Mowing around culverts

[jcummins]

Part of the purchase of my current house was a new driveway, since I bought this out of a larger parcel of land. I said...I don't like weedeating, and wanted the culverts set in to allow mowing around them. Well it didn't work out. Irritated about it, but it is what it is, and trying to figure out how to change or should I say improve the mowing ability around these culverts in my drive.

Pictures below...you can see the longer grass that I just weedeated. BTW, fell head over heels down the steepest one. The ground is a bit irregular, needs work, but my age didn't help matters. SO...this post starts the process of how I can improve it.

I've thought of bulkheads, rock, more dirt for larger 'wings' so the slope is more gradual and the mower will work. Looking for ideas on how others have done this.

 

[SPIKER]

get some bags of concrete & fill around them with that then build up dirt to level & seed with short growing highway type grasses or wild flowers & let it go...

 

[ovrszd]

I install road culverts all the time. There's no way to install that culvert so you can mow over it with a regular lawn mowing machine. Tractor and brush cutter maybe.

Next point. Isn't that plastic dual wall pipe???? If so, crank up your chain saw and cut the culvert to match the slope of the bank. Then mow over it.

 

[dave1949]

You could put extensions on each end to give you room to make a more gradual dirt slope. They make rings to attach extensions.

 

[jcummins]

I mow in this area with Kubota ZD326. The slope is to much for the ztr. Right now I'm thinking of adding dirt to create larger wings with a slope the ztr can handle. I much prefer fer a mowed finish look since it's my main drive.

And actually the steepest one have those extension .. Should of seen it before they were put on.

 

[ovrszd]

I have a 4ft fill on my driveway. plastic culvert is cut so it fits the ground. Almost functions as a dropped inlet. Can't see my culvert at all now. Just gotta watch and not drop a tire in it. Plastic culvert makes anything doable. You may hafta haul in some dirt on the steepest one. Hard to tell in the pics.

 

[jcummins]

Now I'm thinking more, had to go out and study it a bit. Really hard to get the perspective of a slope in a picture. Here is the worse culvert, different perspective. The slope in the background I mow with the ztr.


More perspective of trying to capture a slop in a pic. Here is a different portion of my drive that goes across a pond dam. The outside mowed area I do with the ztr...but it is 'crabbing' and I can see the grass is starting to wear where the lowest rear tire is tracking. The inside slope, I mow with a sickle mower. About half way across the dam, the ztr would slide, and with the water there, just feel uncomfortable trying to mow it. But, in the picture, doesn't look that steep.

 

[nc redneck]

I understand that pucker factor hits fast and hard.

 

[farmer2009]

I have to ask what tires are on your mower. I have some banks that I couldn't stay on with turf tires as I would slowly slide down them. I was complaining to a friend and he told me to replace my turf tires with an ATV tire. It makes a world of difference. The more aggressive the better. They will hold on banks better and going forward makes turning easier too as it takes the slide out. You just don't have much in reverse though. I think they do less damage to the lawn than turfs because you don't spin and slide as much.

 

[jcummins]

They are turf. You have a point, but irregardless of the tires, the culvert area is unmowable, and that's what I'm trying to remedy at this point.

Now tires may make a difference around my pond. I do have a larger pond I mow around, and this year it's been a full pool all year long. I've gotten stuck around it, trying to mow to close several times this year. Tire nearest pond starts to spin....and it's 50/50 if you can save it without it just sliding sideways.