Environment Friendly Lawn Mowers and Eco Friendly Lawn Care Tips
Here at GardenLines we understand that many of our customers are concerned about the environmental impact gardening can have. We sell a wide range of environmentally friendly lawn mowers to cater for a variety of different needs.
Here are a few ideas on eco lawn mowers and lawn care:
• Hand Lawn Mowers
• Cordless Lawn Mower (battery lawn mower)
• Mulching Lawn Mower or Recycling Lawn Mowers
• Electric Lawn Mowers
• Tips For Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care
– Hand/push lawnmower technology has improved significantly in recent years. They are now light, easy to manoeuvre and maintain. They are also almost totally silent, will give you a gentle work out and lower your carbon footprint! One of the best selling models is the Brill Razorcut Premium 38 Cylinder Mower and our customers love it because it is extremely easy to assemble, it is light but solid and not difficult to push. It can even be used to cut long damp grass with very little effort needed from the operator. In addition, the cutting method of the push lawn mower produces a “cleaner cut” and so is healthier for your grass promoting quick healing and a better looking lawn. Some hand push mowers come with collection bags and mulching systems so there is no need to tediously rake up cuttings.
– Cordless lawn mowers are battery operated and take advantage of the newest battery technology. Because battery lawn mowers have to be charged some forward planning is required and usually you should allow about two hours to fully recharge a battery. Most cordless lawn mowers can easily handle a lawn area of around 300m2 and many can mow up to 600m2 on one charge and they give just as good a cut as any other type of lawn mower. One particular model, the Bosch Rotak 37LI Ergoflex Cordless Lawn Mower, is very quick and easy to recharge; it gives a great cut with a striped finish and cuts right up to lawn edges. Many modern batteries are now able to be recharged as many as 700 times in their life meaning a possible 12 years of continuous use.
– Mulching is the practice of finely re-cutting grass clippings and then dropping them back onto the lawn. This allows the cuttings to slowly decompose and feed nutrients back into the lawn. Recycler lawn mowers or mulching lawn mowers have special attachments on the back that do this job whilst you are mowing. Recycler lawn mowers cut the time taken to cut the grass, often by half, so even if you use one that is petrol driven you are using less fuel per mow. One of our most popular models is the McCulloch M53-625CMDW Self Propelled Petrol Lawn Mower which is easy start and has plenty of power and delivers a clean cut plus the mulching mode cuts the time it takes to cut the lawn.
– Electric lawn mowers come in all shapes and sizes nowadays. Their main advantage is they are light and more easily handled than petrol lawn mowers and they are often light on the pocket too. The Flymo Visimo Electric Lawn Mower has three cutting heights, is made in the UK and only weighs 9.5Kg. Our customers like it because it is light and easily manoeuvrable in awkward shaped gardens and it is good value for money. As electric lawn mowers use electricity there will be no direct pollution in your garden during use, however, you may want to consider where the power is ultimately coming from and think about offsetting you carbon footprint in other ways. Perhaps you could use rainwater to water your lawn or grow your own fruit and vegetables which are totally organic and accumulate no transport or packaging costs.
Tips For Environmentally Friendly Lawn Mowing
– If you already have a lawn mower there are still plenty of things you can do to have a great looking lawn with a low environmental impact:
• Mulching - some lawnmowers are designed to do this for you automatically but if you have a conventional mower then simply leave the cuttings on the lawn when you mow. The grass clippings will slowly decompose and release nutrients back into the grass and soil which would otherwise have been removed. In addition, mulching means your lawn will need less watering and less weeding. Alternatively, compost your grass clippings along with other garden and household waste and use this mulch elsewhere in your garden.
• Cutting – keeping the grass length tall with frequent light mowing is a good way to refresh the lawn and keep it looking great. Most experts recommend a mower height of around two inches and cutting when the grass reaches three inches for maximum effect. This will protect your lawn from weather damage and can reduce the growth of weeds. Make sure the cutting blades are sharp as this will produce a cleaner cut and promote healing.
• Fertilising – the best time of year to fertilise your lawn is autumn. A couple of small applications will help the grass absorb the nutrients and set it up to survive even the coldest of winters. Like most plants, grass uses up energy reserves built up over the year to keep going in the colder months so adding a dose of good quality, organic fertiliser will help it thrive.
• Watering – why not collect rainwater and use it to water your lawn and garden? It is free and also has no additives like tap water. Do not overwater your grass, even in the hot summer months it only needs to be watered about once a week. The trick is to do it early in the morning and give it a good soak as this will encourage deep roots and increase drought resistance. It is natural for the grass to look a bit browner in the summer but don’t worry it will quickly recover and green up as the weather cools.
• Supplementary plants – for many keen gardeners adding extra plants to their lawn can seem like a bad idea as they spend half the year trying to reduce the growth of weeds etc but it is a little known fact that plants like clover can increase nitrogen in the soil. Clover is nitrogen-fixing, so if you include it and leave your clippings in place, you could see a marked improvement in the appearance of your lawn.
• Weeds – you will get weeds it is a fact of life; it is up to you whether you accept them as a form of biodiversity or remove them. If you do want to get rid of any weeds instead of getting out the chemical pesticides why not get down on your hands and knees and do it manually? This is a much more environmentally friendly way to do weeding and your waistline will thank you later. If you do it before they release their seeds there is less chance of them coming back.
For more advice about caring for your lawn year round please see our other articles:
Annual Lawn Care Calendar: Spring, Summer Autumn & Winter Lawn Care Advice from GardenLines
Spring Lawn Care Tips
Winter Lawn Care Tips
Why not have a look at our range of lawn mowers, electric lawn mowers and petrol lawn mowers?