Best Holiday Gifts for Lawn Lovers

You've heard of landlubbers, but chances are you know a few lawn lovers too.

What's the point in keeping your lawn in the best shape possible if you never get out to enjoy it? None. That's what. The holidays are the perfect time to show the lawncare lover in your life the benefits of all that hard work. Give them gifts that keep giving throughout the year, and those that keep celebrating the fruits of their labor.

Flickin' Chicken

 

Remember lawn darts from the past? And how dangerous they really were? Flickin' Chicken is a similar concept without the chance for mortal injury. They're also downright HILARIOUS.

Glow-in-the-Dark Corn Hole Set

While likely the poorest-named game of the last two centuries, Corn Hole is still pretty fun. It's also a game you can easily make yourself as a savings. Just cut a circular hole (or three) in a board, put it on two pegs, sew together a few tossing bags and line the top in battery controlled indoor-outdoor lights.

Bocce

You've played badmitton. You've played crochet. Now it's time to play with the big boys. Bocce is a super fun lawn game developed in Italy, but popular throughout Europe, Australia and South America. (Isn't it time we caught up with the trend here in the USA?) Look below to see how it's played.

Check out the best holiday gifts for lawncare lovers and then some on our blog, Lawn Mower Repair. Then check out our guide to the best care products and providers in the area. 

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Best Chainsaw Chains for the Money

Looking for quality chainsaw chains? We've got the skinny. 

In order to take the best quality care of your lawn, you'll have to worry about buying the best chainsaws for the money -- as well as the best chainsaw chains, chainsaw bars and other components. 

It can be a difficult choice, because you buy a good chainsaw and trust the manufacturer to be the best source of parts. EOM chainsaw chains aren't always where it's at. For instance, Stihl chainsaw chains are often too hard to sufficiently sharpen on your own. Who wants to run back and forth to the repairshop every time you have a big job? 

On the flip side, Stihl chains are among the longest lasting, so if you're able to get professional training on sharpening, they offer some of the best bang for the buck. Otherwise, you're really best off getting a good chainsaw chain sharpening kit, a good third-party replacement chain for your chainsaw and doing the work on your own. 

For companies offering tree trimming services, it makes sense to buy chain in bulk. It comes on large rolls - just like electrical wire - and similarly, you clip off as much chain as needed and use links to attach them to your chainsaws. This is something a local repairshop can show you how to do. They know you'll be back when it comes time to repair, replace or tune-up your equipment or whenever you need to buy or rent a big piece of heavy-duty equipment. 

I'm assuming most of our readers are simple homeowners who might need to trim a limb now and again. Or maybe have a chainsaw for cutting firewood. In those situations, it makes sense to get a chainsaw chain it will be easy for you to sharpen and change on your own without a ton of training or investment. 

The highest quality, most affordable and easiest to use replacement chainsaw chains available are made by Oregon. You just have to make sure you're getting the right size for your model. Sometimes it differs from what's stated on the package, so be sure to talk to them directly first. That doesn't mean you have to buy through them. You can find good pricing online, even at major retailers. Oregon makes money either way, so it really makes a bigger difference to your bottom line than theirs. 

If you're looking for a good source for lawn mower repair or chainsaw repair, take a look at our growing database. 

Keep Your Lawn Healthy - Sharpen Your Mower Blades

Admittedly a more advanced lawn mower repair...

How to Clean Your Lawn Mower After You Mow to Avoid Common Problems

The cheapest lawn mower repair is the one that doesn't happen, right?

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't know how to properly clean yard and garden equipment, which lends to them wearing out faster and having breakdowns. The good news? It's easy to learn basic maintenance for practically anything. And no, I'm not going to try to convince you to switch out your car's brake pads next. This is very basic stuff for beginners ... or I wouldn't be doing it! 

If you don't have a Toro mower with one of the cleaning ports they talk about, just skip ahead to 1:46 in the video. 

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Preventable Injuries

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Does Your Mower Need Fixing? Can You Afford the Work? You're Not Alone!

The cost of fixing small engines like lawnmowers and chainsaws causes people to learn how to handle these jobs themselves. If you're not handy enough to follow along with the videos posted on YouTube (don't worry... I'm not either) then you have to hire the work out.

Be Careful When Hiring a Handyman

Sometimes hiring an amateur can be 10x more expensive than going to the most expensive shop in town. Case in point, our friends were moving and hired a company to clean their carpets after they'd moved into their new home. They found the company on Facebook and the owners seemed nice. Unfortunately when the cleaners went to their home, they somehow turned the heat off when they left. As expected for the dead of winter in the Midwest, their pipes burst, and when people came to look at the house and turned on a tap, hundreds of gallons of water soaked through their insulation, walls and ceiling before the realtor realized the water WAS running ... just not out the faucet! 

This resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in damage, and do you think this fly-by-night had any insurance? Do you think the people who started this company had enough assets to bother suing them to cover it? The damages weren't covered by their own homeowner's policy because the heat was shut off, so they had to eat those costs. 

All that from a carpet cleaning.

So while it might seem okay to hire just anybody off Craigslist or Facebook or a service provider website, it is important that you make sure the person is insured at a minimum. It doesn't matter how nice the person is. A good personality won't pay your repair bills. 

Paid Directories Have Higher Standards

It's completely free to start a page on Facebook, so there are many businesses that have no business providing services available on that and other social media sites. They might look official, but you have to ask for proof. 

There are service directories people have to pay to join which can help separate good and bad mower repair providers, but you have to be careful here too. Just because someone looks legitimate, doesn't mean they are. If you ask for proof of insurance, be sure you check to make sure it's valid.

Trustworthy sites list the names of people in your area performing all kinds of small engine repair services. Some will perform it on-site, while others require you take it to them. Some will have a source for used parts, and others will expect you to buy new parts for repairs to happen.

Find out more about cheap lawn mower repair today.

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Welcome lawn mowing friends!

It's exciting to think we might be able to help people with their mower repair needs. When you don't have a functioning lawn mower it can really put you in the hole.

One of our neighbors had a problem with the city whent they had to send their riding mower away to have parts replaced. Not only was it hard for them to find someone to do the work, but they had to find a way to get their big mower there and then they had to wait for parts to come in!

Of course, it rained every other day during this time, so it didn't take any time at all for the grass to get higher than the 5 inches allowed by the city code. They were warned and brushed it off, and then the city's crew came out and mowed... to the tune of $340!! For some reason, the city required six men to mow their relatively short grass and rake and bag the clippings, since they didn't use a bagged mower. Oh, and sweeping.

Apparently it took the crew several hours of work.

Yes, they appealed, and no, it didn't matter. I guess that's one reason I'm starting this blog. I do not want this kind of thing to happen to anyone else. Our neighbors? They can afford the penalty. What happens to folks on the other side of town who can't afford to repair or replace their mower? How is being charged $300+ going to help?

I'm getting off topic here. THANK YOU for visiting. I hope you stop by to learn what to do when you're against the lawncare ropes!