A month ago, even, I thought this moment would never get here.
The lawn outside the Little Bitty cherished by my dear wife Karen and I in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood had received its first mow of the season.
I did the honors Monday, front and back. I do believe that the cutting start date of May 4 is the latest since we moved in coming up on 11 years ago. The snow that piled up more than 160 inches’ worth this winter season, without a melt from the first of the year until after the official arrival of spring, had everything to do with the late mowing date, figures this armchair agronomist.
The Little Bitty of Eastwood, all spiffed up for Cinco de Mayo.
I could have pulled the mower out earlier, but the stars aligned for this particular occasion. Good Neighbor Tim offered to sharpen the mower blade for us, and I pushed our pretty red baby over to his workshop Sunday morning, and he brought it back in the afternoon. But I had other commitments, so Monday I changed the oil, filled the gas can, and enjoyed my half-hour of power pushing.
I love the way the front looks with the blooming rhododendron smack in the middle of the hourglass garden and the Robinson flowering crabapple happy in its third spring, full of buds and at the ready to flower a couple of paces away.
This is the week for yard waste recyleables to be picked up from curbside, too, as you can see.
Ellie B will share the backyard with Karen and I.
Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle appears pleased that the backyard is cut down for her increased warm-weather wandering, as well. She loves it when Karen gets home from work and my dear wife and I take a few moments to savor life in those red chairs.
I wonder if I’ll get more than seven days between mowings at this start of this season.
Push mow, ride mow or let it grow? If you do your own mowing, how often to you cut your yard, and how long does it take? Would you put concrete or astroturf in instead of a grass lawn if you could, and why or why not?
Mark Bialczak 
I love your green, beautiful yard! Both my son and I are VERY allergic to grass, so my sister mows for us every weekend. And according to her, it needs to be done twice that often. As for me, yes, I’d definitely prefer the Brady Bunch astroturf yard. 🙂
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Down Florida way, you could get away with that Brady Bunch yard, Rachel. I don’t think we could up here in New York.
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José cuts my lawn and I am blessed to have him. He likes Oscar and has his best interest in mind. I do love to mow. Grew up doing a ton of it…mostly push mower.
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Hooray for Jose. I like him because he is good to Oscar, Aud. 🙂
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I love the pink and yellow blooms on your bushes, your freshly cut lawn, Ellie B. and I love the smell of freshly cut grass. Mark, fun times ahead!
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Here it comes, summer time activities, Robin. Get ready for your Delaware County, Ohio, festivals, my friend. 🙂
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Nice yard, Mr. B!! I can see why Ellie B enjoys it. I hope you had some tequila while sitting on those red chairs yesterday. 🙂 My Mr. B mowed our yard on Sunday for the first time and although it looks lovely, it sparked a horrendous allergic reaction in me and I could not even see my eyes were so closed! I spent all Monday with a box of tissues on my face! 🙂 Oh well, I can’t really complain, I’ll take pollen anyway over snow!
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Oh, Mrs. B, we have to get you some Claritan or somesuch. That’s not good!
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I have a courtyard so no grass but methinks that Bertie Lamb would prefer grass even if it meant hisar her had to go a-mowing!
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Poor Bertie Lamb! A doggie needs grass to .. well … you know, Charlotte. 😮 I know you would mow if given the opportunity to make your Bertie happy.
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This may surprise you, but I cut my own grass:). Just me and all the dads on the street:). Girl power, Mark!
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That doesn’t surprise me the least, Kay. Woman power!
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The front of our buildings all have cedar chips spread so no grass or weeds will grow.. it looks quite nice. I have never liked grass and had hay fever for decades Freshly cut lawns started the sneezing. I do like the look though. And it is great for dogs like Ellie. Your yard is looking great Mark – in fact the Little Bitty looks wonderful. Great pictures and a fine looking yard and home.
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Thanks so much, Paul. Now, little projects to spruce her up even more. I have started sneezing myself the last few days, though. I have a bit of an allergy, too. Ahhh-chooo.
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We are mowing every 4-5 days now…it’s gorgeous! I think I love Spring more every year!
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Your grass is growing mighty fast, Michelle. Wow. Spring is lush in your midwest, my friend. 🙂
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It is this year, Mark. In fact, our mowing got interrupted by a thunderstorm last night – we only have half of it mowed! Drives my husby crazy!
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Yes, I am just like that, Michelle. Karen has been known to yell at me, “Stop! It’s pouring and starting to lightning!”
