. It looked dry, the wheels and underside of the mower say otherwise. My 1st pair of Nike Air Huarache trainers also finally gave up the ghost, losing the right sole.

Sat 17th May 2015 mowed back lawn, late evening. 21 mins.

Wed 10th June 2015 mowed front lawn in 42 mins and did clearing up for another 18 mins.

Thurs 10th Sept 2015 mowed front garden and cut bushes. 1hr & 3 mins. Broke front right wheel on mower towards the end.
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Fri 27th May 2016 Front lawn mown, both sides in an hour. Well, considering the grass was still wet at the roots, I had a mower with 3 wheels and the grass was waist high in places I think I did it quickly.

14th Jun 2016 Gareth hired 2 ladies to clean the back garden. It was strimmed to ground level, they also strimmed the front garden.

Sat 23rd Jul 2016 Front lawn mowed, 24 mins for both sides. Considering that includes the time where I had to keep stopping to put the front wheel back on, I think I made good time. Hopefully (fingers crossed) that'll be it's last mow for this year.
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Fri 5th May 2017 Front lawn mowed in 10 mins, half of back lawn mowed in 37 mins. It was really damp and made for very heavy going. If it stays dry until Moday, I might try to most the rest of the back. We officially live in the new house now, I've mowed the grass here.

Wed 24th May 2017 Mowed 80% of back lawn, the bit I mowed last time plus a bit extra to the end of next doors fence. Took 1 hour 7 mins. The roots are still damp, mower has had wheel glued back on, hopefully it'll stay there now.

Thurs 1st Jun 2017 Mowed front lawn in 8mins. Fairly easy, it was just a bit straggly. Mowed the last 19% of the back lawn in 50 mins, roots were wet (it's been raining on and off the last few days) and it was thick. All bar the bit where the cut down tree branch has now been cut at least once. Should be LOTS easier next time. And the wheel stayed on!

Tues 13th Jun 2017 Mowed all of the back lawn, took 1 hour exactly. Had a nice chap strim our side of the hedge, he did it for nothing too. Whole back looks pretty decent now. I think I was fighting the weather for most of the time but I hope it stays dry so it dies out a bit.

Thurs 22nd Jun 2017 Mowed front lawn on lowest setting in 5 minutes and 10 seconds. Mowed the back on the second lowest setting (also moved bench so now whole lawn has been cut) in 41 minutes.

Tues 18th Jul 2017 Mowed front lawn in 4 mins, 2nd lowest setting. Mowed back 2nd lowest setting in 48 minutes. FYI, wheel is still on mower after repair way back in May.

Sat 26th Aug 2017 Mowed front lawn in 4 minutes.  Mowed back lawn in 1hr 20 mins. Mostly due to it being still a bit damp.

Wed 20th Sept 2017 Mowed front lawn in 6 mins (would have been quicker, forget to put mower on lowest setting). Mowed back lawn in 37 mins. Still very damp, first proper chance to mow it as it's been super wet over the last month or so.

Fri 6th Oct 2017. Mowed 3/4's of back lawn at lowest setting in 40 mins. Very damp due to overnight dew, heavy going. That's probably it's last cut for the year.
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Tues 17th Apr 2018 Mowed front lawn (lowest setting) in 5 mins. Mowed 3/4's of back lawn in 20 mins, didn't do it all as it was very overcast.

Fri 20th Apr 2018 Mowed remaining bit of back lawn in 20 mins, only took so long as it was thick & fucking  soaking wet. Most of the time was unblocking the mower blades.

Tues 8th May 2018 Mowed Front lawn middle setting in 4 mins. Mowed entire back lawn highest setting in 50 mins. Wheel came off. It's been stuck back on again but I think we might need a new mower at last.

Thurs 17th May 2018 Mowed front lawn in 4 mins. Mowed back lawn in 42 mins. Wheel fix seems to have worked, I think we'll live with this mower until it's unusable.

Mon 4th Jun 2018 Mowed back lawn on highest setting in 37 mins. It looked straggly as heck & next door had mowed theirs twice since I last did ours. At least it looks respectable now. Hopefully it won't rain for a few more days, but it's unlikely. 17 days since lawn was last done.

Tue 12th Jun 2018  Mowed front lawn on lowest setting, in 4 mins. Mowed back lawn on lower middle in 29 mins, including the time it took to clear 1 blockage and put the right wheel back on 5 times.  I only did it today because the front looked so scruffy & the weather is threatening to be VERY wet for the next few days so I got both done while it was still totally dry. 8 days since lawn last done.

