by Susie
From Consumers Report, some advice for those of you who have lawns to maintain:
“It’s a sure sign of spring: The robins return and millions of lawn owners head out to apply fertilizer and weed-killers to their lawns–a rite widely known as ‘weed and feed’,” Rossi writes on his Cornell blog. But unless you have a history of weed problems, Rossi recommends skipping the whole thing. He says Memorial Day and Labor Day are better times to apply fertilizer.
In the “Slacker’s guide,” Rossi and several other turf experts offer advice that will save you at least 65 hours of work this season. But one place you shouldn’t skimp is on mower maintenance, according to Peter Sawchuk who conducts the mower testing at Consumer Reports. In addition to keeping a sharp blade, Sawchuk recommends using fresh gasoline, adding a stabilizer, checking the oil and changing the spark plugs if necessary.
You can also take the blades out and sharpen them. If you don’t know how to sharpen knives and blades, practice on a few disposable knives first, and look up how to do lawn mower blades on the intertubes. It makes a world of difference: much easier to do the grass for you, much better result, less fuel used, less wear and tear on the mower. Samurai lawnmowers!
Or you can do what I do – don’t fertilize anything, ever, (that’s what the deer and dog are for!) and hire a professional to mow. Takes them less than 30 minutes to do the whole yard, and I don’t have to spend my free time trying to find two daylight hours when it’s not raining 🙂