Playing croquet in your backyard, and your ball bounces all over the place. Maybe the grass is too long? I put this theory to the test.
My backyard grass was a bit long. And my practice shots were going astray. (Yes, I practice croquet in my backyard). Maybe I could make a single strip in my backyard have shorter grass.
I moved the setting on the lawn mower down one notch. Here’s what happened:
Yipes, one notch is a lot!
The lawn is a completely different color, because I mowed away all the nice pretty green grass, leaving the ugly yellow grass underneath.
The funny thing is that mowing the grass didn’t make it any smoother. It almost seems bumpier. The ground/dirt is very bumpy under the grass. The longer grass might actually serve as a cushion to smooth out the bumpy flaws in the dirt surface.
If you have a bumpy lawn like mine, you might need a lawn roller. Here’s a vintage ad from 1926 for a lawn roller (ironically, the same year my home was built).
Imagine rolling one of these giant things around on your lawn. Americans can go to crazy lengths to take care of their lawns. Thankfully, this contraption never caught on. Although, it seems like it might come in handy for some other things. For example, when you need to fit more stuff into your luggage. Roll this sucker a few times over your clothes, and you’ll have lots more room!
This brings back a lot of memories. It was difficult because of too much shade, but I prided myself in trying to get my childhood back lawn to be like a golf green because a golf green surface was truly the best surface for playing croquet. In fact, after taking care of mowing the lawn, I almost always called for a round of croquet! Yes, it wasn’t like putting up the volleyball/badminton net that afforded you different games … nevermind the problem with groundhogs (Groundhog Croquet! I finally got it!!) but it was all at once a civil and a vicious game and with the perfect lawn, it was even better