Beginners Gardening

Anyone who grew up with a lawn would certainly remember
being told to mow it during weekends. It was a boring and
tiring task, but somebody had to do it.

But just imagine cutting the grass without a lawnmower. The
task would be even more difficult. So whether you like it
or not, lawnmowers are made for a reason, and its a good
reason at that.

More than just a chore machine for teenagers, lawnmowers
help cut grass on lawns quickly and evenly. This is because
of the revolving blades under its hood.

These blades may be operated using pure manpower (i.e.
pushing the lawnmower) or by using a motor (electric or an
internal combustion engine).

They also come in different shapes and sizes. Usually,
smaller and simpler ones are meant for small lawns of
households. On the other hand, larger and more powerful
ones are used in larger areas such as lawn tennis courts
and even stadiums.

Sure enough, lawnmowers do a great job at making life
easier when it comes to cutting grass. But they arent used
only for that purpose.

Some lawnmower enthusiasts have modified their machines to
become racing machines. It sounds crazy at first and yes,
it still sounds crazy no matter how many times one hears
it.

What lawnmower racers do is take a stock ride-on mower (the
type which can be ridden by a person), remove the blades
for safety and do other modifications to make it go faster.
And voila! They can now go racing at little or no cost at
all!

Mowing ones lawn has somewhat become an art of sorts.
While others may choose to simply mow their way along the
grass and disregard what happens, properly mowing the lawn
is important especially in keeping the grass and the ground
healthy.

Want some tips on how to do that? Well here are some of
them.

1. Before mowing your lawn, remove rocks and sticks that
may get in the way. Doing this prevents the materials from
getting hurled by the mower.

It is something that could be fatal and therefore should be
avoided.

2. Keep your lawn healthy by not cutting the grass too
short. In general, leave about a half of an inch of grass
sticking out of the ground.

Anything shorter could kill your grass and destroy your
lawn.

3. If you find the activity of mowing your lawn as
something therapeutic, try not to be overeager about it.

You actually dont have to cut the grass every week; just
cut it when the grass begins to look too unkempt. Give you
grass time to grow and they surely will grow healthy.

4. Dont throw the cut grass away. While it may seem that
it helps in keeping your lawn looking neat and tidy, you
should keep it on top of the grass.

Once the cut grass decomposes, it will act as mulch or a
fertilizer for your lawn.

5. Finally, try to keep your mowing pattern as varied as
possible everytime you do this activity. It keeps the
growth of your grass straight. Not all gardeners agree on
this aspect, though.

Lawnmowers have been around for a long time already and
they have changed from being a muscle-powered machines into
fossil-fuel and electric-powered varieties.

However, despite of those changes, their primary purpose
has remained practically the same, that is, to cut grass
and to do it evenly. This article takes a look at the
history of the humble lawnmower.

Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower in 1827. He
created it to cut the grass in sports grounds and large
gardens, or practically any large expanse of grassy areas.
Along with John Ferrabee, Budding patented the product in
1830.

However, it took another thirty years before the Budding
and Ferrabee lawnmowers were mass-marketed. By 1862,
Ferrabees company (which acquired the license for
producing the lawnmower) were selling eight models and
produced some 5,000 units until the production came to a
halt the following year.

While most of the lawnmowers produced during the 19th
century were muscle-powered, manufacturers looked into
other power sources such as horses and steam.

However, the invention of fuel-powered motors gave rise to
motorized lawnmowers sometime in the mid to late 19th
century to the early part of the 20th century.

Several innovations were made during the 20th century with
the introduction of smaller engines which made for more
compact and more fuel-efficient mowers.

Then there was the hover mower in the 1960s. This type of
mower literally floated above the ground and this design
enabled them to be used to cut taller grasses and even
small shrubs.

Finally, there are the robotic mowers. Although they still
need a little help from humans in order to operate, much of
their work is automated which saves people a lot of time.