Help Me Take Care Of My Lawn!

Spring has sprung!  Of course, living in Utah, we can never be 100% sure that one last snowstorm will sneak up on us, but for all intents and purposes, we are on the eve of a summer of outdoor fun and adventure.  One of the first steps to segue into spring and summer is by taking care of your lawn, which may or may not have been as battered as normal due to our mild winter.

When caring for your lawn, it's important take the appropriate steps to make sure that it is healthy, green, and beautiful.  Follow the basic steps below to ensure that your lawn is ready for summer barbecues, flag football games, and more.

1.     Follow the One-Third Rule – NEVER cut your grass more than one-third of its current height.  Taking more than that one-third is traumatizing on the grass plant and will lead to unhealthy, dying grass that is hard to treat.  If your lawn needs to be cut by more than this one-third rule of thumb, you can do it in stages over a few days.

2.     Cut Your Grass to the Highest Acceptable Height – By cutting your grass a little longer, you are ensuring that it retains water more than if it were short.  More retained water means greener grass.  While a short lawn may hold some visual appeal, your lawn will brown and the soil will quickly dry and lose crucial nutrients.

3.     Sharpen Your Mower Blades – Unsharpened mower blades take a toll on your grass, as that hack at the grass rather than cut it cleanly.  Grass that has been hacked at is damaged and more prone to not growing healthily.  Blades can be easily sharpened, and should be sharpened at least twice a season.

4.     Fertilize – Fertilizing your lawn ensures that your grass is given the appropriate nutrients to stay healthy and green.  Fertilizer is readily available at any home and garden center, and is easily applied to your lawn.  It's best practice to treat your lawn with fertilizer every 4-6 weeks to keep it looking beautiful and green.

5.     Treat Weeds and Disease – If you have some unsightly brown spots or dandelions, you may have a problem with your lawn.  Insects, disease, and weeds can undermine a dedicated lawn care effort.  There is treatment through various products such as weed and feed, but the best course of action is to consult a lawn care professional for further advice and treatment.

6.     Watering Your Lawn – Deep watering is  When watering, it's more effective to water every few days than for a little bit every day.  Having said that, you will want to give your lawn at least 1 ½ inches of water a week.  Make sure to water it in the mornings to make sure the water doesn't quickly get burned off by the scintillating summer sun.

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Crowell's Flying Wrench is a full-service mobile repair company that comes to you and services your equipment at your convenience.  Our lawn mower repair service in Draper, Utah provides years of experience and friendly service that will leave a lasting impression upon you.  In addition to Draper, we service all of the Salt Lake Valley.  Give us a call today to see how we can help you!

By: Kyson Crowell

Lets Talk About Trimmers

Most of the posts so far have focused on lawnmowers, but it could be argued that the weed trimmer is just as important when it comes to your lawn-care arsenal. Sure, the mower does most of the work; but every homeowner knows that the devil is in the details when it comes to the silent competition between neighbors for best lawn. You’re done for if you don’t clean up the edges, and a trimmer is the best way to do it. But how do you know what kind of weed trimmer to get? Use this guide to determine which type is best for your application and if you have a trimmer and are struggling to get it to work and are watching those edges keep growing check out are great tiller service in Salt lake City UT. 

Curved-Shaft Trimmers

Curved-shaft trimmers are among the most popular because they are generally lightweight and easy to use. They get their name because of the bend in the shaft toward the cutting head. This bend brings the cutting head closer to the operator, which makes it a little easier to handle for detail work and getting at those tricky spots. Because of the bend in the shaft, these trimmers are driven by a flexible cable that runs from the motor to the cutting head. The flexible nature of this cable limits the amount of power that can be applied from the engine, as too powerful of a motor would cause it to break. That said, these machines are more than capable of handling the vast majority of jobs in a suburban setting.

Traight-Shaft Trimmers

Straight-shaft trimmers are most commonly used for industrial uses, or by those with particularly large jobs. Rather than the flexible drive cable used in curved-shaft trimmers, these have a rigid drive shaft. This results in increased durability and power transfer from the motor. This means that more powerful motors can be used. While the straight shaft allows for more power, it also means that the cutting head is further from the operator. This can make getting a level cut slightly more difficult for the inexperienced. These also tend to be heavier than their curved-shaft counterparts.

Rolling Trimmers

Rolling trimmers are a slightly newer development in the lawn-care industry. These machines look like a mix between a standard push mower and a string trimmer. Their rolling platform allows for larger and much more powerful engines along with a wider cutting radius. Unfortunately, their minimum cutting heights are relatively high when compared to most lawn mowers, making them essentially useless for all but the most niche projects.

At the end of the day, the type of trimmer you get depends entirely upon how you intend to use it. Curved-shaft trimmers are perfect for most residential uses because of their light weight and maneuverability. Straight-shaft trimmers are great for larger projects and industrial uses because of the increase in power and length of the drive shaft. Rolling trimmers are useful for some specific applications, but most people have no need for them. Consider these tips before you buy and you’re sure to end up with a machine that is perfect for you.

By: Kyson Crowell

Mulching vrs Bagging

As a mobile small engine repair provider in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, I get the opportunity to meet with a lot of different clients at places all around the valley. Over the years, I’ve heard many of the same questions over and over again. One of the most common things I am asked is whether or not bagging grass clippings is better than mulching. Like most things involving small engines, the answer is, “It depends.”

The question of mulching vs bagging has been around ever since the first mulching systems were introduced to the market. While the old-school opinion seems to be overwhelmingly in support of bagging, mulching systems have definite advantages when used in the right settings.

Mulching is a great way to recycle your grass clippings, and return some nutrients to the soil. They do this by chopping the grass into tiny pieces before spreading it out behind the mower. This is great for your lawn as it adds a little bit of natural fertilizer to the grass each time you mow it. Not only that, but you don’t have to worry about the hassle of filling bag after bag with your clippings, then hauling them off to be composted.

While the convenience of mulching is enough to convince many people to ditch the bag, not all situations are prime for mulching. For example, in early spring the grass retains a lot of moisture in its blades. When you try to mulch this wet, heavy grass it can clump up and bog down the mower. In addition to being unsightly, the clumps of wet grass prevent the mulch from being evenly distributed along the lawn. During the dog days of summer, however, your grass will be much drier and should mulch just fine. Go ahead and go without the bag on these days and save your energy for other yard projects.

Bagging has its own special application, even outside of the circumstances listed above. As any old-timer will tell you, bagging looks nicer. That’s because you’re cleaning up the clippings as you go. If you are concerned about aesthetics for some reason (Maybe you’ve got a backyard wedding, or garden party coming up? Or maybe this is a commercial application) bags are the way to go. It might take a little extra time, but you’ll reap the rewards of your labor while walking barefoot in that country club style yard carpet.

So there you have it. Whether you choose to bag or mulch should depend on a number of variables including, but not limited to: the time of year, the length of the lawn, and whether or not aesthetics are a major concern. Beyond that, it just boils down to your level of dealing with bags upon bags of grass clippings.

By: Kyson Crowell