To enjoy a properly sharp blade, you must have decent soil and a good patch of grass.
Dad's was like that growing up, mostly kentucky bluegrass on river silt. You needed a sharp blade, and even then we couldn't keep up (he had two teenage boys and the dump guy used to sell mowers). He bought a rider when we moved out.
I have mostly thin grass on sand, and probably half weeds at that (hey, at least they are green). If you got rid of the switchgrass and sourgrass I'd have hardly any fescue showing until the crab grass comes in, in june. They all erode my blades like crazy, especially the sand...so if I dared sharpen them, which would have to be every time I mowed, I'd have nothing left before the season was over. As it is, I'm not terribly concerned with the health of the crabgrass so just let the mower club everything. Sad thing is the fescue looks vaguely happy this time of year before everything else takes off and laps it. At least everything that's there holds my sand from washing away.
We have a garden bed where my wife used creeping thyme as a ground cover, and turns out it is quite happy in sand. Can stand to be walked on occasionally as long as you don't beat down a path in it. Smells nice when you mow it, by intent or accident, some has spread into some parts of the back yard and I don't mind. Mowing it doesn't kill it. So when we put in the pool I moved a few clumps of thyme along the slope at one end, and it not only survived it spread and took over the whole thing. Looks nice as long as I keep the worst of the switchgrass and sourgrass pulled. Just have to warn swimmers not to step on them when in bloom, not a fun way to find a honeybee.
And there's always some fresh somewhere in the yard when you're making soup.
