Strimmer Know-How: Top Tips For A Well Kept Lawn

Strimmers are a brilliant tool that you’ve probably seen being used over the warmer summer months to keep those hard-to-reach areas tidy.

Know your strimmer

Every strimmer is a little different, so before you begin, make sure you have understood the various aspects of the tool you are using.

If you are hiring a strimmer from Greenplant and have any questions, contact us and one of our friendly team will guide you through the process.

There is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to machinery and safety.

Instead of using blades to cut grass like a mower would, strimmers use a sturdy nylon wire that spins around to chop any grass in its path. The best thing about this is that string does not dull or get blunt if it’s used a lot.

Many strimmers have a feed of string that is easily pulled out to make a fresh, new nylon “blade” – Meaning that when a strimmer is powered off, it is virtually harmless, with no sharp bits.

Keep away from the dangerous end

Although it’s not dangerous when off, once you power this tool on it can cut a good patch of grass and weeds in a matter of moments – be sure to have full control of the strimmer handle before starting on your patch of grass.

Safety first - always

You should always wear the right protective equipment when handling machinery. For strimmers, plastic goggles are paramount. Clipping a stone or tree branch with the strimmer will cause that object to fire out in any direction.

Gloves, a hard-hat and thick protective clothing are also very important – not to mention ear muffs to protect your hearing.

All this protective equipment can be hired from our Greenplant depots.

Pro tips

There are multiple ways to handle various types of grass and obstacles, which will help you on your way to achieving the perfect lawn finish.

Tapering

Tapering is a technique which will create a soft curve in the grass which will soften the look of any fences, posts or trees. This technique is good for the grass and will allow you to avoid damaging the object.

Instead of angling the strimmer head flat to the ground like you would with the edging process, with tapering, you should create a soft angle. Cut around the object, sticking to your chosen angle. This will ensure that your cut is equal throughout.

Spend time blending the edge with the height of the rest of your grass – this one really is subjective, so you decide how you’d like your tapering to look.

Border edging

If you’ve got a garden where pavement meets lawn, achieving a clean cut edge can often be tricky. To help this, keep your strimmer close to the ground and move alongside the edge. This technique sounds simple but may require a little practice, but once you have got the know-how, it’s a simple way of maintaining that edge.

Scything for a high volume of weeds.

This technique takes a more powerful strimmer – our petrol strimmer is a great option. Similar to its namesake, this technique uses the strimmer in a scythe-like motion such as a U shape.

There won’t be any need to do this motion with much force as the strimmer will quickly get rid of your obstacles, but make sure you have a good stance and a firm hold of the strimmer before your swing.

Screeding

This is a perfect technique to get to those annoying weeds that grow between cracks in pavements or manage to creep through stone. This technique is quick and easy way to remove weeds, but the hard stone flooring may degrade your nylon a little quicker than other methods.

To perform screeding, have your strimmer head at an angle that will reach the bottom of the weeds – the nylon should only just be touching the floor.

Bring your strimmer up to speed and move the head to the plant. This method takes practice but will do a brilliant job at removing weeds.