A ride on mower is a fantastic tool for any dedicated homeowner looking to give themselves a leg up on the lawn care game. They’re powerful, work fast and effectively, are fuel efficient and are comfortable to operate. However, there are a series of tips and tricks that allow one to use these magnificent machines to maximum effect, truly bringing lawn care experience to another level.
This article will cover eight distinct pieces of advice, all relating to riding mowers, to help users guarantee the health and lushness of their lawn, making the most of their hard work and avoiding any serious mishaps along the way. This article is brought to you by BS Power, a trusted South African supplier of spectacular power tools. Including a wide array of the market’s finest riding on mowers.
Lusher Lawns: Choose The Right Ride On Mower For Your Lawn
One of the first things you’re going to be looking at when trying to ensure a lush lawn after a ride is to begin with selecting the right kind of mower for your lawn. Every lawn is unique, comprising different sizes, gradients, terrains and vegetation types. All of these are definitely factors that may contribute to rendering one kind of riding more effective than another.
A general rule of thumb would be that the bigger your lawn is, the bigger your mower and its cutting deck should be, to give it the capacity it needs to handle your lawn in a reasonable amount of time. A hilly lawn with tough terrain will also require a mower with a more substantial engine, as it needs the extra oomph to crest rises and power over uneven surfaces.
If your lawn is full of sharp turns and sudden obstacles, it would also be best to opt for a mower with great manoeuvrability, letting it deftly mow around obstacles and angles without missing a beat. Another factor to consider is fuel efficiency. This is going to be attractive no matter what lawn you’ve got, but homeowners with large lawns will be particularly enticed by a fuel-efficient mower when they consider how long a cutting session might last.
Well, the great news is that no matter what your unique needs may be, BS Power certainly has the riding mower to see to them. We boast a spectacular selection of powerful riding mowers that come in all shapes and sizes, featuring added improvements such as adjustable cutting heights and optimised fuel efficiency.
However, we do more than simply provide great products, we protect each of those with a generous warranty and customer care service that protects customers’ investments should the legendary durability of our products ever fail them. BS Power is more than happy to help troubleshoot, repair and even replace any mower we need to, doing it as quickly and as hassle-free as we can.
Lusher Lawns: Set The Correct Cutting Height
Regular mowing sessions are a great way to keep one’s lawn looking fresh and healthy, on top of being neat. However, there certainly is such a thing as being too enthusiastic with mowing, so homeowners beware! If one cuts the grass too short (known as ‘scalping’), it’s going to end up tearing up much of the lawn, stripping the grass of its vibrancy, killing much of it and slowing down recovery. Leave enough of the grass blades to leave the lawn healthy and moist, able to regrow and recover in due time.
The interesting thing, however, is that the ideal cutting height for grass actually varies between seasons. When it’s a bit chillier and there’s plenty of rain to go around, during Autumn and Winter, in other words, you can cut your lawn down to about 3 – 4 centimetres. However, this won’t work in the Summer months when water is scarce and grass dies fast. Then you’re going to want to limit your cutting to about 5 – 6 centimetres, so that there’s enough space for the lawn to retain moisture.
As abovementioned, many BS Power riding mowers have adjustable cutting heights, letting you change up your settings on the fly. You’ll usually find the cutting height adjustment settings on a lever located near the wheels of the mower. Some models will have levers on both the front and rear wheels for separate blades.
Lusher Lawns: Mow With A Pattern And Purpose
When you’re mowing your lawn, there needs to be a clear strategy and thought put into where you’re going, it cannot simply be a random roaming. It’s a good idea to move in specific patterns, such as overlapping rows, to work more efficiently and give off a more polished look once you’re done. However, it’s important that you don’t mow your lawn in exactly the same way each time.
Alternating your mowing pattern and changing directions helps prevent grass from leaning in one direction and remaining upright instead. This allows for the better penetration of sunlight and lets you get a cleaner cut each time, too. Moreover, it helps you avoid compacting the soil of the lawn and making ruts, which goes a long way to improving the visual appeal and overall health of your lawn.
