A self-propelled mower that has stopped pulling itself along feels broken, but the fault is usually one cheap part. If the engine still starts and the blade still spins, yet you find yourself shoving the machine across the grass, the…
A sharp mower blade cuts grass; a dull one tears it. That single difference decides how healthy a lawn looks and how well it fights off disease. Sharpening and rebalancing a blade sounds like garage-level mechanics, but on most walk-behind…
A lawn that has filled with weeds is not really a weed problem. It is a grass problem wearing a disguise. Weeds move in where the turf has thinned, where the soil has hardened underfoot, where the mower has been…
Pinkish-red threads webbing through pale brown patches of grass are the clearest sign of red thread, one of the most common lawn diseases in cooler, damp climates. It shows up most in wet summers and through the heavy dews of…
A throttle cable that has seized with rust and grit turns a good mower into a frustrating one. The engine fights you when you try to start it, the revs stick where you do not want them, and the choke…
A heat-stressed lawn does most of its recovering in the weeks after peak summer, not in spring. The grass you walked on, mowed short and watched fade through the hottest stretch is carrying drained roots and a thin, patchy surface.…
If a petrol mower takes ten pulls to start, sputters and dies, or runs rough all the way round the lawn, the carburettor is the first place to look. Family Handyman puts a figure on how common this is: small…
A lawn that has gone thin and brown by the end of a hot summer does not need stripping and returfing. It needs air in the soil, organic matter on the surface and fresh seed, applied in that order. That…
In the shady, damp corners where grass thins out and gives up, most gardeners keep fighting a losing battle with seed and feed. There is another option. A moss lawn turns those difficult spots into a soft green carpet that…
The price on the box is only the start of what a mower costs you. Run three machines of the same cutting width side by side for ten years, a corded electric, a cordless battery and a petrol, and the…
