Keeping your grass green and yard looking great has a positive impact on your life. Maybe you moved into a property with an established lawn, or you lay your grass yourself. Either way mowing like a professional and keeping it tidy is always rewarding. The physical activity involved and spending time outdoors is marvellous for your health, body and soul. Also, looking at a well-manicured and cared for yard can provide you with feelings of peace, pride, and accomplishment. And, you can use those grass clippings in your garden. Of course, not every yard is the same, and some of them present challenges when it comes time to keep the grass at the right height.
Many different situations can cause problems, but the feature of a lawn that provides the most potential for danger is hills and slopes. You need to have the right safety gear on but you also need the right equipment for the job. There are many different types of mowers on the market, but not all of them are the best choice for every situation.
The Best Lawn Mowers for Slopes
A yard with hills and slopes can be gorgeous, offering a view with variety, but they can be challenging to maintain. While some slopes can only be cut using a trimmer, many can be handled with a more time-effective mower. Not just any mower will do for every slope, so you’ll have to pick the one that’s right for your yard.
Zero Turn Mowers
These are very popular mowers and for a good reason. Their maneuverability is second-to-none, and these mowers usually have some of the highest effective cutting speeds of them all.
Zero Turn mowers are an excellent option for those that have large, open spaces, as well as those that have multiple obstacles to mow around, like trees or flower beds, due to their ability to literally “turn on a dime.”
For light slopes, these mowers could be a great option, allowing you to get the job done quickly. Too steep of a slope, however, will make you vulnerable to a problem with all riding mowers.
Riding Mowers Can Flip
Any riding mower runs the risk of tipping over when being used on an incline. The steepness of a slope that a riding mower can handle varies from mower to mower due to several different factors.
The most significant factor is how the mower is built. A riding mower with a low profile is more immune to flipping over during use. The other thing to consider is just how large the deck is; a wider deck can give you more stability, but it wouldn’t be a good idea if you have narrow spaces to mow, such as the sides of a small ditch.
The Safest Mower Type for Slopes
When it’s time to keep the grass in check on your slopes, hills, and the sides of ditches, the safest option is to use a walk-behind mower. While these have been called “push mowers” by some, that’s no longer always the case.
There are many models of non-riding mowers that are self-propelled, which allows you to walk behind them for steering purposes without having to push the mower at all. Using one of these mowers takes more effort than a riding mower, obviously, but still less than if you were pushing it yourself.
Walk-Behind Mowers
Walk-behind mowers are the best choice for slopes because their low profile gives them a much smaller chance of tipping while being used. The danger to the user is much less as well because tipping over on a riding mower of any type can be life-threatening, or at the very least lead to severe injuries.
A self-propelled walk-behind mower eliminates this risk, allowing you to maintain those areas of your yard that are too difficult or dangerous to tackle with a riding mower.
One final note on walk-behind mowers; while you can get a self-propelled machine, it still takes some effort on your part to keep it mowing where it should. When choosing a walk-behind mower, keep the weight of the machine in mind; the heavier it is, the more effort it will take while mowing slopes and inclines.
Your yard should be beautiful, but you’ll need the proper tools to keep it that way safely. Don’t try to “make do” with a riding mower that could cause you harm.