After mowing your lawn, the next step is sweeping to clear debris, including grass clippings.
Selecting the right lawn sweeper will save you a lot of time and energy in the sweeping and cleaning process.
After sweeping… what else can you do to improve your lawn?
We recommend 4 accessories that will ensure your lawn stays healthy and beautiful throughout the year, along with your lawn sweeper.
The purchase of a lawn sweeper can be just the beginning of a satisfying journey through which you discover the right tools to make the most of your lawn. All for the sake of your own enjoyment and that of the people you love.
Note: all these accessories below are big time savers compared to doing the work manually.
1: Leaf Shredder/Mulcher
Leaf shredder/mulcher
What should you do with all the grass clippings, leaves and other organic debris that you collect with a lawn sweeper?
Answer: use a leaf shredder (aka leaf mulcher) to minimize the volume of collected organic material and reduce the amount of bags you need to dispose.
A leaf shredder is a large container that sits on a stand with a shredder device, into which you put your leaves and other organic material collected from your lawn.
The shredder then tears up and squeezes the debris into around 1/10th of their original volume, with the resulting mulch conveniently collected into a sack under the stand.
A leaf shredder reduces a large heap of leaves into a nice compact pile, which can be disposed through the municipal composting service.
Or the mulch can be sprinkled over the soil of your lawn to provide an organic, mineral-rich, and nutritious compost. It’s a full circle. Those very leaves that were once obscuring your lawn can now be used to nourish it.
Check Leaf Shredder Prices On Amazon.com
2: Lawn Aerator
A lawn aerator is a device with spikes that pricks holes into the soil.
The purpose of the holes is to get air, moisture and nutrients into the soil, under the surface.
The benefit of getting air into the soil is that it strengthens the roots of the lawn, ensuring the grass grows strong and lush.
Just like lawn sweepers and rollers, you can get both push and tow behind versions.
There are 3 types of lawn aerators:
While lawn sweepers and rollers are more about the look of your lawn, aerators service its health by allowing it to “breathe”.
Gardening professionals aerate their lawns regularly. It is an important part of a comprehensive lawn care strategy.
If you want a real work out (and to save money), get the sandal lawn aerators.
Check Lawn Aerator Prices On Amazon.com
3: Lawn Roller
A lawn roller is one of the best lawn care tools for improving the aesthetics of your lawn.
There are 3 types of lawn rollers:
If you have watch major sports played on grass surfaces (football, soccer, baseball, rugby, etc.), you’ve noticed how picture-perfect the grass fields are.
Many of them have specific patterns “cut” into the grass surface itself, providing an appealing light/dark contrasting look that adds a touch of elegance to the experience of the athletes well as the spectators.
How do they do that?
Lawn rollers are essential to making it happen.
Here is an interview with the grounds director of Fenway Park (the oldest baseball park in Major League Baseball!) talking about how he achieves the famous striped look:
“Any mower will make a pattern in the grass with its tires and its blade, but the rollers really help etch in that design.”
– David R. Mellor, Fenway Park master groundskeeper and author of The Lawn Bible
There you have it: elite level groundskeepers who take care of sports fields use lawn rollers to create that awesome striped look.
Mowing the grass in a specific way is not enough.
Cutting the grass correctly (and in the right direction) is important to the process, but the way that you get those designs to really “pop” is with a lawn roller.
With a heavyweight rolling pin attached directly to a riding tractor (or riding lawn mower), you’ll be able to get the grass to flatten in a very specific angle.
Depending on the way you roll it, light will reflect differently in different areas of your lawn, giving it that classic, professional “stripes” look.
That allows you to get that impressive contrasting light green/dark look of the best sports fields on your own lawn. Don’t be surprised if it triggers guests to ask “how did you do that?” when they visit your home.
Check Lawn Roller Prices On Amazon.com
4: Lawn Sprinkler
Lawn sprinkler
Water is good for us.
And it is good for our lawn, which is a living thing.
The lushest and greenest lawns are usually so because they are watered regularly.
After your lawn is swept and cleaned up, and you’ve given it a once-over with an aerator, one of the best things you can do for it is nurturing it with water.
After aeration, your soil will absorb water better, which helps deliver vital nutrients to the grass roots.
While it can be fun to water the lawn with a garden hose for a short period of time, few people want to stand upright for hours walking around with it.
Watering a large lawn with a hose takes a lot of time and can get messy.
Sprinkler systems are the solution: they can be set up below or above the ground to automatically water your lawn at regular intervals, without the need for you to be present.
You can get a lower cost oscillating sprinkler (with a timer) that connects to the water outlet in your garden, or go for a more sophisticated underground system.
If you choose an underground system, it can be expensive to install and requires pipe-laying skills. But if you have a large lawn, it can significantly reduce the time it takes to water.
Here is an article from Popular Mechanics on how to install your own underground sprinkler system.
And “Irrigation Tutorials” contains a vast library of information for sprinkler system installation.
If DYI seems too daunting, consider hiring a professional irrigation contractor to install a lawn sprinkler system for you.
Dry soil leads to unhealthy and weak grass while watered soil gives your lawn a chance to shine.
Regular watering with an automatic sprinkler system gives your lawn a consistent source of water, and allows you to avoid having to spend time and energy on the task.
