I’ve noticed that the grass around the house has turned a vibrant green. The grass looks very nice, but when I look at it I am reminded that very soon I will need to start mowing the lawn.
I hope the lawnmower starts. It has led a very abused life and in recent years has grown wheezier with every summer. The Brush Mower can do a large part of the mowing work, but some tight spots still need a hand mower.
The grass is growing, but that means the weeds are growing too. The peas are in the garden, and other early plants will soon follow. The plants are going in, and the weeds must go out, and stay out. The best method for keeping weeds out of the garden is mulch.
In years past, we mulched our garden with old hay bales that were no good for feeding to the goats, or else with cleanings from the goats’ pen. The goats were sold last summer, so that source of mulch is no longer around. The alternative decided on was to purchase some old round-bales off Mr. P and use them as an easy source of mulch.
The first question was, how many round bales did we need? Talitha asked me. I said three. She immediately began making skeptical noises. Okay, four bales, I said, deciding it might be wiser to guess a little high than end up short.
As it turned out Mr. P brought over three round bales, so we’ll see how good my initial guess was.
By hand mower do you mean one of those motor-less grass cutters, or do you mean an electric or gas push mower?
I’m not sure how much help I can be. I know the maintaince routine for both the gas push mower I use, and the larger brush mower I use, but that doesn’t make me an expert. All I can give you is some general pointers, and if you’re using an European brand product I’ve no idea what differences that might introduce.
On the whole I think gas lawn mowers are easy to maintain. If you do a few simple things you shouldn’t have too much trouble.
–Change the spark plug once a year.
–Change the air filter once a year unless you do an exceptional amount of dusty mowing.
–Sharpen or have someone sharpen the blades once a year, or more often if they don’t seem to be cutting the grass well.
–Use regular gas and the same 10/30 oil you would put in a car.
An equally good idea is to go to your local lawn care store, or such place where you can buy supplies for lawn mowers. There you can tell them what model you have and ask what sort of spark plug, filter, gas, and oil you should use. Usually the people working at such places are knowledgable about such basic things and more than willing to give you some pointers.
You can also try searching the web on Google or some such place.
Hope this helps.
Can you help me with something? I’m trying to find any information I can on Hand Mowers. My wife and I were given one this easter, and it did not come with instructions. Are you able to tell me how to maintain it?
Ps, it’s refreshing to see a gardening blog, I started one but I’m not really up to scratch on blogging.. much like scrapbooking, as much as I’d like to.
Goddess Bless