Thur 12th Jul 2018 Mowed back lawn on lowest setting in 37 mins. Lot of time spent before hand policing cat shit off the grass.  Lost front right wheel several times. We've glued it back on again but I think after 6yrs service, it's time for another mower (where the cord isn't about to split). 30 days since lawn last done.

Thur 30th Aug 2018 Mowed front lawn on medium lowest setting, it was still quite damp after all the recent hard rain. Took 8 mins.  49 days since lawn last done. I blame the rain.

Sun 16th Sept 2018 Mowed 3/4 of back lawn on highest setting. Was fighting the loose wheel the entire time. Only gave up about halfway into the far back when the wheel came off again. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything & the sky looked like it was about to piss down. 66 days since last cut. It looks straggly as fuck but I think that's both lawns done for this year.

Thur 27th Sept 2018 Mowed front lawn, lowest setting in 6 mins. It had been as straggly as hell, so it needed it. Was looking at back lawn too to finish it all off, but it's too damp due to overnight fog. I might try to do it tomorrow. Front done for this year. 28 days since it was last cut.

Wed 10th Oct 2018 Mowed whole back lawn, highest setting in 40 mins. It would have been quicker, but the wheel and entire front axle were close to parting company with the mower. That'll be its last cut for the year.
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Fri 12th Apr 2019 Mowed front lawn with new Flymo vac mower (Gareth bought it Wed 3rd Apr 2019) in about 5 mins. It's quite heavy to push as I assume it came at the absolute lowest setting possible. I would have mowed the back too but dark clouds threatened & it was still quite damp in places.

Mon 22nd Apr 2019 Mowed rest of back lawn, having mowed about 1/3 of it a week ago. Took off grass box & managed to finish in 42 mins. Hopefully now it's shorter, it'll be easier next time.

Tues 23rd Apr 2019 I gave the back lawn another full going over, mostly to remove the loose grass. Took 51 mins. Barring rain, I'll be mowing once every other 2-3 weeks from now on, I think.

Mon 6th May 2019 Mowed front lawn in 5 mins, super easy and light. Mowed half of back lawn in about 10 mins, I forgot my start time. Also pretty easy, the mower is only hard to push when its full of grass or the grass is long. I only did half as the clouds were threatening.

Tue 7th May 2019 Mowed the remaining half of the back garden in 16 minutes. It had drizzled very lightly earlier, but it wasn't wet out at all really. Heavy rain is expected later so I got it done just in time.

Sat 25th May 2019 Mowed back lawn. Can't give an official time as I'd done 2/3's then the chap who lives behind us asked if we wanted help doing the fence panels. I'd been going four about 45 mins at that point. We managed to get 1 panel in then I damaged my right knee & can't twist or put any weight on it now. I mowed the rest of the back with said knee damage. Call it an hour. I need to do the front but that'll be tough with a bad knee.

Sat 22nd June 2019 Mowed front lawn in 5 mins. Mowed back lawn in 56 mins including 2 water breaks, 1 toilet break, 1 rest & a few stops to empty the grass box. Last 20 mins was mowed without grass box on at all just to get the thickest bits finished. Feel totally knackered now. Knee didn't hurt at all.

Tue 3rd July 2019 Mowed back lawn in 30 mins, just to get it all cut. It was annoyingly straggly in places, now it's not.

Fri 26th July 2019 Mowed front lawn in about 5 mins. I didn't get an actual time as I was distracted after having to clean the underside of the mower. Decided against doing the back, sky wasn't looking good. It's been either too hot or too wet to mow since last time.

Mon 5th Aug 2019 Mowed back lawn in 42 mins. The roots were slightly damp but it wasn't too hard to do, as I mowed it without the grassbox so no stopping to empty the damn thing.

Tues 13th Aug 2019 Mowed back lawn in 22 mins. It was straggly as hell, we've had rain off and on the last week or so and are expecting more over the next few days so I gave it an all over blitz today while it held off. Emptied grass box twice.

Fri 23rd Aug Mowed Front lawn in 5 mins. Mowed most of back lawn in 29 mins, pretty darn warm out there, I had to take a break, to cool off. Hopefully front & back will get done once more in October then that's them done for this year.