Welcome to a new subseries on radamdavidson.com called “Mowing Patterns”.
As a mower of my own lawn, I find it endlessly challenging to find new patterns for mowing (or “cutting”) my grass (or “lawn”). I never want to do the same thing twice. Ergo, I spend a LOT of time thinking about these things as I mow our 1/2 acre of land, sitting on our Husqvarna 46″ riding mower with factory standard, non-mulching blades. Already in its 16th hour of usage for the Summer, I seem to have nothing better to do than consider the deep ramifications of mowing patterns, plus look out for toads.

That being said… welcome. Let’s begin with part 1!

My favorite mowing pattern right now is the expanding concentric circle. That’s where I get our riding mower out to the center of the yard, drop the deck, and do a tight 360 degree turn around. There’s no zero turn radius, so it ends up leaving a circle of unmowed lawn with a radius of about 4 feet. That continues to grow freely, grounding me while I keep slowly winding my way out of the center and toward the edge, blades spinning as I go. By the time I get to the circumference zone (that’s what I call it in my head), it’s time to go back and turn radius corners into square corners. The reward is when I get to drive back to the middle of the circle, where the whole thing began, and mow the center.

PROS: no stopping or turning around until the last 10%, you hardly ever cover the same ground twice (until you have to correct the edges and center). Appearance of total madness to passers by.

CONS: grass trimmings are being pushed out of the circle as you go, which means there will be a huge pile up against the house and out in the street. Kind of looks okay until it browns and becomes flammable straw. Appearance of total madness to passers by.

LIFE LESSON: as we go along in life, we need to make sure we have a visible, tangible center, otherwise our circle gets skewed.

Be sure to stop by next week after I mow to hear about my second favorite pattern, the goalpost-50-goalpost. But until then, perhaps you’ll be bold enough to describe your favorite pattern.