Help with strimming please
Liriodendron
Posts: 8,328
Hi folks. I'm a strimming novice and would appreciate some tips, please! I've just used our newish electric strimmer to cut a 30ft square of rough grass & weeds, around 8ins high and rather wet. (It's the garden of a holiday cottage so I couldn't wait for it to dry, which might have been easier.) I'm under 5ft tall, which means I have to hold the strimmer shaft, rather than the 2nd handle, with my left hand, because it won't adjust to be short enough for me. (Or I suppose I could try using stilts...)
My question is this. Is there a technique for strimming which prevents the grass you've just cut, from lying like a wet blanket on the bit you're just about to cut? I have in mind the sort of effect you'd get from scything, when (if you know how to do it, which I don't) the grass all falls neatly in one direction.
Thanks!
Posts
Try walking backwards and all the grass should fall on the bit you have cut.
I strim a lot in various gardens. With long grass you have no real control on how the grass falls, so raking it up after cutting is the usual result. The only tip I can give is to cut as horizontally as you can which gives a better finish.
Thanks all! Hadn't thought of the walking backwards idea... Somehow my OH is always somewhere else doing something Very Important when there's raking up to do but maybe I'll show him your post, Philippa!
The best advice I could give is to just take a little in one cutting motion and on the return skim the cut area to clear the debris. At 8" high and wet it will be heavy going for an electric strimmer.
If you are going to do it regularly when its wet and over grown I'd recommend investing in a petrol one.
Thanks, Billy. I might end up trying to find a local gardener to cut the grass on a regular basis - at the moment we rely on our holidaymakers to strim it if the weather's good (we don't charge a lot of rent so they generally do a few jobs for us to make up!). If the weather's bad it doesn't get done, for too long! But thanks for the tips anyway...
do it in lines, do a cut with the first swing about 4 - 5 inches off the ground one way (which means you end up with a long pile ready for collection) and strim flat (and mulch) on the return swing.
I was taught to strim by an old bloke who used to scythe grass as a youngster, so I've been told my technique is like using a scythe!
I can see I'm going to have to practise! Thanks, Treehugger.
Walking backwards also avoids walking on the bit you've just done and grinding the cuttings back into the ground. On the other hand you flatten the bits where you stand. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice. Just remember to look over your shoulder occasionally
Oh Liri, I don't know you had a holiday cottage
Is it in Nora batty land? 
Steve
Hi Beaus Mum! Our cottage is on a little island in Scotland, not far from Oban. Tiny but lovely.