Lawn and Garden

Lawn and Garden

The Time Is Right For Electric Lawn Care

by Dale Y the Green Guy

Back in the day when I was a but a lad, my parents introduced me to the power of electric lawn care. We used to have an old reel push mower that had seen better days. It was creaky, the blades were dull, the wheels didn’t want to turn anymore and our yard began looking like a wild grass prairie.

My father, ever the practical sort, decided that the time was right for a power mower. And because he was practical, he realized that he himself would get stuck cutting the grass if a gas powered lawn mower was purchased. You see, my folks were possessed of the older house and home values. He would be the bread winner and my Mom would take care of the house and the kids. Needless to say, if he brought home a mower that had anything more than a switch to turn it on with, my Mom and us kids would never consider cutting the grass.

So off he went to the local hardware store and bought a brand new electric mower. With just the addition of an extension cord, anyone could plug it in, turn it on and cut the lawn. Of course little did anyone know at the time, but our family had just gone “green.”

My Mom loved cutting the grass. It got her out of the house and into the sun. She even got us kids involved (there were three of us). In fact, between us kids and my Mother, my Dad never had to worry about that chore ever again. It became a family activity where my Dad would lounge on the couch after a hard weeks work, and we all would take care of the outside. Almost like pulling our own weight.

My father noticed all of this activity, and once again being the practical sort of guy that he was, he invested in an electric edger, an electric weed trimming shears and an electric hedge trimmer.

I am pretty sure that he never did more than a handful of yard work. Everyone else in the family took over this task because it became so easy and, in a strange sort of way, fun.

That was decades ago, and in this modern day and age, electric lawn tools abound. Although many of them still run from an extension cord, the newest ones have their own battery packs. Even lawn mowers will cut for almost ½ an acre on a single charge, which is about perfect for any city or suburban home.

The corded types are priced the same as regular gasoline powered lawn mowers, and the battery powered ones are priced with the top-of-the-line gas mowers. Hedge trimmers and edgers are all comparably priced to gasoline operated lawn tools, as are weed whackers, electric chainsaws and leaf blowers.

The best part about all of this is the energy and pollution savings you get with each one, and regardless of what you use, all of them are virtually maintenance free. There is no gas, no oil, no spark plugs, no winterizing after the season has ended, no problem!

So if you are in the market for some powered lawn tools, you owe it to yourself to check out the new wave of modern electrics. The hassle you save while never having to deal with gasoline again may be worth twice the price of admission, and the piece of mind you’ll get knowing you are doing something good for the environment, and your bank account, may be priceless!