Lawn treatment

[Jeff Lebowski]

Not to burst your bubble, but I can get edges just like that with an electric weed-eater/trimmer. Flipped upside down, the head is a perfect edger. Most new ones come with a swivel head, even. It probably takes a little bit longer than using an edger, but a steady hand will give you the exact same result. Gas edgers don't work as well, because 1) you can't flip the engine upside down, and 2) even if it has a swivel head, the trigger is usually too touchy to maintain a good speed for edging.

/ramble

Not to burst your bubble, but I don't think you can get edges like that with a trimmer. I have a gas trimmer and I can flip it sideways for vertical trimming without a problem. You can trim the grass with the plastic line, but it doesn't go very deep. With the metal blade on the edger I can cut deep into the sod and cut off the roots. This makes a bigger difference on the open edges where I am trying to keep the grass from encroaching into the non-grass area. I imagine your system would work just fine for getting an edge next to concrete. For the pavers I like once again to go deep into the sod to cut off the roots because the grass tends to grow into the cracks between the stones.

[Donuthole]

Not to burst your bubble, but I don't think you can get edges like that with a trimmer. I have a gas trimmer and I can flip it sideways for vertical trimming without a problem. You can trim the grass with the plastic line, but it doesn't go very deep. With the metal blade on the edger I can cut deep into the sod and cut off the roots. This makes a bigger difference on the open edges where I am trying to keep the grass from encroaching into the non-grass area. I imagine your system would work just fine for getting an edge next to concrete. For the pavers I like once again to go deep into the sod to cut off the roots because the grass tends to grow into the cracks between the stones.

As I said, it won't work with a gas trimmer because the throttle is too touchy. Also, it works best with a single-line trimmer (most these days have a double line). But i can get plenty deep with a plastic cord. I've done it for as long as I've been mowing by parents lawn right next to pavers and concrete both. The plastic line will easily go 2-3" below the top of the concrete or pavers without breaking. The open edges would be a challenge, no doubt, as there is nothing there to guide you.

EDIT: And my apologizes for the dickish tone in the first post. I didn't mean to sound like I was belittling your new machine (but as I reread it, it really came off that way).

[jay santos]

As I said, it won't work with a gas trimmer because the throttle is too touchy. Also, it works best with a single-line trimmer (most these days have a double line). But i can get plenty deep with a plastic cord. I've done it for as long as I've been mowing by parents lawn right next to pavers and concrete both. The plastic line will easily go 2-3" below the top of the concrete or pavers without breaking. The open edges would be a challenge, no doubt, as there is nothing there to guide you.

EDIT: And my apologizes for the dickish tone in the first post. I didn't mean to sound like I was belittling your new machine (but as I reread it, it really came off that way).

I side with Lebowski on this. I'm extremely skeptical you can get edges like that with a trimmer. You might be able to maintain perfectly carved out edges for a couple months with a trimmer, but that's about it.

[Jeff Lebowski]

As I said, it won't work with a gas trimmer because the throttle is too touchy. Also, it works best with a single-line trimmer (most these days have a double line). But i can get plenty deep with a plastic cord. I've done it for as long as I've been mowing by parents lawn right next to pavers and concrete both. The plastic line will easily go 2-3" below the top of the concrete or pavers without breaking. The open edges would be a challenge, no doubt, as there is nothing there to guide you.

EDIT: And my apologizes for the dickish tone in the first post. I didn't mean to sound like I was belittling your new machine (but as I reread it, it really came off that way).

That's OK, DH. All your posts have a dickish tone.

The throttle works fine on my trimmer while sideways. But there is no way you get the same penetration into the root system with a plastic line. Certainly not in the tight clay in my neighborhood. And the wheeled system leads to a beautifully straight line on the open edges.

Sorry. Still no buyer's remorse!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Well, there are 4-stroke units that aren't hand-held. They have 3 wheels plus the blade, and you just roll them along the ground. Seems like they'd be a bit more heavy-duty, but also possibly more tuned to those locations where you have concrete on one side for it to roll on. May not work in your back yard where the grass just runs up to a planting area. Just curious if you'd considered something like this, and if so, why you went with the hand-held.

Gotcha. No, I wanted a more lightweight and portable unit.

[Donuthole]

That's OK, DH. All your posts have a dickish tone.

The throttle works fine on my trimmer while sideways. But there is no way you get the same penetration into the root system with a plastic line. Certainly not in the tight clay in my neighborhood. And the wheeled system leads to a beautifully straight line on the open edges.

Sorry. Still no buyer's remorse!

It's ok. Plenty of people are perfectly happy to own unitaskers like an edger.

[Jeff Lebowski]

It's ok. Plenty of people are perfectly happy to own unitaskers like an edger.

Hey, that sounded dickish again.

[ERCougar]

I'm looking to buy a trimmer for our postage-stamp-sized lawn area. There are a few spots that I can't get with the mower, and I'd like to cut the weeds from the vacant lot from spilling onto the sidewalks in my neighborhood.

Has anyone had luck with the battery-powered models? I'm slightly tempted to go this direction, since I don't need hours of use at a time and the cost is right. Are they as powerful as similarly sized gas models?

Also, the beer-to-kill-grubs debate earlier in this thread might be a corruption of the beer-to-kill-slugs practice. Pour some beer into a can or a jar and bury it in a flowerbed so that the rim is even with the surface. Slugs & snails are attracted to the beer, fall in, and drown (or at least are easy to scoop up). I used this technique many times as a kid and it worked well to get the snails out of the flowerbeds. Too bad my dad always bought cheap beer.

I have a battery powered trimmer too. Works great. It's not quite as good as the gas model I used to have, but it's super convenient and plenty for what I need.

[FN Phat]

Hey, that sounded dickish again.

I was going to pint out that I think it is great that your engineering heart loves the straight lines but a crooked solar light is okay That is probably my biggest landscaping pet peeve. I made my wife drive stakes and set her solar lights with a string line.

That being said, I would absolutely love to have a yard like yours. Beautiful.

[TripletDaddy]

Nobody will believe donute until he starts posting some picks of his allegedly similar edges.

[Donuthole]

I was going to pint out that I think it is great that your engineering heart loves the straight lines but a crooked solar light is okay That is probably my biggest landscaping pet peeve. I made my wife drive stakes and set her solar lights with a string line.

That being said, I would absolutely love to have a yard like yours. Beautiful.

Uhh, solar lights are entirely unacceptable altogether, IMO. Low voltage, baby.

[TripletDaddy]

Uhh, solar lights are entirely unacceptable altogether, IMO. Low voltage, baby.

We are putting in some low voltage lights this summer.

[Donuthole]

We are putting in some low voltage lights this summer.

You should borrow Lebowski's edger to dig a very straight mini-trench to bury the wire. Then it would be a multitasking tool, and I could stop giving him grief about it!

[lambdacoug]

Nobody will believe donute until he starts posting some picks of his allegedly similar edges.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I was going to pint out that I think it is great that your engineering heart loves the straight lines but a crooked solar light is okay That is probably my biggest landscaping pet peeve. I made my wife drive stakes and set her solar lights with a string line.

That being said, I would absolutely love to have a yard like yours. Beautiful.

Ha. Funny thing about that light is my wife bought one to test it out last fall and I never got around to doing anything with it. So that is the only one in our back yard, but we do have a few in the front yard by our walkway.

I like them in the front yard because it lights up the path to the front door in the dark even when the porch/exterior lights are off, but I haven't decided if I want them in the back yard.