two words;

weed wacker.

that way, instead of the pleasure of mowing only once, u can mow each and every time ur prairie gets too tall.

fyi, ive weedwacked multi acres on hillsides. ur 1/20th of an acre seems do-able.

froggy

You can use your mower on the highest setting... 3.5" will not hurt your prairie plants.... the string trimmer at 5" is fine too....

I wouldn't "buy" a new tool, Use what you have, a weed wacker, hand sieve or rotary mower ...

ill let u in on a little secret. i do plenty of mows with my toro bagger mower.

Thanks, guys. Is it okay to just mow it for this entire year? If so, for next year maybe we'll just get a new string trimmer so we can whack it off higher. Even though the area is small, our gas trimmer is too heavy for those of us with bad shoulders to maneuver over the whole thing.

sure.

the first year, i usually completely write off as nuthing but weeds anyhow. the occasional black eyed suzi vs the weeds that happen into the future arnt worth it. if you want to mow it @ 3.5" because of necessity, then that is what u should do. in the short term, its more important to keep the weeds down than to let it lay fallow.

froggy