Mowing Tips For A Great-Looking Lawn

Mowing Tips For A Great-Looking Lawn

The grass can be greener on your side of the fence if you heed these eight hints on making the most of mowing.

1. Choose the Correct Cutting Height: 
This depends on the type of grass, the amount of rainfall, prevailing temperature and the lawn’s overall condition.

2. Don’t Cut Your Grass Too Short: 

Mowing too short can result in weak, thin grass that’s easily damaged by drought and pests. Leaving your grass a bit longer reduces heat buildup and preserves needed moisture. A good rule of thumb is the one-third rule—cut no more than a third of the grass height and never more than an inch at a time.

3. Mow With Sharp Blades: 
Sharp blade’s cut grass cleanly and efficiently; dull blades tear at the grass, harming it. We Sharpen Blades here at Imperial Services.

4. Mow When the Grass Is Cool and Dry: 
Late afternoon or early evening often provides ideal mowing conditions. Don’t mow after rain or even heavy dew and never mulch when the grass is wet. Moist grass can clump beneath the mower deck.

5. Water Your Lawn Regularly: 
Try to imitate a slow, soaking rain by applying about an inch of water per week. Consider placing tin cans around your lawn, so you can check to be sure you are giving it the proper amount of water.

6. Use the Right Amount of Fertilizer: 
A slow-release fertilizer provides missing nutrients for slow, even growth. When to fertilize and how much to use depends on the condition of your lawn and soil. 

7. Aerate in the Spring: 
Using an aerator to remove cores of soil from the lawn increases clipping decomposition speed and encourages deeper root growth by opening up the soil and permitting greater movement of water, fertilizer and air.
Here at Imperial Services we have an Aerator that you can rent, by the hour, day or week. Just give us a call  @ 978-67-6016.

8. Select the Right Mower: 
The right mower for your lawn depends on the size of the property, whether there are hills and whether you want it to help with other chores, such as pulling a cart for yard work. Once you have your answer, you can decide among a walk-behind mower, a rider tractor or a zero-turn machine. Get advice from the experts on lawn care at Imperial Services Inc.

Maintain Your Snow Blower

Learn how to correctly service, clean and care for your snow blower to extend its life and improve efficiency. Proper storage of your snow blower in the off-season will also ensure you get the most out of your blower year after year.
• Check the oil level before each use and add as needed.
• Check the fuel level before each use.
• Check shear pins and other bolts frequently for proper tightness.
• Change the spark plug every 100 hours or once a season.
• Check snow-blower shave plates and skid shoes for wear and damage; replace as needed.
• After use, run the auger on a dry surface for a few moments to eliminate moisture on the unit and to prevent freeze-up of the auger / impeller.
• Check tire pressure.

Service the Rubber Auger
These rubber paddles will eventually need replacement because they wear out over time. Their service life will depend on variables, such as use, adjustments, maintenance and operating surface. Rubber paddles should be replaced when they're damaged or worn out. They may also need to be replaced if the unit is improperly discharging snow forward instead of through the chute.

Clear a Clogged Discharge Chute
Hand contact with the rotating impeller inside the discharge chute is the most common cause of injury associated with snow blowers. Never use your hand to clean out the discharge chute.

To clear the chute:
Shut the engine off.
Wait 10 seconds and ensure the impeller blades have stopped rotating.
Always use a clean-out toll, not your hands.

Properly Adjust Skid Shoes
Adjusting the skid shoes on a two-stage snow blower allows you to determine how close to the ground the unit will clear snow.

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If you're clearing an even and solid surface, you can adjust the skid shoes as follows:

TIP: 
The auger housing needs support during this adjustment. Find something that might be equal to or close to 1/8 of an inch thick (a piece of wood, a couple of sections of newspaper, sheet(s) of cardboard). Make sure the width is less than that of your snow blower. To properly support your unit for this adjustment, don't use anything that's fragile or unstable.

Place the supporting device underneath the center of the shave plate below the auger housing. This support should then elevate the sides of the auger housing slightly.
Now loosen the hardware, securing the skid shoes on both sides of the auger housing, slide the shoes until they're even with the ground, and then tighten the shoe hardware.
If you remove the support material, you should find that your shave plate is positioned just slightly above the ground with the shoes properly supporting the entire auger housing.

Special Irregular Surface Adjustment:
 If you're are clearing a surface that has an unusually irregular surface, such as gravel or cobblestone, you should follow the instructions above, but you should use something much thicker than 1/8 of an inch for support during the adjustment. The actual thickness needed depends on the severity of the surface or the size of stones covering the surface. For example, if you have stones that are as large as a 1/2 inch in diameter, use something close to 3/4 of an inch in thickness for this support.

***Before performing maintenance on any unit, always disconnect and ground the spark plug wire.