First Mowing of Spring

I have quite a few tall grasses scattered throughout the yard that I allow to dry out and stand thru the winter. I'm sure the neighbors, nice as they can be, don't really appreciate me putting off cutting them back until spring; especially since the winds will blow broken blades of the grass into their yards at times.

I think they have a neat appearance and add character, all be it a dry, brown color, to the yard over the winter. They also cover parts of the the walls of adjacent buildings, which can be good or bad.

Of course this winter we had BIG, make that humongous, February snows which flattened these grasses right down to the ground. Here's an example showing the flattened grasses beside the garage.
When I wait until spring to cut back the grasses, they typically leave a mess of broken shafts around the area. I have a mulching mower that does a pretty good job of chopping the grass residue into small pieces that will deteriorate in the lawn grass over time.

Sunday was the day I managed to mow about 2/3 of my yard, all the while mulching leaves and residue from fall/winter. Here's a shot taken this morning showing the grasses cut back and residue mulched for the first time. The next mowing in a few days will further mulch the larger pieces.
It felt pretty good to be walking behind that ol' mulcher yesterday. I also managed to pick up almost a full pocket of candy wrappers and other trash from the yard while mowing. Those plastic wrappers just don't go away unless you pick 'em up.

Guess what I'm saying is that it felt pretty good to get the first mowing out of the way and to get the loose trash out of the yard. The ground is still pretty wet down behind the garage, so I figured I'd wait a couple of days to mulch that area, maybe after the rain stops Tuesday afternoon.

Exercise feels good on this ol' (literally old) body of mine after mowing/mulching. And, the mower started on the first pull after sitting since late November. I will say that the leaf blower wasn't running too smoothly tho. Possibly it's time for a new one.

While resting on a rainy Monday, I'll ponder that,
JD

PS - I live about 500' up a busy street from a convenience store here in the Big Town of Savage. Kids of all ages seem to finish their candies, cakes and cookies just about the time they walk in front of the school across the street and typically drop the wrappers on the ground. Much of that blows into mine and the neighbors' yards.

Drivers and walkers seem to think nothing of discarding empty drink bottles/cans as they go up the road. Given society's concern about recycling, I don't understand the mentality of people who can just throw things down any place any time.