If you are a gardening enthusiast or just care about the value of your home, you should know how to maintain your lawn properly. In order to maintain your lawn properly, you will have to familiarize yourself with the term sod-cutter. Learning everything you need to know about sod and sod cutters will help you a lot in getting the best lawn for your house.

What is sod?

Sod is a carpet of grass that is usually laid out on the lawn. Over time, this carpet of grass will become a part of the earth where it is laid on. Sod is useful for people who live in areas where grass seeds could be blown away by a strong wind, and/or people who just want a beautiful lawn as easily as possible. With sod, you don’t have to worry yourself about growing grass, as you can get your lawn ready within hours.

To properly install sod in your front yard, it has to be placed directly onto a layer of soil. Once the sod is laid down properly, it shouldn’t take long before it is ready to be used. And it should look natural, just as ordinary planted grass would. If you decide that you don’t want the sod anymore, it can be folded up and taken somewhere else.

What is a sod-cutter?

Now, to install sod, you need a sod-cutter. So before the new sod is laid down onto the lawn, the previous sod needs to be removed completely if you already had one in place. The thing is that once the sod is properly installed, it should be well sown into the ground – removing it can be a hassle for anyone. Fortunately, we have an awesome tool called the sod-cutter.

Sod-cutter can help you remove the grass carpet and also the extra layer of dirt at the same time. This is very useful to save a lot of time and energy, and level the ground before the new sod is laid down. To summarize, the sod-cutter can be used to remove overgrown weeds, an extra layer of dirt, and sod off the ground. Once the ground is clear, you can place a new sod, new plants, flowerbeds, or anything else you need.

What you need to consider when choosing a sod-cutter

To make the best out of your investment, it’s critical to choose the best sod-cutter on the market based on your budget. There are different sizes of cutters. The right size would be determined by the type of job you’re looking to get done. For example, for small patches of lawns, a manual cutter should be the best one. But for a bigger lawn or lawns with indentations, automated sod cutters should be preferred.

So the size of the lawn determines if you need a manual or automated cutter. Furthermore, manual cutters are more environmentally friendly, while automated cutters are easier to use but use gas or are diesel-powered.

Automated cutters should be more powerful than manual ones. If your lawn has a ton of weed or has been abandoned for a long time, an automated cutter would do you well. Also, consider getting a walk-behind automated sod-cutter, so you can maneuver the tool easily.

There are also some popular types of sod cutters that you should know. Some types that you will find on the market are square edge, kick, automated, and walk-behind cutters. A square edge sod-cutter is the most common one. It is shaped like a shovel and perfect for small lawns. A kick sod cutter is a manual cutter with two long handles. The rest, I already explained above.

Operating a sod-cutter

So you have purchased the right sod-cutter for your lawn, now it’s time to put it in action. First, try to moisten your lawn. Do this a few days before you start removing the sod in your lawn. Dry soil will make it more difficult to work on.

Next, trim all the grass and weed in your lawn. Try to trim them as much as you can, the shorter and cleaner the better. If you are planning to remove grass in only a certain area, try to put some markings down before you do it.

Wear protective glasses before you remove the sod, better safe than sorry. Now, remember that you can give the old sod to someone else who wants it. You don’t have to throw it away.

Conclusion

Once you have removed the sod with a sod-cutter, you can place a new sod within 48 hours. Or you can put anything else you want. I know that you won’t do this often, but when you do, might as well make it as easy as possible.