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I was checking out The Great Lawn of The House on the Hill earlier, and I might have to bust out the lawnmower this weekend.
Think of the blog posts and photos that will inspire…
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Love your House on the Hill. I’m heading over to visit right now!
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I’d love you opinion on last night’s dating tip post, too. 🙂
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I want to see th cut, Austin.
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I’ll try to remember to take photos…
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We have a lot of rock here in the desert, Mark. I *lot* of rock. But I have a big grassy lawn in my backyard, enough for a decent wiffle ball game next to the batting cage 😀 Green grass is precious ❤
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I love that you carry wiffle ball with you from the east, Angie McFly. 🙂 Hooray!
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I love cutting grass, probably ’cause I have no grass to cut Mark! The l’il bitty is looking awesome. ❤
Diana xo
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Yes, the heart grows fonder … as they say. Thanks for your kind words about our humble abode, my dear friend Diana. ❤
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I think I told you we’re moving in the direction of “lawnlessness?” Adding shrubs, perennials, and herbs to the front — doing food on the side? One day there’ll be very little to mow 🙂
It takes about 3 hours for The Mister to do our 1.3 acres. 😦 I’m sure it would take about half that with a rider, but we don’t have one yet. I wanted to negotiate the prior owner’s in with the sale, but we had to bargain with the electrical box upgrades, soooo…*sigh*
Love the lil red chairs, we have them in brown. And Sadie is very content to guard the porch while we relax in them! 😀
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I remain enamored with your estate plan for growing your own for food and loveliness both, Joey. Dang, that rider would have been a nice kicker in the negotiations. Poor hubby. That’s a lot of pushing in the summer heat. 😦
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It was an exciting weekend seeing the suddenly green grass, but we’re not quite ready for any mowing. (when i say ‘we’ I mean other people; I also live in an apartment and don’t have to worry about such things) I did pick up a push mower at a yard sale one year when I lived in a house with a postage stamp front yard that I had access to (the upstairs renters had the back yard) I quite enjoyed the mowing process – love the sound the push mower makes, as well as the smell of freshly cut grass. Took about 15 minutes as I recall.
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Good for you getting into the spirit and the process and the smell, VS. It is quite uplifting when it’s not too big of a plot or too hot of a day! Have a good time enjoying the whiff when they start cutting around your apartment, too.
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And what do you know, I can hear a mower, off in the near distance now!!
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Power of suggestion, VS. Breathe it in. 🙂
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it looks great mark. i have to take my mower in, as it’s not starting, and neither marc or i are mechanical in the least. meanwhile, my lawn is looking a little long and shaggy. i love having a little lawn, only takes about 20 mins and more and more of it is becoming vine and flowers over time. )
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Uh-oh. Did you leave gas in it from last year, Beth? Sometimes if you leave too much, it goes bad over the winter and then the mower won’t start. Did you check the spark plug connection? Make sure the little lever that lets the gas flow to the tank pushed toward on? Engage the choke properly? That’s the extent of my preseason knowledge. Mark B over and out! 😉
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Ummm
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Beautiful lawn. Ellie B makes me feel sorry for every apartment dwelling pooch who does not have their own lawn to romp around.
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Ellie B is fortunate to have our little plot of happy green, Ros, and she makes the most of it. I still walk her every day to get more sights and smells. And to spoil her even more. And get her winter belly off. 😉
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Love the smell of dew on the lawn in the morning. Love the smell of fresh cut lawn anytime of day. Love rolling down a small hill covered in manicured lawn.
But we live in the woods with 100 foot giants. So we grow moss and mushrooms instead of lawn . . . I will live vicariously through your lawn. 🙂
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Wow, Tracy. I didn’t realize you guys did the pioneer thing! Cool beans and mushrooms and moss! 😉
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When we left Seattle, we moved to “the outskirts” of a small town. However, civilization is encroaching. We now have a few stop lights and a few sidewalks and a movie theater.
And with the advent of mega construction in our area, I suspect “small” town will soon be an oxymoron.
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So refreshing to see spring in your area.
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At last, as Etta James sang, Dora.
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One of the nice things about living in an apartment is not having to mow the lawn…well at least that’s what I think. I know there are lots of people who take pride in a nice garden and if I had a green thumb I probably would too. I’m ashamed to admit this but, when we were home owners, our lawn looked so bad our neighbors had to get on us to do something about it. Of course it looked terrible when we moved in anyway. We were thinking rock garden but that’s a lot of work too.
