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Show Spring Coming: Sharpen Mower One of the things that people often forget to do in the spring is to have the mower blade sharpeneed. And I'm no exception. A LOT is written each year about fertilizing and liming lim-ing the lawn and as a passing remark it is advised to have the mower blade sharpened. But, having a sharp blade on a mower can be just as important to the welfare of the lawn as fertilizing. I know that this is a broad statement and some folks may disagree. BUT, LET'S look at just what happens to the grass blades when they are "hacked" as opposed to being cut off. Most gardeners today use a rotary lawn mower. The blade is spinning at a good clip and it cuts the blades of grass like we did years ago when we cut tall grass with a sickle. BUT 1 remember watching old timers use a scythe and . sickle years ago and they all had a sharpening stone in their back pocket. Every now and then they would stop to tone up the edge of the cutting blade. If they didn't, they would have had to use a lot more muscle to hack the grass rather than cut it cleanly. WHEN WE use a power mower we don't have to worry about our muscles, the little one-cylinder engine takes cae of that for us. But, a dull blade is still hacking - not cutting. When a grass blade is hacked it leaves a ragged edge. If you don't believe me, look at the end of a grass blade under a magnifying glass after you have cut the lawn. It will look torn. NOW, THIS torn edge has to heal. We all know that the i healing process in humans is much faster when a cut is clean. So it is with grass. Take another look at the grass blades two days after cutting. Chances are you won't even have to use a magnifying glass to see the brown tips. This is a result of hacking with a dull blade. No amount of fertilizer or water will change this - only sharpening the blade will. YOU CAN sharpen vour own blade with a file, but once a year it woald be wise to have a serviceman grind it sharp. At the same time hi will balance the blade. A blade that is out of balance will play havoc with the engine en-gine on the mower. A note of caution, though. When working on the mower blade be sure to disconnect the sparkplug wire. A spin of the blade could start the engine en-gine if the plug wire is still connected. ONE OF the advantages of a rotary mower is that it will cut the tall stalks of weeds that are sometimes left when mowing with the old reel mowers -- like the hand jobs I used to push as a kid for a quarter an hour. This constant cutting will eliminate some weeds, but there are others that hug the ground for which you will need some form of weed control. con-trol. If you can get at the weeds early enough you can keep them from getting out of hand. A CAN of spot weed killer is a handy way to give in-. in-. dividual weeds a squirt as you mow. The Raid Spot Weed Killer comes out as a little foam that quickly disappears but you can see which weeds you've hit and those you overlooked. On the subject of weeds, if at all possible I like to prevent them from growing rather than have to put up with them later. WE ALL know there are crabgrass preventers which are applied in the early spring to prevent crabgrass from sprouting. Now, I understand, un-derstand, there is a chemical that can be put on the flower and vegetable beds in spring that will prevent weeds from growing throughout the whole summer. IT'S STILL very new but I'm going to get some to experiment with this summer. Of course, it means that all flowers and vegetables vegeta-bles will have to be put out as plants, not seeds, but this should be no problem. I'm also thinking how great this would be under my barberry hedge which I hate to weed .because of the thorns. |