OFF TOPIC UGLY lawn mowing stripes. Am I the only one?

[chipmaker4130]

Lawns are a conspiracy of Big Grass Seed, Big Fertilizer, and Big Lawn Mower! Don't drink the Koolaid! Plant gardens!

Horse Pucky. Out here where surface temps regularly exceed 140F, lawns are for kids and pets to play on. They also help control sand and dirt which otherwise blows in around the bottom of the best sealed doors and windows.

[Arcane]

If it weren't for the lawn police, I would never mow my lawn.

[Paul Alciatore]

I am not a big sports fan and I like football more than baseball, but I believe I have seen more than one baseball field mowed with a diamond pattern. I don't know which one did it first, but overall, it is probably where your neighbors got the idea.

I am too old and the summer weather here in Texas is too hot for me to mow my own lawn any longer. So I have a crew that does it. I have never said a single word about any pattern and I think they just mow it in the most efficient manner. I also do not need them to charge me double for going over it twice.

I can't say that I have seen any of my neighbors or anywhere in the city where there is a pattern. The most popular grass here is called St. Augustine and it does not seem to lend itself to holding a pattern so that may also have something to do with the lack of any patterns here.

Personally, I do not care either way. After a day or two or the first rain, we get plenty of that, any pattern is going to disappear anyway. Waste of money.

I believe that fad started in St Louis because it looks like the way the baseball field is mowed.

(Also in a St Louis Suburb)

[The Artful Bodger]

I wish my lawn was big enough that I could mow a pattern on it!

[garyhlucas]

Lawn = suburban desert

[Edwin Dirnbeck]

I like the stripes! My mower makes great stripes.

I have never seen an actual homeowner doing this. I think it must be to much trouble. Its allways " I have my lawn service guy do it" Edwin Dirnbeck

[sid pileski]

Bf- I’m with you. I do not have striping rolled on my zero turn, it just cuts that way. I alternate the direction I mow every time I mow. I mow two acres. In the summer, I also mow probably every four to five days.
I like the way it looks for me.
I take pride in my home, and the lawn is part of that.

Sid

[barracudajoe]

Then again, they probably think you lawn is too plain without stripes. At least they are keeping it mowed and are not parking POS RV's in the yard.

[sarge41]

I'm not interested in striping, not even sure how its done, but I have started mowing at (with a zero turn) 45 degrees to the old pattern. Now every time , I alternate the 45 degree and the lawn seems to like it. It is looking better that ever.

Sarge41

[JoeLee]

I don't care one way or the other.

But I've always been puzzled by the practice of laying down the stripes in a diagonal pattern, which became the fad many years ago. It would make sense if the geometry of the lawn dictated doing so, but most often it requires more complicated maneuvering. Though it has seemed to have fallen somewhat out of vogue in recent years.

I could care less what my lawn looks like, but that diamond pattern is typical of baseball fields.

JL.....

[J Tiers]

Then again, they probably think you lawn is too plain without stripes. At least they are keeping it mowed and are not parking POS RV's in the yard.

No lawn is complete without a Camaro up on blocks with the doors in the dirt!

[tom_d]

If it weren't for the lawn police, I would never mow my lawn.

Looking at a few of the old family photographs taken well before the invention of lawn mowers, and the soon to follow obsession with manicured turf. In pictures of the house there typically was a goat tethered to a long rope, nose to the ground, chomping away oblivious to surrounding activity.

[JoeLee]

Looking at a few of the old family photographs taken well before the invention of lawn mowers, and the soon to follow obsession with manicured turf. In pictures of the house there typically was a goat tethered to a long rope, nose to the ground, chomping away oblivious to surrounding activity.

That was the best method. It allowed you time to do other things like spend time with the family. The goat provided milk and the by product from eating all the grass could be used to fertilize the garden.

The good old days !

JL...............

[Black Forest]

It seems to me that some of you men need a little education in lawn maintenance. I used to be a part owner in a golf course. I love grass. Between cattle, horses and golf I know a little bit about grass. The main reason for mowing on alternating directions is to keep from making depressions in the ground. If you always mow in the same pattern you get depressions in the ground from the tires of whatever equipment you are using. The rollers that you all seem to think are superficial are actually smoothing the ground not the grass. The stripes are a by-product. I for one like the looks of the stripes. It brings order to a chaotic world in some small way. It takes no more effort to mow geometrically than randomly, at least for me. I would think as machinists you all would appreciate the precision of a well kept lawn. My wife makes a joke about me taking my calipers and measuring the length of the grass so I can mow it again. Our mower is a commercial golf course mower that makes mowing enjoyable. It mows 2.5 meters wide in one pass. It is efficient so it feels good to mow. People often comment on how good our lawn looks and ask what I kind of mower I have. Normally I tell them I use just 22" mowers. Normal response is something like, "no way". Then when I show them my mower they smile. The mower has 5 22" decks that all move independently of each other. It is called a contour mower. It is what gets used to mow the roughs at a golf course. I love my mower.

[Beazld]

Lawns are a conspiracy of Big Grass Seed, Big Fertilizer, and Big Lawn Mower! Don't drink the Koolaid! Plant gardens!

Don’t forget Big Chem (Roundup,Spectricide)!