A neatly trimmed lawn is a beautiful adornment, even in the smallest of yards. Lush green grass has a look that shouts summer and is always best when kept well. Grass comes in a wide variety of species, and that you have on your lawn will likely be among the fastest growing and most hardy. A combination of rainfall and warmth, as experienced in a typical summer will see your grass grow with enthusiasm, and you need to keep on top of it, so you don’t let it get out of hand.
Leave the lawn too long, and it will be more difficult to cut. Also, you want to make sure that in the driest periods of the summer, your lawn is kept watered, or it will rapidly become dry and go brown. This isn’t a great look! What is the best way to keep a small yard lawn looking magnificent? Plenty of water when needed, and a regular run over with your lawn mower.
If you’ve just become the owner of the yard, you’ll need to know the best mower for you, and that’s what we’re going to help you within our tips on using a lawn mower in a small yard. There’s plenty to think about, so let’s get started!
What Type of Mower?
The lawn mower has, in fact, been around for a long time. Lawns had not always been kept trimmed and neat, but in the early part of the 1800s, the trend took off in England in particular for lawns as a garden feature.
The first lawn mowers were produced in around 1830, and the idea developed from there. So, which type of mower do you need for your small yard? There are a few different types of mower, and we’ve categorized them as follows:
The Ride-on Mower – these are the large motorized mini-tractors that you see used in parks and gardens of a bigger kind.
The Gas Mower – a smaller, hand-pushed, or powered mower powered by a gas engine.
Electric Mower – powered by an electric motor, either plug-in or rechargeable
Push-along Mower – the manual type that has no power other than the user.
Which is suitable for your smaller yard? We’ll start by discounting the ride-on mower: these are large, expensive, and designed for commercial use or in larger gardens with acreage to deal with. We also think a gas mower will be unnecessary for a small yard, as they are heavier than the other models and, therefore, harder to move around in a small space.
That leaves us with the electric mower and the push along, so let’s have a look at what each one does, and then we’ll give you some tips to make your lawn look superb.
Electric or Push-Along?
A Push-along mower is one that is entirely manual. It will have a rotating cutting blade that moves by gears linked to the roller or wheels, and a frame with handles. You simply push it across the grass, and it cuts it as you wish. It will be adjustable for cut length. The problem with these is, while they are simple and low maintenance, they can be hard to use if you have thick or long grass and take a lot of effort.
An electric mower is also usually push-along, but the blade will likely be a spinning one powered by a motor. These are easier to push as the actual cutting is not down to the user’s effort. They come in either corded or rechargeable versions – and the latter should hold enough charge for a small yard lawn – and are not at all expensive.
Some have metal blades, and we recommend you look at these over those with replaceable plastic blades. On balance, we believe the electric version is the right one for your small garden, and we advise you to check out the reviews at TraditionalGardening.com, which cover some of the best models.
Let’s look at some tips that will ensure your lawn always looks beautiful!
Lawn Beauty Tips
The first thing to remember is, as we said earlier: your lawn needs to grow, so it will require watering in extended dry periods. However, the grass is very durable and should grow well in all circumstances, so once you have an established lawn, it should be very easy to maintain. If you want to add a touch of color and fun to your small yard, you might want to check out these urban gardening tips, which are excellent and offer great advice.
Here are some tips to help you keep your lawn looking stunning:
Don’t cut too short – one mistake many people make is to cut the grass too short, and then it will begin to look bare and bland. Set your mower to around ¼ inch if you can, and then try a row and see what you think. You can cut it longer if you wish, as the trick is in having an even length across the lawn.
Keep even rows – when you look at a neighbor’s lawn, and you see those neat stripes, here’s how they are done. Make one run by going forward down one edge of your lawn. Now turn around, and start the mower at the other end, running alongside. The result is the blades of grass will lean in different directions – hence the look of different shades of green that is actually an illusion! It’s easy once your know-how!
Don’t cut too often – cutting too often may damage the grass, which does need time to grow. Let it grow, then trim it rather than keeping it super short all the time. This will leave you with a lush and nourished lawn.
Keep it fed – if you do get brown patches, and it can happen even to the best of us, then use a lawn feed and make sure it gets fed regularly.
Lawn grasses need only a small amount of food. More isn’t better in this situation, so invest in quality over quantity. You want fertilizer to be applied just as grass is entering its peak growth phase. Also, fertilizer should be applied after the lawn has been mowed so it has a few days to absorb the fertilizer. Visit gardenyard.
There are many more tips that you will find, so look for the right mower for you and enjoy a beautiful lawn.
