For going around a trees- can I go up to the tree then raise the deck with my foot while going around the tree and put the deck back down once on the other side of the tree?
Sure if there's roots or a hump there at the base of the tree. I do it all the time to keep from scalping dirt/roots. I had to raise my steering levers all the way up when I got my Bob-Cat so I could do just that. Otherwise my knees got in the way - I'm tall and have long legs. I often rest my right foot on the deck lift pedal when mowing in areas with lots of roots, rocks, etc.
What I usually do is go halfway around the tree with my trim side one way then halfway around again with the trim side on the way back. Then I go back and "erase" the first one where I went into the lane of stripe next to it by running that whole stripe again. It's not necessary to do that on the 2nd one because it's an uncut area and you're going to go over it again anyway. So basically the tree is in the middle of where your deck overlap is. But I think it looks more cool if you head straight at it then go around it and leave people wondering how the stripe is on both sides of it as if you ran it right over, lol. I always try to have my stripes continue as if the obstacle wasn't there.
I always cut at least 2 widths around the outside of the lawn area i'm cutting going clockwise (throwing grass in) first, then run my rows and if it's a high-end lawn I'll go back and run around the outside again to "frame" my stripes and erase my tracks from my turns. Usually I just have to do that on the inner of my perimeter cuts because I can turn around no problem in one mower width. The perimeter cut is mostly to keep clipping out of beds, and off the driveway, sidewalk and road. Where I am that's how pros cut lawns, the ones who want to keep high-end accounts anyway. The problem I have here is that you can't help but stripe the lawn (unless it's really crappy/scruffy), so all that stuff shows up. And of course when you're all done, run back to shed/garage/truck down one of your stripes in the right direction rather than run across them. I even make sure there's no foot prints across the lawn from trimming. Making a lawn look top notch is about the details...anyone can cut grass. :biggrin: