Love your lawn? So, get the right tools to help you maintain it in summer. Hannah Stephenson selects three essentials to make the job easier.
So, you've raked all the moss out of your lawn, weeded it, fed it and hopefully given it the best head start it can have for summer.
Now, you'll need the right tools to keep it looking great throughout summer, along with a few showers that will hopefully water it sufficiently.
Here are three tools which should help you keeping your lawn looking its best:
1. A suitable mower
Depending on your budget and the size of your lawn, you can go for electric, petrol or battery-operated, rotary, cylinder or hover - there are so many on the market. Petrol types tend to be better for lawns over 150 square metres, avoiding the need for sockets or extension leads.
But for me, the battery types are the way to go. They're cordless, so no cables to get in the way, and quieter with no fumes.
Among the best is the Bosch Rotak 43 Li Ergoflex (£349.99 without battery and charger, bosch-garden.com) which will mow for up to around 55 minutes (depending on the terrain) before it needs recharging, which is plenty of time for the average lawn.
It's light and yet has a 50-litre grass box for greater capacity, grass combs which mow the lawn right up to the edge and it will stripe your lawn too.
Of course, you can buy cheaper cordless mowers, but make sure you check the battery life times - some only run for around 20 minutes - and assess the size of your lawn compared with your spend. Also, check the model you're buying comes with a battery included, which will have a bearing on price.
2. Lawn edging shears
You may have the grass beautifully mown and striped up, but smart edges make all the difference to the look and create a pristine finish which will also show your borders off to better effect.
Choose a good quality pair of edging shears like the RHS-endorsed lawn edging shears from Burgon & Ball (£39.99, burgonandball.com), which are ultra lightweight with comfortable rubber grip handles, while the blades are made of hardened and tempered high carbon steel.
Alternatively, you can buy lawn shears with adjustable blades, rotating 180 degrees so they can work as both lawn or edging shears.
A good bet is Spear & Jackson's Razorsharp Advance Multi Shears (£37.99, spear-and-jackson.com), which have carbon steel blades operated by squeezing a single handle rather than using the conventional two handles to achieve a successful scissor cut.
3. Strimmer
This tool is invaluable for the gardener who wants to get to all that grass which has grown up around that tree in your lawn, or by a wall or raised bed, or if you've an overgrown patch the mower can't handle.
If you have a small garden, you might want to opt for a cheaper product - you can buy an electric strimmer for under £30 - but be warned, some are notoriously difficult to use, with fiddly line replacement.
For those with bigger areas to clear of long grass, brambles and nettles, you may opt for the more robust EGO Power Plus Multi-Tool's cordless line trimmer (£79.99, attachment only, EGO, egopowerplus.co.uk), which cuts through long grass and weeds like butter and has a rapid reload head which makes it easier to reload line than other products.
It's one of five tools which fits on the Ego Multi-Tool Power Head (£199) and you'd need to buy the battery (£84.99) and charger (from £49) as well. Not a cheap option, but it's likely to last and you can fit other lawn-enhancing attachments to the same handle, including a lawn edger, and brush cutter.
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