To keep your lawn in good condition, you need to follow a simple routine of regular mowing, fertilising and watering.  If you don’t follow your routine (regularly), weeds will start to take over the grass, the quality of the grass will deteriorate and the lawn can get ruined – this can be especially true if you have kids who love to play on the grass; it can get destroyed quickly!

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!

If you’ve invested in a petrol lawnmower, following a few pieces of basic mowing advice can help you to keep your lawn in good condition.

• Firstly, don’t forget to follow safety precautions when mowing.  If you’ve opted for a petrol lawnmower instead of an electric, you won’t have the worry of running over and breaking the power cord.  However, there are a few addition precautions you should use. Check out our article on safety when using a petrol lawnmower.
• If you follow basic lawn care guidelines, you should be mowing the lawn regularly.  If you’ve left the lawn to grow for too long, mowing it all to its normal hight in one go can actually damage the turf.  Instead you should cut just a couple of inches from the top of the grass.  Leave it to repair itself slightly (for a few day to a week) and then mow a couple more inches.  Clearly this means that it won’t be at its optimum height for a few weeks, but it also means that by the time it is, it’ll be in a better condition.
• Only mow the lawn when it’s dry.  Mowing when wet causes a few problems: (1) It’s a harder job for you to push the lawnmower through the wet grass; (2) If it’s very wet, parts of the grass will be flatter than others under the weight of the moisture. Mowing it in this condition can cause it to look uneven when it’s finished; and (3) mowing when wet can actually spread fungus and moss around the lawn, causing problems to the health of the grass.
• Speaking of fungus and moss – a lot of it will grow in just one direction.  This means that if you always cut the grass in just one direction you may miss some of the weeds when mowing.  So it’s always good practise to mow in different directions to ensure you hit as many weeds as possible.
• Grass clippings are full of nutrients (see our article on lawn health).  When you’re investing in a mower (petrol lawnmower or electric), consider choosing a model that leaves the clippings on the lawn.  This lets the nutrients get reabsorbed, and means that the grass won’t need to be fertilised as often, which can help to to keep it a great shade of green.  If you’d prefer a nice tidy lawn, however, lawn sweepers are always an option (they can also really help in the Autumn for clearing dead leaves).  If you do decide to use one, make sure you have a thorough fertilisation programme for the grass.

There are two main types of lawnmower: The cylinder (or reel) lawnmower, and the rotary lawnmower.  Rotary lawnmowers use a blade that rapidly rotates on a vertical axis.  The vast majority of rotary lawnmowers are powered by petrol.

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.