Monty Don “Scythes cut grass very well”

In his new book ‘Down to Earth’ Monty Don has commented: “You don’t have to use a machine – scythes cut grass very well.”  This observation has sparked a surprisingly reactionary response from fellow gardening correspondents and garden machinery representatives.

Monty’s assertion that scythes cut grass very well is factually true; it is indeed quite possible to mow a lawn with a scythe. Monty and many other British scythe users have rediscovered the pleasure of this for themselves in recent years.  In parts of Europe a scythe is still the default tool for managing domestic grass.

There is indeed a choice that does not involve the use of machines or fossil fuels.

Can a scythe mow a lawn as well as a lawn mower? Well the answer to this depends in part on what you would like to get from your lawn.

 

Garden designer Dan Pearson has written about the folly of trying to maintain pristine bowling green type close cropped turf in domestic gardens. “Lawns are high maintenance and if you choose to aspire to a weed- and moss-free sward, you will have to employ a considerable gambit of chemicals to keep them that way“

To create an actual bowling green or a croquet lawn as a playing surface with a cut height of 10mm or less requires a huge investment in inputs and ongoing maintenance including mowing on a daily basis.  A scythe is not suited to this task (but then neither are most domestic lawn mowers).

 

For most garden lawns what most people want is ground cover that is green, soft and welcoming.  It needs to be moderately resilient and not onerous to maintain. If you can let yourself take a more relaxed approach to lawn maintenance you will be rewarded: raise the cutting height so the grass is less stressed, let go of any notions of keeping up with the Jones’s regular stripes, and be laid back about your mowing schedule to encourage daisies, selfheal, cowslips and other wild flowers to grow and flower.

This relaxed lawn maintenance approach is generally straight forward with a rotary mower but cylinder mowers (particularly the push variety) will struggle with longer grass should you miss a cut or two because of wet weather, whilst you are away on holiday, or after letting flowers bloom.  A scythe is a useful tool for trimming back overgrown lawns; in this context, it makes a perfect partner to a hand pushed cylinder mower if you want to combine the best of both tools without an engine.

A backbreaking job?

National Lawnmower Museum curator Brian Radam is quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: “Scything is a backbreaking job”.

Scythes have been developed and refined over their almost 2000 year history into a remarkably ergonomic tool.  Properly set up and used they are good exercise for all parts of the body, including the back and core muscles. Scythe use actually avoids health issues associated with petrol machines (particularly strimmers) such as hearing loss, white finger from vibration, musculoskeletal damage from bad posture and lifting.

The idea that the invention of the heavy cast iron lawn push mower by Edwin Budding in 1830 was to make life easier for servants is unlikely.   The landed gentry would only be interested in being the first to employ the latest no doubt expensive gadget so they could produce even more show off lawns with stripes around their mansions.

Mowing lawns with a scythe is a particular pleasure requiring very little physical effort as lawn grass is short, light-weight, soft and mows sweetly. So the comment “Many of those gardeners who would have time for this would be of an age when they shouldn’t really be swinging scythes around!” is way off the mark.  There are a significant number of  folk in their retirement enthusiastically learning to scythe and keeping themselves fit and active as a result.

Mary Keen in her online column reacted to Monty’s observation stating that “a scythe is no good in the modern world”.  She goes on to state authoritatively:

“A scythe does not cut grass very well, because it cuts properly only if the grass is standing up straight – not lying down after rain, as it mostly does”.

On this she has got it completely the wrong way around.  A scythe cuts best when the grass is wet or still has dew on it.  It is lawnmowers that struggle with wet, overgrown lawns.  A scythe is ideal for dealing with overgrown lawns following a period of wet weather or when you have been away on holiday.

Mary also says “Even on dry days, a scythe needs to be razor sharp, or it tears the grass, leaving split ends like a bad haircut”.

Absolutely, a scythe blade needs to be razor sharp at all times, and would be given a few seconds of sharpening every 5 minutes or so during use to keep it this way.  It is badly set or maintained lawnmowers that produce split ends in lawns.  Plant breeders have even selected ‘stringless’ lawn varieties to reduce this very problem.  Most domestic lawn mowers and strimmers are rarely, if ever, sharpened; they rely on brute rotary speed to sever grass blades.  The bruising from these blunt instruments can cause unsightly straw-coloured die-back at the tips of grass leaves. Bruised machine cut grass clippings ferment within an hour of mowing so are not safe to feed to pets, where clean cut scythed grass would be. Mashed compacted mower clippings are also more difficult to manage in the compost heap.

Mary concludes “I also defy anyone to cut a lawn much lower than three inches with Monty’s dangerous weapon”.

There are plenty of online videos showing lawns being cut with a scythe. (see foot of this post)

Used correctly, scythes always cut lower than three inches.

 “Monty’s dangerous weapon”

Mary Keen describes scythes like Monty’s dangerous weapon as “huge and lethal” – really Mary!

Alarmingly in the Daily Mail, British Lawnmower Museum curator Brian Radam also “warned that having a large blade lying around would not be safe among young families”.

