OV9

I don’t really feel like I need the compost and it’ll be mainly grass so probably not that fertile. But if the heap of clippings starts to look useful then I might formalise it a bit.

Really, mulching ought to be the way to go but I reckon I’d want to cut it twice a week to make that work and I can’t be arsed.

Just piling it up and leaving it over winter makes pretty good fertiliser - mrs mik grew tatties & beets last year in pretty much this alone.

The pile of rotting grass clippings is slippery to walk on and the bits which stick to your boots look like cow pats when you walk them round the place.

I did end up using all four mowers today, and my feelings about the HRH have been reinforced; it’s not for me. I think I’ll keep it until Honda do stop making petrol mowers though, to avoid the depreciation.

Dinny, here is the clippings pile after 3 cuts. That starting from a bare patch of grass last month.



Here’s how I do the front lawn - the small Izy and chuck the clippings into the trailer to take them to the pile:

Whilst I applaud you ownership of 4 mowers, I’m not going to lie, I’d be paying someone to do it if I had your place.

I had to do our old house yesterday as well and that’s why I’m knackered. It takes as long to mow there as it does the new one despite being 1/3 the size due to the awkward bits round the edges, and it’s more tiring because of all the manoeuvring. But you’re right, I may find someone to cut it;

The sale of our old house should complete in about 2 weeks so I can then stop looking after the garden. It was more pleasurable when we got the benefit of it I have spent many hours today mowing and gardening - twice as long at the old place.

I nearly brought my favourite mower back from it but there is a fair chance it’ll need another mow before the sale completes. So I left it and used the small Izy to do the edges and front lawn at our new house. It seems to be running a lot better than the last few times; I suspect the fuel was mostly old even though I’d topped it up with brand new super unleaded. Anyway, today it didn’t feel sluggish at all and it did a cracking job. Still prefer the GCV170 engine which did an excellent job at the old house, so I’m very much looking forward to having that as a permanent fixture.

In case you mow too low;

Finally got all my mowers together.



The favourite is the second from the left, the one which should be wonderful but I don’t like is next to the Al-ko.

Mrs. Jobbo from the kitchen window…

“What… is he doing???

She was out so I took the opportunity. I did show her the photo when she got back. She looked amused and exasperated

Hondatryoshka.

Jobbo wrote: Sat May 25, 2024 3:10 pm She was out so I took the opportunity. I did show her the photo when she got back. She looked amused and exasperated

Jobbo wrote: Sat May 25, 2024 3:10 pm She looked amused and exasperated

I feel this is a phrase that members of this forum use often.

Your favourite also looks the most similar to my Mountfield (same engine obvs)

Ah, I think my Dad has that one! I persuaded him to bin the electric flymo and get a proper mower for his long garden that would be less hard to push.

Jobbo wrote: Sat May 25, 2024 3:10 pm She looked amused and exasperated

Huh? She's in a household with FOUR mowers, what has she got to feel exasperated about? She's living the dream!

Honda HRH536 end of term report. I realised a week or so ago that I was unlikely ever to use it and it was taking up space in the garage. Plus it’s so solidly made, bashing yourself on the handle is painful. So I called the dealer I bought it from and they’d have bought it back but suggested I advertise it for quite a bit more privately and it should sell straight away. And it did within a couple of days.

It’s a lovely mower but it’s heavy and not very consumer-friendly IMO; every corner and edge will give you a bruise if you catch it. It really is incredibly solid.

Anyway, massive depreciation in two years, particularly if you measure it per mile. Buy one second hand if you want one.

Mito Man wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 5:30 pm I looked at a beekeeping but decided to not bother as there were so many hoops to jump through. The local bee keepers club wanted me to read a bunch of books, sit their exam, inspect my apiary and location and if that all went well I could pay for some bees to be delivered in 12 months times. Then the price they wanted for the bees seemed to be borderline extortion. I also wanted to use the Flow Hive method for convenience but they looked at me like I wanted to rape and pillage them when I mentioned Flow Hive. Fuck your bees and fuck your planet

Random location to continue a discussion about bees, buuuuut......

Glanced out the window yesterday and could see something was blocking the entrance to one of our birdboxes. There's a family of blue tits in one of the others I put up, so I was keen to see what was using this one - binoculars out - with the expectation of seeing a little birdy face peeking out, but was really disappointed when I realised the entrance was just partially blocked with "stuff". Saw something small fly out, and a few seconds later another small object fly in, and had the realisation that we had another wasps nest in a birdbox (as we did a couple of years ago).

Watched a little longer though, and realised it's not wasps. It's little (far rounder) furry bees.

So yesterday I learned that "Tree Bumblebees" were a thing. I had no idea..... There is no room for the hive to grow, and unfortunately they are likely to be present for the summer only.

https://barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/bees-in-a-bird-box/

That’s quite fun. Don’t let the dug get stung.

And much better than wasps which we also had move into a bird box, very aggresive too and made that area of the garden out of bounds. That is until one cool evening when they were all in the box, a quick stealthy approach and slapped some tape across the bird box opening. Relocation to a quiet part of the garden, petrol, match. One did get me though, came out like a smoking exocet

John wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 9:43 am a smoking exocet