Choosing the Right Edgers and Trimmers for your Lawn
When you care for your landscaping, you probably use your trimmer and edging tools as often as you use your lawn mower itself. Most lawn mowers don’t get to everything and almost all lawns butt up to fences, walls, etc. and have sidewalks and patios they intermingle with, that the lawnmower can’t get to. So trimmers and edgers take up the slack.
The question is, what kind should you use?
Traditional Edgers
The traditional lawn edger is dual-bladed and has a long handle. Using it is not really hard work if the blades are sharp and it requires no power or gasoline as it’s entirely hand-operated. For going around sidewalks and concrete edges, it works great, but it’s limited to those areas alone. These are lightweight, durable, and easy to use tools. They do require some muscle power, but only moderate amounts.
Electric Trimmers
Electric trimmers are a step above the traditional, manual edger, and feature a powered cutter of either fixed blades or plastic “string” that twirls at the base to slice through foliage. The fixed-blade models are less common now because they’re fairly unsafe. The twirling string models are easy to use and fairly lightweight. The string is in a cartridge that feeds it out as needed or when the user “bumps” it on a hard surface. Fixed blades on the edges of the safety cowling slice away excess string, keeping it the right length.
Electric models are versatile, fast, and easy to operate. They can be tilted at various angles to get into tight areas or to create “beveled” edges rather than just straight 90-degree cuts. They can safely be operated up against walls, rocks, and odd surfaces without fear of damaging the object or the trimmer. These lightweight, powered trimmers are popular and come in both corded, plug-in models and more expensive, battery-operated ones.
Gas Powered Trimmers
These are a more powerful version of the electric trimmer. They have all the same characteristics except they are powered by a gasoline motor, so have no cord, and are usually heavier and of sturdier construction too. They are the tool preferred by professional landscape designers and lawn maintenance people because of their superb performance against lawn grass. These trimmers are available in a variety of models, some of which have exchangeable heads that can be used to trim bushes, cut tree limbs, and more besides just trimming lawn edges.
Whatever kind of trimmer or edger you choose, you’re likely to find that it makes your yard much better. You’ll be able to produce cleaner lines, clearer distinctions between landscaping elements, and have a yard that is nicer to look at overall.
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