RESTORE YOUR LAWN FOR SUMMER

After the heavy Spring rains, preparing lawns for Summer has become quite tricky. With opportunities to mow restricted, you need to act quickly to ensure thatching and fungus don’t take control of your lawn. Mowing as frequently as twice weekly will limit the opportunity for this to happen.

Higher than usual grass growth means you’ll also need to adjust your cutting height to be higher. Finally, with so much grass about, collecting clippings may be impractical. So a mower that mulches, such as the STIHL RMA 510 V, makes for a much easier mow.

How To Mow for Best in Show
Regular mowing and lawn care is the ticket to a manicured lawn and STIHL makes it easy – so you can spend more time entertaining your guests and enjoying your Summer sanctuary.

When mowing my Summer lawn, I raise up the blades on my mower by one stop. This ensures I don’t ever scalp any high points on the lawn and it insulates the root zone from the heat, helping to keep the ground moist and the grass green. It’s still important to give the grass a cut once a week to maintain even growth, however you can pull back on doing your edges to every couple of weeks. A STIHL battery grass trimmer is great for this – you can store it in the shed and not have to worry about fuel expiring.

WATCH CHARLIE’S ‘TIP CLIP’
‘How to restore your lawn for Summer’

Watch as Charlie, with his self-propelled STIHL RMA 510 V battery lawn mower, demonstrates how to get lawns up to speed for impressive Summer garden entertaining.

Charlie’s Lawn Mowing Tips

• Start early while the day is cool.
• Do your edges first – paths, driveways, patios, garden beds and any other hard surfaces. The clippings will be collected by the lawnmower, saving you time in the end.
• A regularly trimmed lawn should be mowed every two weeks in Summer. For Buffalo, run the mower at 30mm. For a fine leaf look, run it at 20 to 25mm.
• Mow by doing two laps of the perimeter. This makes turning easier. Then mow the rest of the lawn in straight lines.
• Walk in a different direction every time, this helps to reduce compaction from walking behind the mower. It also helps the grass grow straighter for a great-looking lawn.
• Check the blades for wear and tear. If they look a little dull, visit your local STIHL dealer to get them sharpened.
• Keep your lawn hydrated. About 25mm of irrigation/rainfall per week is ideal –spread this over 3 days to ensure optimal moisture content.
• I also like to apply a soil wetting agent to my garden beds, lawns and pots. This ensures the water that does fall penetrates the ground quickly and evenly.

Charlie’s Top Battery Tools for Lawn Care

If you haven’t experienced a battery mower before, I cannot recommend them highly enough. Lighter, quieter and with equal power than petrol, battery makes mowing easier and more enjoyable.

• The STIHL RMA 235 is a compact powerhouse with a deck width of 33cm. It’s extremely easy to manoeuvre and is capable of covering up to 300m² on a single charge with the AK 30 battery. This makes it perfect for small to medium sized suburban blocks.
• If you’ve traditionally opted for a petrol mower but want to make the switch to the benefits of battery power, then take a look at the STIHL RMA 460 V. With a large 46cm cutting width and variable speed drive, you will quickly mow up to a tennis court on a single charge. Plus, with two batteries and a fast charger, you could technically mow non-stop all day!
• For larger lawns, don’t miss the STIHL RMA 510 V, awarded best battery mower in the latest CHOICE test.

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