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You city people, Marissa. Ha! Just busting on ya, Rock gardens are too much work? Maybe at the start.
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Funny Mark! No really, they are low maintenance once they’re set up but taking the grass out, finding the right rocks and even planting the few plants…I don’t know, maybe I am spoiled from all that city living!!
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You get used to the lay of the land where you grow up, Marissa. There’s no getting around that principle of life! 😉
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True!
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Ahh…the lawn obsession. My husband has it. It’s genetic. Lately, he is devoting his free time to dandelion destruction…I’m waiting for him to start treating the neighbor’s lawn…after all, the wind blows them our way. Yikes ! ☺ Van
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We’re behind in the dandelion race, Van. I’ll just mow ’em down with the rest of the blades. 🙂 Not really obsessed. Just impressed when it’s done.
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I did my first mow on Sunday. But, you know, these things, like the weather, move west to east, so it makes sense my lawn was ready a day before yours.
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That makes total sense, Scott. And now we have our schedules set for the summer and fall. Wow.
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We get a week in, I have a “guy” who cuts & trims the green stuff in our yard but I’m not really sure it can be called a “lawn” more of a short weed haven.
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Short weed haven sounds lovely to me, a lady, but my definition of lawn is quite expansive and all-encompassing. 😉 I don’t fertilize. I don’t water. I let nature take its course, and I mow. 😉
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I do the same except … I pay someone else to mow.
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I don’t have to because it’s small and … I have the time to cut it myself, alady. 🙂
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For me it’s a time issue… there’s never enough day in the day
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My husband keeps talking about moving to a house on a bigger lot so the neighbors are farther away. I keep reminding him that he doesn’t particularly enjoy mowing the lawn on our normal suburban lot, and we couldn’t afford a lawn service. I’m sure not doing any mowing.
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And moving would be such a hassle, CM. I’m on your side in this one.
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Isn’t it great seeing all the green??? Dogamous Pyle looks like a mad dingo…. keep her away from babies!
Just wanted to drop by and say hello, Mark. I’m in a weird place right now and haven’t been around much.
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I think she may have some dingo in her, my friend. We don’t know all the breeds because of her rescue heritage, of course. She does have a wild hair. But she is calm around kids, so, maybe not! You take care of yourself, OK?
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I love the first cut.
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Yes, it is a happy cut, Brenda. Congratulatons on yours, too. 🙂
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Thanks! We are still holding off on ours. But our day is coming. 🙂
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I forget that you are even more north than I, Brenda. 🙂
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We had a rough spring. Heaps of snow. Everything is late this year.
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It’s looking very green and lovely 🙂 Steve cut our grass yesterday – second cut of the year. I would never have astro turf. We saw some in a garden of a house we viewed and the colour was just too green!
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I would never have astro turf unless nothing at all would grow, Rachel. 🙂 Maybe a paler green?
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I love the smell of new mown grass. I just don’t laike being the one to mow it.
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When I lived in houses with big lawns, I lked it less, in direct proportion, Benson. Go figure. 🙂 The Little Bitty and my half hour of pushing is just about right. 🙂
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We are not getting a full week between cuttings at all. Have probably cut already close to a dozen times. I say ‘we’ though I mean ‘he’. Though I would cut, because I like cutting grass. Ours is a bitty yard so it’s push mow. I would like to landscape more, not to get rid of grass per se, but to utilize the yard more for play or garden. Right now it needs something….
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I think I will be once a week, MBC, push, 30 minutes. I love the grass with some cut-outs for gardens. It is a good mix developed by MDW Karen and cut by me. 🙂 I think you and David can come up with something.
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I think so too. Did I ever tell you we have a little log cabin in our back yard? 🙂 That takes up some room. Trying to figure out some wee little trees to put in there. We don’t want anything that grows tall.
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You have told me about your tiny log cabin, the beloved building that checks off that item on your bucket list, and I am so thrilled that you are able to enjoy it now, MBC. LIttle trees are on MDW Karen and I’s list now, too. We have to find and plant that Snow Fountain cherry. Now we are thinking front yard instead of back this spring!
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You will be the envy…. I am thinking little trees that will give the false impression, yet I guess it won’t be exactly false, of being incased in trees. They would just be little bitties. 🙂
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Beautiful strategy, to scale, MBC. 🙂
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🙂
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