Powered lawn mowers and strimmers are responsible for more injuries than terrorism; ranging from eye injuries from flung stones and debris, to severed fingers and toes, and even death.  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics (2015) are shocking: each year 75 people are killed, and 20,000 injured; one in five deaths involves a child. Each year, 800 children are run over by ride-on mowers or small tractors and more than 600 of those incidents result in amputation.

Scythes are very safe to mow with, and on a soft clean lawn it is quite safe and pleasant to mow in bare feet. In common with other sharp edge tools,and regular kitchen knives, scythe blades of course need to be handled and stored with respect; accidental mishandling can result in minor cuts.

The imagined association of scythes with mortal danger seems to be psychologically and culturally quite deep rooted. In practice using a scythe is not so likely to draw attention from Death in his black robes

Death prefers owners of lawn mowers

The British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association have even joined in to express their concerns as in 2016 sales of mowers are estimated to have been worth more than £250 million in total, with volumes in the region of 36,400 petrol ride-ons, more than 340,000 petrol pedestrian units and some 1.22 million electric units, including robot mowers.

They have nothing to fear however as few people, including Monty, are suggesting that scythes will replace mowers or other garden tools, or even that they are necessarily better for lawns. Simply put, scythes are a worthy addition to the garden tool shed.  They are the best tool for mowing wild flower meadows and long grass, but are also handy for a range of other tasks from topping lawns to trimming weeds and areas around allotments and fruit beds.

 

Beyond the simple practical usefulness of the scythe as tool to mow grass, it is the unexpected pleasure people get from using a scythe well which grabs them, and which inspires writers from Monty Don to Tolstoy to enthusiastically extol the virtue and joy of the scythe.

Links

Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-4950290/Real-gardeners-cut-lawn-scythe-says-Monty-Don.html

Dan Pearson

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/13/dan-pearson-gardens-grass-mower-lawn

Mary Keen:

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/no-monty-don-scythe-no-good-garden/

Horticulture week

https://www.hortweek.com/monty-don-recommends-scythes-instead-lawnmowers/retail/article/1446169

Emorsgate Seeds

https://wildseed.co.uk/page/scything

https://wildseed.co.uk/page/management-of-lawns

https://wildseed.co.uk/articles/2012/06/06/flowering-lawns-give-your-mower-a-holiday

Lawn mower related accidents

http://www.amputee-coalition.org/lawn-mower-accidents-cause-needless-amputations/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8362373.stm

Videos

25 thoughts on “Monty Don “Scythes cut grass very well”

  • Fantastic tool! I have been using the beautifully balanced and lightweight Austrian scythe for over ten years on two meadows and can achieve superb results.

    • I have not got a scythe, but would appreciate advice on the best quality one I could buy. I am seriously thinking of letting my lawn grow wild next year, instead of getting the electric mower out once a fortnight, so would also appreciate advice about when to do this, without harming the ‘wildlife’ that I hope to encourage. (My lawn is about 50’ long and 13’ wide with 4 small fruit trees in line.)

      • In the Italian Dolomites, grass was tradirionally cut for hay. So the first cut (on richer soils that require it) would be late May to early June, by which time the first lot of flowers have mostly gone to seed and the meadow is a coyple of feet high

        The second cut could take place during mid to late summer when the grass has re-grown, and on poor soils, this might be the only mowing the land got.

        Early autumn could see a second or third cut on rich soils if re-growth was good enough and if there was time before the snow started to come.

        The main thing is to try to avoid too much of the previous year’s growth from rotting onto the ground and to try not to walk on uncut grass (makes it much harder to mow by hand if it’s been trampled).

        Considering the overwhelming biodiversity of a meadow cut in this way compared with the few species your modern lawn will have at first, you probably won’t have the kinds of heights I’m referring to.

        In England, I don’t use a scythe at all. My garden is so small I don’t really have space to swing a scythe.

  • I watched a farm tractor take 20 minutes trying to trim the last bit of grass round a barn when I could have done it in five minutes with the hand scythe – all that effort: like trying to trim a moustache with hedge shears; all that noise, toxic emissions, and waste of diesel and time.

  • I was taught to use a light European scythe around 20 years ago. Not something I do regularly, and my total cut area is probably a mere 5000 sq metres. (I have also tried a heavy English scythe which I didn’t like, but it’s essentially similar in terms of safety). 5000sqm is not insignificant an area, however, and I have yet to cut myself.

    In the European village I learnt to scythe in, many of the older generation would have cut the total area I have mowed every single year and blades were regularly worn out in a couple of years. Typically, people learnt to mow with a scythe at around 8 years old. Nobody in that village considers the tool to be remotely dangerous as, during correct use, the blade cannot possibly come anywhere near the body. In fact, sharpening and peening the scythe are the most dangerous activities and despite PPE not being even existent when scythes were in very common use, injury from scythe use does not seem to have been a regular occurence. Obviously a 2′ razor has the potential to be dangerous, but so does a motor car.

