Before Mowers Existed

When inventor Edwin Beard Budding had the bright idea to create the first ever lawnmower, his invention made it so that the neatness of a lawn no longer had to rest on the sharp edge of a scythe.

Before lawns were created deliberately to be incorporated into garden designs, short sections of grass indicated that livestock had grazed there. Rich landowners wanted to replicate this rustic aesthetic but in a fashionable upmarket way. Pre lawnmowers, out went the casually grazing sheep and kine, and in came the teams of workers to plant and keep the lawn shorn to the appropriate level with their scythes and shears. 

Next time you strike your mower up, think about the work involved in the maintenance of lawns in the past. From Capability Brown’s eerily perfect pastoral scenes to the incroyable Tapis vert of Versailles, many hands made light work of many lawns.

If you enjoyed today’s Gardens and Mowers Minute come back tomorrow to read our Saturday round up post to see what you may have missed. If you would like us to take a look at your lawn click here.