Polish Lawn Mowing - No Joke

[bubbacuse77]

Ok, I just got back from a work trip to Poland. Very nice country that is very westernized and they love the USA.
However, they have the strangest approach to lawn care. In the entire 4 weeks I spent there this spring I didn't see one "regular" lawnmower. What they do is let the grass grow to about 1-2 feet tall then either use flail mowers behind tractors in the big open areas or they use bicycle handle stihl trimmers everywhere else and then rake up huge piles of grass then truck it away.

So I now call my stihl bicycle handle trimmer a Polish Lawn Mower

Attached is an example.

 

[Don87]

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[94BULLITT]

Some people around here must be Polish then cause they only mow once a month:laughing:

How low do they cut it once they mow it?

 

[IslandTractor]

Ok, I just got back from a work trip to Poland. Very nice country that is very westernized and they love the USA.
However, they have the strangest approach to lawn care. In the entire 4 weeks I spent there this spring I didn't see one "regular" lawnmower. What they do is let the grass grow to about 1-2 feet tall then either use flail mowers behind tractors in the big open areas or they use bicycle handle stihl trimmers everywhere else and then rake up huge piles of grass then truck it away.

So I now call my stihl bicycle handle trimmer a Polish Lawn Mower

Attached is an example.<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=325737"/>

They do the same thing in Russia. Parks in the middle of Moscow (but not around the Kremlin which are manicured) are treated like fields rather than lawns. Same for the median in boulevards. I though it was weird at first but then decided it was actually pretty natural and that perhaps our overly manicured suburban lawns were at least as weird.

 

[94BULLITT]

They do the same thing in Russia. Parks in the middle of Moscow (but not around the Kremlin which are manicured) are treated like fields rather than lawns. Same for the median in boulevards. I though it was weird at first but then decided it was actually pretty natural and that perhaps our overly manicured suburban lawns were at least as weird.

So we are the weird ones then:laughing:

 

[bubbacuse77]

Down to about an inch. The picture is of a freshly mowed landscape.

I mean no disrespect because they are a great country. My Polish buddies and I had a good laugh about it all when I tried to explain how we spend so much time cutting our lawns every week.

Like Don said, different is all, not wrong.

 

[bubbacuse77]

Makes for a good memory every time I grab the trimmer to finish the lawn. I laugh a little bit on the inside thinking about doing the entire lawn with this thing.

 

[bcp]

Might they be using the long grass for animal feed?

Bruce

 

[bubbacuse77]

Might they be using the long grass for animal feed?

Bruce

Good point. Maybe but I didn't get that out of our conversations.

 

[IslandTractor]

So we are the weird ones then:laughing:

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Which point on the spectrum between OCD lawn care and entropy feels right for you. I will say that seeing how they did it made me at least think about the rather extreme habit of weekly mowing except on golf courses. There is a three acre pasture in front of our summer place that I used to mow every couple or three weeks. Now we mow once around the beginning of July and once in the fall. Keeps the invasives at bay and instead of a huge plain lawn we now have wild flowers, clumps of native ornamental grasses, waves of grasses in the wind and a surprising wildlife habitat. I never saw preying mantis's here until we stopped mowing and now we have hundreds. Might not be everyones cup of tea but I sure do prefer sitting on the porch with a beer and book and occasionally glancing at the field rather
than spending hours each month mowing. YMMV.