About a year ago, after roughly 2 years of (admittedly) half hearted efforts to get our St. Augustine grass to grow effectively on our property, I decided that I wanted to take up all of our "grass" and install something that would work better in a primarily shaded yard due to the trees we have.

Fast forward a year and I'm a little over 6 weeks since a fresh install of Zeon Zoysia sod at my house, located in the Heights area in Houston. Through my research of grass varieties I decided (whether correct or not) that this Zeon variety would be my best option for the heavily shaded areas I have.

Yesterday I cringed watching my typical mow and blow service cut off more than I desired (after asking them not to) and basically tear up every edging with the weed eater. It's nothing against them, I had a terrible yard before and didn't care but now I'm realizing this is going to become a new obsession of mine. It seems for now that I'm going to have do the lawn maintenance myself in order to be satisfied and try to obtain what I'm desiring for a yard.

This brings me to my next adventure which is selecting the right tools and equipment for maintenance. I feel as if I'm headed squarely down the path of trying to figure out which is the right reel mower for me. I believe I'm willing to commit the time and money needed to do this right but figured I'd start by taking in any advice and recommendations based on my new grass type and yard layout. I've included a few pictures below for reference...

Original Install in Backyard:


Front Yard After 4 Weeks:


Driveway Yard After 4 Weeks:


Side Yard After 4 Weeks:


Any recommendations or advice would be very much appreciated. I'm still in the very early learning stages of equipment selection, maintenance schedules, fertilizer programs, etc.

Looks great! I liked my California Trimmer. I had it at a house in North Carolina where I could get my Bermuda down to tight fairway length. This was after a good lawn leveling in the spring at the end of year one of install. Almost guarantee you can't get it as low as you want without a good leveling. Look into that…

I'm assuming you want to "go low" if you are thinking reel mower. This is a fun read:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/57/11/the-ins-and-outs-of-zoysiagrass-fairway-management.html

Some people gave me a hard time for going low. "You have to mow so often." "Yes, it's the best two days of the week."

Where are you at in the Heights, i'm off 13th. I'll come by and drink a few brews while watching you make your yard look good.

If you have a lot of shade (looks like you do), you're going to want to keep it a bit longer.

Where'd you source your Zeon by the way? About to sod my yard.

I mowed my lawn in Houston for many years with a Fiskars reel mower. Never had a complaint. I sharpened it maybe twice. As long as I didn't let the grass get too long, or tried cutting it wet, it did its job well. Usually required bit of back and forth, not single pass. But I loved it.

That said… I REALLY love my zero turn and very large "native" (i.e. whatever wants to grow with the water God gives) yard I have now.

Thought gravel was hell on reel mowers. Can anyone confirm?
Might want to pave the driveway before getting a reel mower.

I have a Zoysia back yard and the longer I keep it, the better it does.

bowhuntr said:

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Looks great! I liked my California Trimmer. I had it at a house in North Carolina where I could get my Bermuda down to tight fairway length. This was after a good lawn leveling in the spring at the end of year one of install. Almost guarantee you can't get it as low as you want without a good leveling. Look into that…

I'm assuming you want to "go low" if you are thinking reel mower. This is a fun read:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/57/11/the-ins-and-outs-of-zoysiagrass-fairway-management.html

Some people gave me a hard time for going low. "You have to mow so often." "Yes, it's the best two days of the week."

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Yes, you're right. My goal is to go as low as I can, within reason, especially in the backyard where there is more sun.

Thanks for sending that link over! I've started to give it a read and will study it.

Assumed there will need to be some leveling at some point. Just haven't figured out when it would make sense to do that whether this was after the growing season or if I could do that sooner this year.

smstork1007 said:

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Where are you at in the Heights, i'm off 13th. I'll come by and drink a few brews while watching you make your yard look good.

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More than happy to have the "support" while I fumble along the way with some of this ha.

ktownag08 said:

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If you have a lot of shade (looks like you do), you're going to want to keep it a bit longer.

Where'd you source your Zeon by the way? About to sod my yard.

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I'm not 100% sure where the group that put it down got it from but when I originally thought I could re-level the lawn myself (lol'ing now after what I saw them have to do) I was looking at getting from Mata Turf. Give them a look. If you're going to lay yourself they seemed to be cheaper than anyone else I could find.

It your own yard.

Change your own oil.

cupofjoe04 said:

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That said… I REALLY love my zero turn and very large "native" (i.e. whatever wants to grow with the water God gives) yard I have now.

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Remodeled a house last year and as part of the process had to pull an ancient relic of a swimming pool out of the backyard. The front yard is heavily shaded by giant Oaks while the backyard is wide open. Didn't really have time to do much but throw out some rye grass seed to get something rooted over the winter to help prevent erosion and for aesthetics. A big chunk of what is in the yard currently is exactly what you have. Whatever God chooses to grow.

I am the child of a world-renowned landscape horticulturist.

I hate plants and prefer God's landscape to mine.

In addition to the large yard I have a quarter mile long driveway, road frontage, trails and an area around a lake I have to mow. Tractor/shredder was not the right tool for this place. So, I picked up a Ferris zero turn. Can mow just about everything I need to in 4 hours. Love it.

When I was about nine, my dad picked up an antique, no motor, reel mower. It weighed more than I did. He wanted me to try to mow the yard with it because he thought it would look better. It probably would have. Unfortunately I couldn't move it more than a couple of feet.

If your plan is to mow above 1" I'd stick with a rotary mower.

I would wait until early April next year to level….I'm assuming that's when it would come out of dormancy. And yes, it is hard work but I enjoyed it for the .25 acres I did. If you could find someone to shovel all the mix and move into little piles around the yard, that would be ideal. Anything above .25 acres, I would get a walk behind tractor to move all the leveling mix.

And agree with the gravel comment, that would scare me with the reel blades. You could maybe have a small paver border installed? That backyard looks perfect for some fun with the mower. Patterns, etc. It is just small enough to where it won't take long but will scratch the itch for that zen mowing experience with the reel.

Another thing I just thought of - rotary the front shaded area at a higher level and maybe near the gravel, and go low in the back.

Dad and Grandpa both had a Craftsman version of this when I was growing up. It was great on long straight passes. Sucked working around the pool and across inclines.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/California-Trimmer-Classic-Standard-20-in-7-Blade-Honda-Gas-Walk-Behind-Self-Propelled-Reel-Lawn-Mower-RL207H-GX120/304781985

agnerd said:

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Thought gravel was hell on reel mowers. Can anyone confirm?
Might want to pave the driveway before getting a reel mower.

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be careful with the gravel. one piece will stop the whole day.


i use a sunjoe electric on my small area of grass that we play on. it is roughly 70x50. battery never runs out during that small stretch. and they are cheap so no 2k commitment to try it out.

Ugh. You yard people are as bad as vegans and cross fitters…

HumbleAg04 said:

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Ugh. You yard people are as bad as vegans and cross fitters…

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No way - not a chance you hate cross fitters more than me. Most crazy yard people I know are golfers who have kids and can't be gone for 6 hours.

evestor1 said:

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agnerd said:

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Thought gravel was hell on reel mowers. Can anyone confirm?
Might want to pave the driveway before getting a reel mower.

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be careful with the gravel. one piece will stop the whole day.


i use a sunjoe electric on my small area of grass that we play on. it is roughly 70x50. battery never runs out during that small stretch. and they are cheap so no 2k commitment to try it out.

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Thanks for the comments on the gravel. Didn't originally think of that but can see how that would be an issue. I've seen some stuff online where you can essentially spray down a solution to help keep the gravel stationary over time. I guess I might have to look into that.