    If we applied all the PPE considerations to scythes we are supposed to for power equipment it seems incredibly unlikely anyone would ever be injured with a scythe, but, quite honestly, with correct use and storage and respect for the tool, a scythe is less likely to cause serious injury than a lawnmower.

    As for not being able to cut shorter than 3″, that depends on the skill of the mower, the sharpness of the scythe, and the type of lawn, but would usually be untrue. What is certain is that most mowers will not cut a 2-3′ high meadow, whereas a scythe will without too much effort.

  • Cami halısı fiyatları ürünlerin boyutuna ve kalitesine göre farklılık gösterebilir. Bu yüzdensizde eğer hem ürünleri görmek, hem de daha detaylı bir fiyat bilgisi almak istiyorsanız internette ürün görsellerine bakabilirsiniz.

  • Naturel Cami Halısı, daha çok sade görünüme sahip gri ve toprak tonları rengi olan cami halılarıdır. İçerisinde de doğal hammaddesinde de doğal ürünler kullanılmaktadır.Yün Cami Halısı,cami halıları seçimi yapılırken zemin yapısı ve alttan ısınma çok önemlidir. İbadet edenlerin sağlığı dikkate alındığından diğer malzemelerin olumsuz sonuçlar doğurduğu görülmüştür. Özellikle plastik ve türevleri elektriklenme yapacağından ibadet esnasında dikkat dağılmasına yol açabilir. Cami Halısı Modelleri ve Cami Halısı Fiyatları hakkında detaylı bilgi almak ve ürünleri yerlerinde incelemek için ürünlere bakmaya gidebilirsiniz.

  • Cami Halıları estetik rahat ve hijyenik olmalıdır. Renkler dikkat dağıtmamalı, desenler göz yormamalıdır. Bununla beraber desenleri, modelleri, üretildikleri malzemeler ve fiyatları da önemlidir. Binlerce insana hitap edip, onların maneviyatla doldukları anda bu bütünlüğünü bozmayacak özelliklere sahip olması ve amacına uygun şekilde dekore edilmesi gerekmektedir. Desenler ve motifler kültürlere göre farklılıklar gösterse de dini olarak herhangi bir rahatsızlık vermemelidir.Çok fazla insanın uğrak yeri olan camilerin halıları hem hijyenik hem de dayanıklı olmalıdır. Kolay temizlenmesi açısından parça parça olması uygundur. Tüm bunların yanı sıra zemin yapısına uygun yumuşaklıkta ve kalınlıkta olmalıdır. Cami Halısı çeşitlerini görmek ve detaylı bilgi almak için ürünleri yerlerinde görebilirsiniz.

  • Seccadeli Cami Halısı,görünümüyle seccadeyi andıran insanların sıkışıklık yaşamadan ibadet etmelerine olanak sağlayan halı türüdür. Bu sayede cemaatte bulunan bireyler ibadetleri esnasında şahıslarına ait seccadeleri var gibi rahat edeceklerdir. Ayrıca hem estetik hem de rahatlık sunmaktadır.

  • Cami halılarını herhangi bir halı teminatçısından alamazsanız. Halk arasında halıcı ya da mobilyacı olarak bilinen esnaflar camiler için uygun halı bulundurmaz. Cami halısı satmak normal halı satmaktan daha uzun metrajlı ve daha yoğun çalışma ve uğraş isteyen bir iştir. Cami halıları satan firmalar arasında araştırma yapıp daha uygun fiyata daha yüksek ürün sunan firmaları tercih etmeniz önerilir. Cami halısı almak ya da fikir edinmek adına görmek ve incelemek istiyorsanız internette görsellerine bakabilirsiniz.

  • Cami halısı fiyatları ürünlerin boyutuna ve kalitesine göre farklılık gösterebilir. Bu yüzdensizde eğer hem ürünleri görmek, hem de daha detaylı bir fiyat bilgisi almak istiyorsanız internette ürün görsellerine bakabilirsiniz.

  • Cami halısı fiyatları ürünlerin boyutuna ve kalitesine göre farklılık gösterebilir. Bu yüzdensizde eğer hem ürünleri görmek, hem de daha detaylı bir fiyat bilgisi almak istiyorsanız internette ürün görsellerine bakabilirsiniz.

  • Cami halısı fiyatları ürünlerin boyutuna ve kalitesine göre farklılık gösterebilir. Bu yüzdensizde eğer hem ürünleri görmek, hem de daha detaylı bir fiyat bilgisi almak istiyorsanız internette ürün görsellerine bakabilirsiniz.

  • Seccadeli Cami Halısı,görünümüyle seccadeyi andıran insanların sıkışıklık yaşamadan ibadet etmelerine olanak sağlayan halı türüdür. Bu sayede cemaatte bulunan bireyler ibadetleri esnasında şahıslarına ait seccadeleri var gibi rahat edeceklerdir. Ayrıca hem estetik hem de rahatlık sunmaktadır.

  • The very next time I read a blog, Hopefully it doesn’t fail me just as much as this one. After all, Yes, it was my choice to read, nonetheless I truly believed you’d have something useful to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of complaining about something that you can fix if you weren’t too busy searching for attention.

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