When I started with gardening pretty soon I realised that grass and wild shrubs will be something I would need to sort out. At the beginning I did not even consider to get any grass trimmer and was hoping that I can manage the garden with simple grass sickle, a simple grass cutting hand tool that I got from my granny. I tried it but it was such hard work!
There was no way I can get any electric-powered grass cutter or trimmer as there is no electricity supply nearby (my cottage is off-grid) and secondly, even if I had an electric supply, the whole field I work in is about 3000 m2 which is too large for any length of the cable.
I talked with some people who had more experience with similar size gardens and everyone suggested to go ahead and get petrol powered grass cuter, apparently the only tool that could work without electric supply.
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Should I buy petrol grass trimmer?
Should I buy a petrol grass trimmer was a question I struggle with for some time. I could not make up my mind but and finally gave up on all doubts and ordered one online. I bought a mid-price cutter. I did not want to buy the cheapest, nor the most expensive so got to mid-priced one. And I can say, after all, it is actually very easy to use.
The main reason I did not like the idea of getting one is:
- the noise (I love silence)
- and potential difficulty in using it as I never tried it before
For the type of handle on my machine, I have chosen the wide-grip style of the handle. My garden has large areas of vegetation where I can use wide side-to-side motion. Although the manoeuvrability of my grass cutter is impacted by this decision (the alternative was a D-loop handle), I still find it easy to use.
As soon as it arrives in the post, I started with assembling it which was pretty easy. The instruction booklet was clear and I set it up in no time. Went to buy some petrol (1 litre lasts for about 1 hour) and a small bottle of petrol engine oil. All details about which oil to use, which petrol to use and the proportions of oil to petrol are clearly explained in the instruction booklet, just follow the diagram.
The only difficult bit was to replace the string trimmer line where luckily, youtube video helped – see here.
Double shoulder harness strap
I found that the double shoulder strimmer harness strap that was supplied with the grass strimmer/trimmer is so useful. It would be very hard to work with this weed cutter without it. The weight of the tool would be very difficult to manage. It took me some time to adjust it to my hight to achieve the balance so now it works fine. If you are buying one, make sure it has padded straps to relieve pressure on your shoulders.
Protective helmet with face shield
The protective helmet with face shield was not supplied. I bought it separately in my local garden centre. It is a cheap one and my plan is to change it for sturdier one soon. You can see on the video below, the strap is getting loose which can be annoying but for time being it’s ok.
Video of me using my new grass cutter
On the above video, you can also see my almond trees with some almond nuts on them.
Although I still use my steel grass sickle to manage some smaller garden patches, strimmer, brushcutter or line trimmer is now my essential gardening tool. I don’t know how I lived without it before 😉
