What's the trick to mowing grass on a steep hill with a gas push mower

[clare]

Yea, 2 stroke weed wackers.

[clare]

The GOOD lawnmowers with oil filters stand a chance because they have an oil pump and full pressure lubrication. 2 strokes stand up even better - much as I hate the noisy stinky critters.

[hrhofmann]

I vote for the diagonal cutting, the OP needs to figure out how to go uphill at 45 degrees, the downhill will take care of itself. Wildflowers is a much better answer.

[ransley]

I honestly stopped cutting mine, its to dangerous, slipping on muddy areas and having the lawnmower come back to your feet while its running, I knew eventualy my mistakes would cost me big, I went the weedwacker route, then I terraced and planted plants. Get a 50 lb bag of black oil sunflower seed, and have sunflowers.

[notbob]

Goat(s)!

Probably cost more, but will do a better job. Taste good, too.

nb

[Bob F]

You'd probably need to attach much closer to the bottom - near the vertical center-of-mass ideally.

[hallerb]

think grouncover, whatever is common to your area and very hardy.

less wqork no maintence, nice flowers of some sort.

a real win win win

[aemeijers]

I like that idea, and so would my neighborhood birds and squirrels. But alas, for my problem area in the front yard, my neighbors would shoot me, and my topsoil is so thin and crappy they are unlikely to grow unless I dumped a thousand bucks of potting soil out and spread it around. Township would likely call them 'noxious weeds' as well, and send Bubba and his bush-hog by, and add it to my tax bill.

[J Burns]

At the farm, a string trimmer with a shoulder strap and 30" handlebars was an easy way to mow creek banks. The strap was adjusted so the head would float level at the desired height. Then the handlebars were adjusted for best control. I could cut a 5' swath, so it was fairly quick.

For neater cutting almost like a mower, I could use a disk head with 3 pivoting nylon blades about 5" long.

[norminn]

A little creative landscaping might eliminate the need for mowing AND be something to admire...sounds like a dangerous place to try to mow. In my OR days, I saw quite a few people with mower injuries...always by mower rolling back and grabbing some toes.

I did quite a bit of refining of the landscaping around our condo where downspouts formerly washed out a lot of soil. Small areas, gradual grades, but had been a real eyesore.

[mm]

Why would that be less dangerous? It says nothing about hills on the webpage and it seems to me that if it's floating, it's even easier to get your foot under it.

Not only that, if it's heavy, its tendenecy is to keep all 4 wheels on the ground. Since the user of the flymo will be uphill from the mower, won't every time he lowers his arms cause the front of the mower to go up and the rear to go down, making for a very uneven cut and a blade that can easily throw things at anyone in front of it.

Just some thoughts. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't see why this is especially suited for a slope.

[mm]

I don't like them but in some ways they're great. ARe there trees or bushes that would make it hard to manage the cord?

OP, what did the previous owner do? Does he have all his toes?

[mm]

But is level good for a steep hill? And say it's put at the angle for the hill, when one turns to either side, it won't be at the right angle anymore. Still, it might still work if he doesn't do much turning. I hate to be a pain, but I can't seem to help it.

[Joe Carthy]

Don't mow it.

[J Burns]

Adjusting the harness so the head will be level at the desired height is best for mowing on level ground or slopes. I wouldn't try to mow a creek bank walking up or down. That would mean reaching below foot level on my way down or bringing the head up near face level on my way up.

I'd walk along the slope and use the handlebars to tip the trimmer sideways parallel to the slope. With the handlebars I would also swing the trimmer to clear a wide swath.

If instead of mowing at a certain level I were trying to cut weeds at ground level, I'd shorten the strap so that the head of the trimmer was at a toe-down attitude.

[Elmo]

I looked up hover mowers (electroluc flymo, eastman industries hover mower, allen, draper, etc.).

The marketing makes it seem so simple, but there must be a good reason why we're all not using a hover mower.

One problem is that they apparently can't cut high grass; another is they reputedly don't work well on uneven surfaces; yet another, I'm told, is that rocky soil (which is what I have) chips the weak plastic blades; yet another is that the blades are purportedly puny, about 2 inches, so hover mowing a large area might not be a whole lot better than whacking with the weed whacker.

They seem to be available in 4 stroke, 2-stroke, and in 110/220 corded.

This hover mower idea might work, especially if it can hold itself on a bank being controlled by a rope ... but that remains to be seen whether it can actually be remotely controlled from the top of the slope.

[Elmo]

Yes. Both. But not too many. Mostly it's tall grass. It seems a weakness of the hover mowers is tall grass and uneven surfaces. I have both.

I guess if I kept it mowed nicely, both would subside ... but that means I still need to mow it all at least once with a mower than can handle tall grass (or a weed whacker).

Since the hover mower reputedly has a very small swath (much smaller than the area of the deck), it might not be much better than a weed whacker. I'm still looking things up though ...

[Elmo]

Terracing is probably the best idea, long term.

Short term I just want to mow it. I'll try the 45° idea on the weekend and report back.

[Elmo]

This wikipedia picture implies the hover mower actual coverage is not much different than a weed whacker. Certainly the plastic blades are vastly smaller than the deck in area.

[mm]

Maybe the deck is so big to keep one from getting his toes cut off.

I knew a professional gardener who keep a jar of toes in pickle juice in his office.

Just kidding.