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If your trimmer's seen better days, consider a greener alternative.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—You've switched from a gas-powered mower to an electric or push-powered model, but they may not get the edges of your yard and garden as trim and neat as you'd like. While it may be tempting to let your lawn take on that shaggy look, every yard needs a good edging, says Dick Parish, PhD, a consultant and professor emeritus in agricultural engineering at Louisiana State University, especially if you live down South. "With southern grasses like St. Augustine and other aggressive grasses, they'll cover sidewalks in a year or so" if you don't edge them, he explains. "And if you use Roundup or other chemicals, it kills off much of the surrounding grass." Considering that Roundup's main ingredient has been linked to hormone disruption and poisons waterways, you probably don't want to be using it anyway.
The traditional string trimmers you use to handle those hard-to-reach, shaggy edges your mower can't reach run off gasoline, however, and according to the Environmental Protection Agency, small gas-powered engines like the ones used in string trimmers, weed whackers, and other lawn tools, are more polluting than cars because they don't contain the same pollution-control devices. So if you're looking for an pollution-free way to edge your lawn this year—and one that won't cost you at the pump—give these human-powered tools a try:
#1: A round-point spade. This is the most effective tool for edging lawns, says Parish, because, "held at the right angle, you just push it down the sidewalk, and it makes a groove cut similar to that of a power edger." They're easy to control and they get to the root of the problem, literally, by digging up your grass, roots and all.
#2: A push edger. These are just push-powered versions of electric edgers. They can be unwieldy and tough to use on southern grasses, says Parish. But, he notes, they usually work fine up north.
#3: Your sickle. Good for small jobs, a small handheld sickle, or even a simple pair of pruning shears, will help you trim grass around paths and walkways. But if you've got a bigger edging job to tackle, you're better off with that spade, says Parish. Snipping grass doesn't remove the soil and thatch that you need to get rid of to keep grass from overtaking your flowerbeds.
#4: Billy. That is, a billy goat. Goats have been used by state governments to mow the weeds along interstates and highways, so why wouldn't one work on your lawn? Like shears, goats just trim grass and don't remove the roots, but at least letting a goat loose on your lawn will ensure that the problem is being attended to every single day.
Lawn problems? See our Lawn Care Topic Page and OrganicGardening.com's Organic Lawn Problem Solver.
Ditto on goats and scythes!
Contrary to myth, goats are actually quite picky eaters. If you're imagining a perfectly coifed yard, with all the various plants trimmed to the same height, forget it -- goats will eat what they love down to the ground, and leave tall, spindly weeds to grow as they will.
But at that point, you go out with the scythe and clean up what the goats won't eat. So the two work well together.
Goats and scythes
Agreed: if you have only grass to mow a sheep is a much baaa-ter idea than a goat (and if you get a goat get a doe or a wether as billies are very fragrant). We have goats and keep them on long tethers attached to heavy-duty ground stakes and position them to clean up tall weeds, poison ivy, multiflora rose, and even overgown meadow grass on the edges of pastures.
Also, our goats and sheep are not well read and don't know what they are supposed to eat: when we turn them loose into a new fenced pasture block the sheep head for the brush and the goats munch contentedly on the tender grass in the middle of the paddock.
If you have more than a little land to maintain you may wish to consider investing in a European style scythe and books/videos to learn how to use it efficiently and sharpen it properly. No stooping over as with a sickle, faster than a string trimmer, no fumes, no fuel to buy, and only a gentle swish as the blade slices through the stems. I have an American style scythe (heavier than the European type) with a short brush blade for tough weeds and a European scythe for fast mowing in tender grass and weeds.
goats and weeds
Ok, I can't let this go by without a comment. I raise goats. Goats will not trim your grass. They WILL eat broad leaf weeds and any other plant that you WANT growing in your yard. But they will pass grass right by unless there is nothing else for them to eat. A better solution is sheep. They prefer grass.
I am thinking perhaps the goat idea was just a humorous addition. :)