When it’s time to mow your garden this 12 months, why not do it with much less noise, no air pollution, and a few added well being advantages? A reel mower is a superior different to a gasoline or electrical rotary mower as a result of it contributes much less noise air pollution and dangerous emissions. Reel mowers don’t deplete a bunch of electrical vitality or gasoline. As a substitute, they provide you an ideal exercise. Don’t be afraid, although, at the moment’s reel mowers are designed in order that they take little or no effort to push, maybe much less so than a heavy gasoline or electrical mover. If that wasn’t sufficient, a reel mower offers your garden a greater minimize by cleanly slicing the tops of the blades versus chopping and tearing them.
If you’re able to make the swap, then learn on, as a result of this text lists the whole lot it’s essential find out about mowing with a reel mower.
Disclosure: a particular thanks goes out to Fiskars for sponsoring this put up and offering me with a StaySharp™ Max Reel Mower, Reel Mower Blade Upkeep Package, and Shear Ease® Grass Shears. All the opinions which are shared on this put up are my very own. See the complete disclosure coverage right here. Take a look at the competition on the finish of this put up and you would be the fortunate winner of your very personal Fiskars StaySharp™ Max Reel Mower!
The way to Use a Reel Mower
Reel mowers cleanly snip grass like a barber snipping your hair, whereas rotary mowers minimize grass by chopping and tearing, leading to a garden that’s vulnerable to illness and pests. There are some things to know to get the very best minimize along with your reel mower. The following tips will enable you go unplugged ceaselessly.
You’re Mowing Too Usually!
You might be in all probability mowing greater than it is best to. At most, mow your garden each 5-7 days throughout peak rising seasons. Cool season grasses corresponding to bentgrass and ryegrass actively develop within the spring and fall. Heat season grasses corresponding to zoysia and buffalograss actively develop when it’s hotter. You don’t have to know your grass sort to determine it out, although. Simply watch it develop!
Mow much less incessantly, if in any respect, throughout off-peak rising seasons. Grass is healthier off to get just a little longer, permitting the vegetation to mature and set robust roots. In case you let it go to seed earlier than mowing, you’ll save your self baggage of grass seed within the course of.
Know Your Splendid Top
Hold your garden at its excellent excessive to advertise vigorous progress and forestall weeds and warmth harm. The minimal peak of your garden will depend on a variety of components corresponding to grass sort, season, and rising circumstances. Bentgrass (used generally for golf programs) prefer to be minimize quick from ¼” to ¾”, whereas grasses corresponding to ryegrass (generally utilized in lawns) prefer to be saved taller—between 1 ½” to 2 ½”.
Hold your garden on the shorter facet throughout the cool and/or moist spring months, however guarantee your garden is at its tallest beneficial peak throughout the sizzling and dry summer season months. Taller grass has deeper roots, permitting it to dig deeper for moisture. The longer blades additionally shade the soil, lowering water loss and defending the vegetation from sunburn.
Mowing Tall Grass
You shouldn’t minimize greater than one-third of whole grass peak in a single slicing. If the grass may be very lengthy it could take a couple of mows to chop it all the way down to its excellent peak. Give your garden not less than 2 days relaxation between mows. For instance, if the perfect grass peak is 2” and the present peak is 4”, minimize the garden in two separate cuttings. The primary slicing will scale back the garden peak by 1.3” most; the second slicing reduces it additional by .6” to attain 2” (for simplicity take away 1” on the primary minimize and one other 1” on the following minimize).
The Fiskars reel mower has one-touch peak adjustment from 1” to 4”, which makes peak adjusting a lot simpler than our previous reel mower.
Mowing Moist Grass
Ideally, it’s best to carry off mowing your garden when it’s moist. Moist garden is more durable to mow as a result of it lays flat and sticks collectively. Moreover, in case your garden is actually saturated, you may very well trigger soil compression from strolling on it.
Depart These Garden Clippings Alone
Garden clippings are an ideal nitrogen-rich fertilizer in your garden. Don’t take away them except they’re diseased or are very lengthy and received’t break down shortly. Mow your garden and let the clippings fall the place they might. Sweep up the sidewalks and pavers, however go away the minimize grass to mulch the soil. After a day or so, the clippings can have labored their approach into the areas between the blades, making a moisture-holding mulch that can break down and feed the plant roots.
Clear Up the Edges
Similar to a reel mower, grass shears are a superior different to a gasoline or electrical trimmer. They’re more healthy in your grass, quieter, pollution-free, and easy to make use of. The Fiskars Shear Ease® Grass Shears have blades that rotate from 45-360 levels. That is actually helpful when making an attempt to edge your garden in awkward areas. I received’t lay out the directions for utilizing them as a result of I’m certain which you could already use scissors. 
Common Care and Upkeep
Earlier than the garden care season begins, make sure to e book an appointment with a garden mower restore store for annual upkeep. If you are there, e book the autumn appointment too, you want each a spring and fall service to make sure that your mower retains working.
Kidding! That’s the service schedule for an electrical or gasoline mower.
A reel mower wants nearly no care. Get a blade sharpening equipment and you’ll shortly and inexpensively sharpen the blades. You possibly can clear it with a brush or the hose, and lubricate the joints with a silicone lubricant whether it is getting stiff. The most effective half is that there isn’t any motor to interrupt so you are able to do all of it your self. A reel mower is an funding that lasts indefinitely!
Prepared, Set, Mow!
Suppose that utilizing a reel mower is difficult? Suppose once more! The Fiskars StaySharp™ Max Reel Mower is very easy to make use of proper from the field.
Steps:
- Set mower to the specified minimize peak
- Mow and mindfully hearken to the snip-snip-snip of the blades;
- Brush off garden clippings from mower
- Put mower away
Fiskars makes use of InertiaDrive™ know-how to make their reel mowers simpler to make use of than conventional ones. It combines a big diameter slicing reel and thick blades to retailer vitality till a burst of additional slicing energy is required. The sooner you mow, the extra energy is generated so you’ll be able to rip by way of weeds, twigs, and difficult spots. Neighbors had been stopping on the road to test it out and provides it a attempt as a result of it’s fairly a sight to see. The blade retains going—like a windup toy—while you cease pushing.
This contest is now closed. The winner is Kathy Liddell. Congrats, Kathy!