Many homeowners have several small engines in the garage or tool shed on equipment like a lawnmower or string trimmer. Some may also have a garden tiller, a hedge trimmer, a lawn edger or a chainsaw. Most of these small engines have an air filter.

Some companies now offer landscape bedshapers designed specifically to lay out and maintain landscape beds. These machines are generally heavier, more powerful and more versatile than turf edgers.

When you buy a bag of fertilizer or granular pesticide to spread on your lawn, it will usually have a label on the back of the bag with settings for several common fertilizer spreaders. Do you know where those settings come from, how they were developed or how reliable they are?

Rotary spreaders offer the advantages of wide, fast coverage and forgiving patterns, but they are not well suited to working along turf edges. Some spreaders offer a pattern cut-off mechanism to address this problem.

Some rotary spreaders can deliver a reasonably uniform distribution pattern with some products, but not with others, and some homeowner rotary spreaders don’t deliver a good pattern with any product.

Tractors from major manufacturers tend to be well-designed, reliable and a pleasure to use. You can choose from a wide range of sizes, prices and features as well as a wide range of implements and accessories. This publication helps you select a tractor to meet your needs. (PDF Format Only)

The right rotary tiller can make the job of gardening much easier, but if you choose the wrong tiller for the job, it can make your job more difficult.

Walk-behind rotary lawnmowers can handle clippings in one of three ways: they can mulch them, bag them or discharge them to the side. Some mowers can do any of the three with minimal adjustment. Any of the three modes can be useful in some situations.

Walk-behind home lawnmowers are covered by safety standards and regulations, but the real responsibility for safety rests with you, the operator.

If you have a small lawn and are willing to get a little exercise while mowing, a good manual push mower can be a good alternative to a powered mower.