If you spend a little time regularly to properly care for and maintain your lawnmower, this can be beneficial in a number of ways. The first is that your lawnmower will last on awful lot longer, and the second is that your lawn will look better because the mower will be cutting it more evenly. So let's review a few lawnmower maintenance steps to help you get the best results for your lawn.

Actually, having the proper mower for your lawn is the first step. If you have a very large yard, a riding lawnmower or lawn tractor will probably make most sense. If your yard is small to medium sized, perhaps a walk behind mower with high wheels will work better, especially if your yard has any steep slopes. If it's a small yard, you might be able to get away with an electric mulching lawnmower or even a reel type push mower instead. There are pluses and minuses to every mower type mentioned above. But most often the size of the yard will be the largest deciding factor in which kind of mower needs to be used.

So now that you have the mower selected, it's time to keep it maintained and well cared for. Since the heavier mowing seasons began in the springtime, it's a good time of year to spend time on your mower to thoroughly clean it and make any necessary repairs to get it ready for the mowing season ahead. Perhaps the first place to start is with the spark plug. By removing it, you can usually tell quickly whether or not it appears to be worn and in need of replacement. Since spark plugs are very inexpensive, you may just wish to change it out once a year anyway.

While you're at it, look over all the nuts and bolts that hold the mower together. Because of the vibration that is inherent to a lawnmower, it's very easy for nuts and bolts to loosen up over the course of a mowing season. Sometimes this will even happen without your knowledge, and the bolts may fall off altogether. Having a regularly scheduled time to look over all of the mower bolts will usually help you stay on top of this problem.

At least twice through the mowing season you should try to clean off the deck of the lawnmower to help promote consistent cutting and avoid spreading grass diseases. In order to clean the deck, empty the gas tank first, and then make sure that the spark plug is not connected. Then you can turn the mower over on its side to clean the deck or undercarriage. Using water, you can usually just scrub off all the dirt and grass that gets stuck up under the mower and accumulates over time. After cleaning this area off let it dry thoroughly before turning the mower back over.

The air filter in a lawnmower should be cleaned and replaced on a regular basis too. Usually the air filter will either be made of paper or foam, but whichever it is just be sure to have the replacement handy. If your lawnmower has an oil filter, which many larger riding mowers and tractors do, then follow the manufacturers instructions very carefully regarding how often to replace your oil filter too.

Perhaps the most important maintenance that you can do to your lawnmower that will have a positive effect on the appearance of your lawn is to keep the mowing blades very sharp. Usually it's necessary to sharpen your blades every one to two months in order to cut the grass cleanly. If you are using a dull blade instead, rather than cutting the grass, you are actually ripping it, which makes for a very poor uneven cut. If you are unable to sharpen the blade yourself, then have a professional do it for you.

When the mowing season is over, and it's time to put your mower away for the year, remove all of the gas from the gas tank, and drain the oil from the engine.

By consistently and properly caring for your lawnmower, you can help make it last for many years and keep your lawn looking it's best too.

Thad Pickering writes on many consumer related topics including home improvement. You can find lawn mower reviews and lawn tractor reviews by visiting our Home Improvement website.