Day 65 - Selective Mowing

Manicured lawns are everywhere. Homeowners have an expectation of maintaining a perfect lawn. Anything short of perfection is often considered an eyesore. Personally, I don't get the fascination this culture has with keeping pristine (and boring) care of a homogeneous blanket of non-native grass. I was so “bad” at mowing at the old house that my neighbor mowed my lawn for me half the time. So, when our restoration partner mentioned the process of selective mowing, I wasn't so sure what to expect. As mentioned ina previous post, selective mowing focused on strategically mowing a plot of land to protect the desirable plants whole “low mowing” the undesirables. Low mowing was essentially mowing them down as close as possible to the ground. This would force them to use up extra energy and hopefully, exhaust them from ever getting to seed. At the same time, it provided the plants you wanted to survive and thrive the time, space, and opportunity to not only seed, but hopefully spread. 

There was an art to selective mowing. With the right equipment, anyone can mow down fields of grass. But, selective mowing requires a keen eye, exquisite timing, and a focus on the future.

When the time came, our partner came and selectively mowed the field. Watching him in action was actually quite fun. There would be back and forth stretches that seemed like a “regular” mow. But there were times where he changed speed, changed direction, and altered the height of the cutting blades. As I observed from afar, I wanted to see those changes because I believed that meant he was avoiding many, many new and desirable plants.  He said he saw lots of great progress with new plants sprouting up, but much of his speed and directional changes had to do with something else: large patches of thistles. He low mowed them, but recommended they would need a more thorough and specific herbicide treatment to make sure they didn't get to seed as they are notorious and obnoxious spreaders. 

I was one step ahead. I had already purchased a backpack sprayer. He was one more step ahead of me. He had thistle-specific spray.

Let the fun begin.