Well...a couple of years ago I  bought a Scott's Classic reel mower. I love it and it's a joy to use. One problem: I have over 17,000 sq ft of lawn.  

That in and of itself wouldn't necessarily make a reel mower impossible to use, if it was a nice lawn. Unfortunately it's not. It's bumpy and weedy. Boo.

Last week I was using my gas mower and mostly hating it. Too noisy, too smelly, and it throws grass all over me. I was thinking wistfully of the yard I had at my last house: all ground cover in front, and an oval of grass in back, surrounded by shrubbery and perennials. And I got to thinking...well, you know that Mohamed and mountain thing.

If my lawn is too big for a reel mower, make it smaller. I realize it shouldn't have taken me five years to think of this. Sorry.

So now I have a new plan: three ovals of grass (well, this is a bigger yard), surrounded by trees and perennials and ground cover. Mulched with compost so I can avoid the "wood mulch: good or bad for your plants?" discussion. Sounds great, right? Should only take me about three years to implement.

Stay tuned...