Lusher Lawns: Keep Your Ride On Mower Blades Sharp And Clean
One sure way to undo all of your hard work is to mow with a machine with dull blades. Rather than clearly cutting through the grass, these dull blades will hack and bludgeon at the lawn, causing tears and uprooting the grass. This can lead to further disaster as the damage opens up the grass to the possibility of infection, killing off your lawn at a distressingly fast pace. Worry not, though; this crisis is easily averted through the regular maintenance and sharpening of your riding mower’s blades.
Inspect them before use, and amend any dull edges with a handle tool or grinder. If there are any clumps of dirt or debris attached to the blades, clean them off. Should a blade be nicked or bent, there’s no good in sharpening it. Rather, toss it and move on, replacing the worn-out blade with a fresh one. Perform these tasks and you’ll keep on cutting cleanly and quickly!
Lusher Lawns: Don’t Over-Mow
The 1/3 rule is an easy-to-understand policy to abide by when mowing one’s lawn. Never cut off more than one-third of the grass blade’s height each time you mow. Cutting off any more is going to put stress on the grass, but keeping within those limits will promote deeper root growth and a healthier, greener appearance for your lawn.
If you’re over-mowing your lawn, there will be several clear signs. You might begin seeing brown or yellow patches on your lawn, spot more weeds and notice a generally more haggard-looking lawn. If this isn’t rectified, it can cause long-term damage to the turf that takes ages to recover.
Lusher Lawns: Mow When Conditions Are Right
Believe it or not, there are times when it’s better to mow one’s lawn than other times. Studies suggest that these times sit between 8 – 10 am and 4 – 6 pm. This is because it gives the grass enough time to get rid of excess dew, but it isn’t in the heat of the sun, which can stress the grass. You’ll notice that not cutting grass when it’s damp is central to both of these times. This is because mowing wet grass can spell trouble for both the riding mower and the lawn.
This is because wet grass, when mowed, tends to clump up and clog the workings of the mower, damaging it and hampering cutting ability, therefore leading to uneven cuts that can hurt the lawn. Moreover, a wet lawn is a slippery one, increasing the chance of accidents occurring that may hurt the riding mower, the lawn or even the user!
Lusher Lawns: Regular Maintenance With Your Ride On Mower
Keep your lawn fresh and healthy by keeping your riding mower fresh and healthy; it’s as simple as that. Regular maintenance and care of your mower will go far to ensure top-quality cutting and lawn health. This means keeping blades clean and sharp, inspecting moving parts for signs of wear and tear or loosening, regularly topping up on clean fuel and oil, checking spark plugs, replacing air filters and lubricating any parts that may need it.
It’s also important to look after your riding mower when you’re not using it, stashing it somewhere cool and dry with a protective covering to keep it from the rain. This helps prevent the elements from slowly eating away at your precious riding mower when it’s dormant.
Lusher Lawns: Combine Your Ride On Mower With Good Lawn Care Practices
Of course, mowing is really one component of a much larger lawn care routine if one wants to ensure a lush and healthy lawn. An attentive homeowner will regularly water, fertilise and aerate their lawn as well to keep it hydrated, fed and vibrant. These tasks, along with mowing, need to be timed in relation to one another to achieve maximum effect.
For example, watering your lawn after it’s mowed is perfectly acceptable, but doing so immediately before is a bad idea as the wet grass will seriously disrupt the mowing process and even damage the lawn. Due to our hot South African summers, you’re going to want to be particularly attentive to watering your lawn to ensure it doesn’t dry out. Try mowing your lawn in the late afternoon and watering it just as the evening begins, so that the moisture can settle into the lawn without being evaporated by the sun.
A Healthy Lawn With A BS Power Ride On Mower
In conclusion, any passionate homeowner’s goal will be to have a lush and lovely lawn. This is more achievable than ever with the power of a riding mower, granting one increased power, speed, comfort and efficiency. However, the effectiveness of this incredible machine at achieving a great lawn can be multiplied using a number of key strategies. Choosing the right kind of mower, properly caring for it and its blades, integrating other lawn-care practices and timing them correctly are just a few of the ways you can get your lawn to glow with health. If this all sounds appealing to you, it’s about time to browse the extensive selection of BS Power riding mowers and other potent power tools.