There are are a few ways to approach repairing your damaged lawn, depending on what type of damage has occurred.  If the lawn is just slightly damaged, you can begin by following this advice to repair the grass over time:

1. If you neglect to mow your lawn for a long time, it can become over-run with weeds and moss.  This is damage; however, if it’s the only kind of damage that’s occurred, it should be relatively easy to fix.  Start by cutting only a few inches (at most) from the top of the lawn.  Let the grass start to repair itself over a few days to a week. Whilst it is, ensure that it’s properly watered.  After the few days is up, cut another few inches off. Continue doing this until the grass is at a good height.
2. Try to fertilise the grass a few times per year.  If you’ve been neglecting the grass’s health, you’ll need to intensify your fertilisation regime.  Go to any garden centre and ask for a “step system” – they’ll be able to advise you on the best kind for your soil.  These systems are useful for providing just the right nutrients at the right time to help the grass to repair itself.
3. Always kill off weeds completely (meaning to rip them up from the roots) as soon as you see them.  This helps to prevent them spreading and becoming a nuisance.
4. If any patches of grass have died and gone brown, dig up the entire area slightly (a rototiller can help with this).  After you’ve dug up the grass, spread fertiliser and seeds, cover with a thin layer of soil and water the area.  Keep the grass watered (but not drenched) every few days until the area is back to normal.
5. Of course mowing regularly, along with keeping the grass full of nutrients and well watered is the best way to keep it in its optimum condition.  When the lawn is back to a good condition, ensure you keep it that way!

Read the instructions that came with the lawnmower.  The advice in this post is important to follow, but there will be guidance specific to your model of lawnmower in the handbook.

Here are a few basic points:

• When you’re using the lawnmower, make sure not to injure your feet by wearing shoes. This seems so obvious, but unbelievably, people do injure their feet by mowing the lawn without wearing shoes.
• This isn’t as important as with some gardening tools (such as strimmers and brushcutters), but wearing thick pants can protect you in case a stone or sharp piece of debris is kicked up by the mower.  It’s not terribly likely, but does happen, and by wearing suitable clothing you can protect your legs from potential cuts or injuries.  In view of this, kick stones and sticks out of the way, and don’t mow over them.  The stones can fly up and hit you, and the sticks can splinter into sharp pieces, fly up and hit you; this can be even worse.
• Ensure you fill the petrol lawnmower with the correct type of fuel and follow the mixing instructions included with the tool.  Check that there are no leaks, which could cause a burn hazard.  Having said this, ensure the lawnmower is properly cared for and maintained.  As well as making sure you’re kept safe when using it, this will help the device last a long time.
• Never turn the lawnmower over when it’s in use and always ensure it’s completely stopped before performing any kind of maintenance.
• If you have pets or know that there are wild animals near by, get them out of the way beforehand.  It’s unlikely they’ll run toward a mower that’s in use, but it can happen.

In general, just use the lawnmower as it was intended to be used – follow the instructions and  make sure you pay attention when using it.

The petrol lawnmower can be a great investment if you’re a keen gardener, and is an absolute necessity if you’re a professional landscaper.  Most use either two or four stroke engines and usually have just one cylinder.  The majority also need to be manually “crank” started; however, on the more expensive models there can be an electric starter motor.

Advantages Of The Petrol Lawnmower

The petrol lawnmower is usually much more powerful than its electric counterpart, and has the benefit of having no limit to the distance that it can be used (with an electric model, the power cord sets a limit to how far it can travel from a power source).  If you’re looking to buy a petrol lawnmower for home use, you’re likely to want to buy a mower that you can push around the lawn yourself.  You can buy full “ride-on” lawnmowers, but only do this if you’re a professional landscaper or have acres of your own land; otherwise it’s likely to be too much of an investment.

Disadvantages Of Petrol Lawnmowers

Like most things, petrol lawnmowers of course have their disadvantages.  They will require maintenance, which can include cleaning or changing the spark plug, changing the air filter and refueling with a specific mixture of petrol & oil.  In fact any maintenance that may need to be done to any internal combustion engine will eventually need to be done to your petrol lawnmower.

Don’t let this put you off, however.  In my opinion, the benefits of choosing the petrol variety far outweigh the relatively small amount of maintenance you’ll have to perform.  It’s worth it for the time you’ll save each week when mowing the lawn more quickly and efficiently.